Today’s guest, Sarah Rowan Dahl, is a performance painter. Sarah is established and experienced in this unique, creative outlet in the entertainment industry. She seeks not only to entertain, but also to inspire. Sarah brings a creative work of art to life in front of people in a live setting. Often she enhances the performance by painting to music, allowing the tones, notes and sounds to create the colors on the canvas. It is really Sarah’s quirky personality that connects with the audience and adds the buzz of energy that draws a crowd. Sarah performs for various types of events and functions, from the corporate setting, to festivals, fundraisers, weddings, and zoos. Sarah believes creativity is innate in us all and strives to awaken it in people who have forgotten how. Her courage has pushed the limits in performance art and the platform it establishes. Listen to the conversation with David T.S. Wood to be inspired and motivated to rediscover your own creativity.

[Tweet "“We have an innate desire to create.” ~ Sarah Rowan Dahl"]A platform for the voiceless.Sarah uses her talent and work to raise awareness and funds for charities, such as The A21 Campaign, focused on ending human trafficking. Frequently, her performance pieces from functions will be auctioned off for charity. Sarah may not have the money in her pocket to donate much to these organizations, but her paintings inspire others to give. Human trafficking is the primary cause that Sarah donates to. Organizations like A21 work against the perpetrators that find families in dior circumstances, buy their children off of them, and either work them in an underground industry, rape them, sell them, or all of the above. This is a global crisis Sarah cannot ignore, especially as a mother of two young daughters. It might make people uncomfortable, but it is something Sarah says we should be uncomfortable about. She is a freedom fighter, able to use art as a platform and tool to raise money and awareness for such a great cause. You’ll want to hear this one.Art bypasses age, cultural, and language barriers for a global impact. Sarah’s creativity started with doodling. She was on a basketball scholarship in college and went to Brazil to teach kids basketball. Sarah, not knowing the language very well, used doodling  to communicate with the kids. She realized that art was a way to bypass cultural and language barriers. She wanted to inspire people globally and found a breakthrough in art. Art crossed bridges and equalized people from all over the world. Soon, Sarah found herself going after a BFA, studying to be an artist. The move to performance art came because no one teaches how to make a living at art. Historically, students pursuing art have a lot of jobs. Sarah, like most of her classmates, took up waitressing. One day, she decided she would either do what she loved, or starve trying. Sarah started an art business, combining her love of art and using it to communicate and entertain across barriers. About half of Sarah’s current performances are improvised. She does more mental prep than actual paint planning. Her courage is contagious and will have you pulling out a paintbrush by the end of the episode.

[Tweet "“Have a go, ya mug.” ~ Sarah Rowan Dahl’s Australian inspiration."]Addressing the result of devaluing art and creativity.

Why do so many people opt out of creativity? Why is it dismissed in the corporate world or silenced in adults? Sarah says that there has been a recent embrace of the arts that was missing since the rise of the Industrial Revolution. There was not an artistic encouragement to most people’s lives and the fear of fitting in or gaining approval silenced so many. Sarah’s mission is to inspire people to get rid of those inner fears holding them back. If you just try, you might find that you actually can be creative. Sarah understands the mocking of a blank canvas and is her own worst critic.