“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Works of beauty is a global art to art palette

     To Felice Willat, photography is an invaluable tool in presenting the common denominator of beauty within a world too far divided.  Her travels have provided a closer view of our neighbors that inhabit seemingly strange places to most.  Felice has made it her life to capture the essence of beauty through the realism of countries foreign and uncomfortable to us, presenting a view that moves us closer to their lives.

     Willat began her interest in photography and far away lands in 1989 when she attended the Kumbh Mela in India.  Her tourist front quickly faded as she sat in a small boat, surrounded by a group of pilgrims, women and children, on the way to the sacred waters.  The small camera that kept her distance from the natives suddenly stopped working and she found herself face-to-face with strange people in a strange land.  Forcing herself to look around and mingle with the foreigners, Felice began to blend in with the sameness of a world that suddenly, was not that far divided. 

     Returning home, Felice couldn’t stop thinking about the people halfway across the world and studied her photos carefully, seeing the scenes in an entirely different life.  It was then that photography became her life.  Studying with Claire Steinberg on the elements of the design in photography, a discovery of how color, space, form and texture could portray feeling to lives that many have never known.  David Skernick was also a leading figure for Felice in the digital world of technology, one that she continues to work with today.

     As her art in photography progressed, Willat became involved with the non-profit organization, A Window Between Worlds (www.awbw.com).  AWBW is dedicated to using art to help end domestic violence in the U.S.  She developed the Day Runner personal organizer, Tools With Heart, guided journals and created inspiring images to send positive messages.  Throughout her personal developments, Felice began featuring photography on people around the world.  A trip to Burma provided many exquisite photos of people in need, plagued with disaster but a proud nation nonetheless. 

     Willat comments about a trip to Burma in Southeast Asia, “It was a quiet time in Burma and I was once again connected to the gentle people in their fertile land as they worked in their fields, bathed in the lakes, wove fabrics from lotus flowers and pounded gold into fine leaves.  I learned how the once richest country in Asia is now the very poorest with more boy soldiers than any other country in the world.”

     Felice Willat has written several books on her travels that are dramatized with photography that captures the essence of a world in need.  Proceeds are given to organizations to help improve conditions in a world that offers little solace for peace and to offer a better life as so many of us know it.  You can learn more about Willat by visiting her website at www.felicewillat.com for upcoming exhibits, journals, notecards and her continuing work.

     Willat has found her place in life through the art of photography with vivid images of the real issues that exist in different societies plus natural surroundings that bring a sense of beauty to the turmoil.  Share with her the importance of hope and caring by entering a place where we find much too simple to ignore.  Learn how to better manage your time with the tools that are available and make the decision to act.

     Felice lives in Topanga, California with her lifelong partner, Ed O’Neill.  She has three daughters and one granddaughter and enjoys working in her organic vegetable garden when not on photo expeditions.

Editor’s note: Full print download – PORTRAIT OF FELICE WILLAT