Meet the Give Grief A Voice Artists & Writers
GGaV Artists
Lea K. Tawd
Lea is a mixed media artist, Reiki Master, creativity coach, and author of “Creativity Unstuck: a toolbox for making more art.”
Her artwork is an illustrative, mixed media exploration of the divine feminine. She uses Reiki energy healing to help connect with the Muse and to infuse her work with healing.
leakarts.com
Her artwork is an illustrative, mixed media exploration of the divine feminine. She uses Reiki energy healing to help connect with the Muse and to infuse her work with healing.
leakarts.com
Joy Cha
Joy Cha is a Los Angeles-based artist.
Jessica Johns
Jessica is a fine line pen and ink and watercolor artist. She has always been passionate about art and using it to bring joy to others.
As a former nurse and mother herself, she considers it an honor to work for the GGaV project.
jessicajohnsdesign.com
Dianna Fontes
Dianna's creative nature grew out of a childhood centered in making the most of what is available. Dianna creates in multiple mediums and loves to collaborate and make commissioned work out of what's left over.
Justin Jude Carroll
Justin is based in Portland, Oregon, and has a background in theater, music, and teaching. He has returned to visual arts as part of his recovery from a brain injury suffered in 2015. His work is now primarily abstract painting with acrylics.
justinjudecarroll.com
McKenna Marvin
McKenna creates traditional media paintings and illustrations using watercolor, gouache, and pencil from her studio in Portland. Her paintings consist of chromatic, dreamlike beings and seemingly angelic motifs drenched in sunset, twilight worlds.
She studied art in Tokyo, Japan where she received a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art.
mckennamarvin.com
She studied art in Tokyo, Japan where she received a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art.
mckennamarvin.com
Vanessa Smith
Vanessa is an artist and graphic designer located in Corvallis, Oregon. While more traditional art techniques including painting and drawing have been prominent in most of her life, she ended up choosing a career in graphic design. She most enjoys creating artwork inspired by nostalgic emotion, bold colors, children's stories, and mythology.
GGaV Writers
Lisa Reit
Lisa is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. Amanda's story was the first one she helped tell for the Give Grief a Voice project.
She's received a fellowship to the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and attended the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in the Tahoma Literary Review.
She's received a fellowship to the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and attended the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in the Tahoma Literary Review.
Jasmine Pulido
Jasmine Pulido is a Filipina American writer-activist (essayist, playwright, poet) in Seattle, Washington. She contributes regularly to the South Seattle Emerald, writing articles reflecting deeply on race, racism, and marginalized communities.
She is currently writing a full-length play entitled, “The Master’s Tool” that weaves together the biological, social, and societal implications race has on BIPOC folks who choose to engage in racial equity efforts. She also intermittently writes in her blog, “Shameless Jas,” where she unapologetically discusses shame and explores all the topics we are too scared to talk about because of it.
She is currently writing a full-length play entitled, “The Master’s Tool” that weaves together the biological, social, and societal implications race has on BIPOC folks who choose to engage in racial equity efforts. She also intermittently writes in her blog, “Shameless Jas,” where she unapologetically discusses shame and explores all the topics we are too scared to talk about because of it.
Elisha Palmer
Elisha is the co-founder of the Knox Blocks Foundation which was started after her son, Knox Owen, passed away to SIDS at 3.5 months. The foundation provides Owlet Smart Socks to families in need.
She spends her time advocating for babies without a voice, bridging the gap between the parent loss world and non-loss world on her blog Spaces Between You, and spending time with three very busy earth children and husband.
After Elisha participated in the Give Grief a Voice project herself in 2020, she became a writer for the project.
She spends her time advocating for babies without a voice, bridging the gap between the parent loss world and non-loss world on her blog Spaces Between You, and spending time with three very busy earth children and husband.
After Elisha participated in the Give Grief a Voice project herself in 2020, she became a writer for the project.
April Arevalo
April is a poet, short story writer, and researcher based in Austin, Texas. She is passionate about telling hard stories about her Indigenous Latinx community, loss, heartbreak, and joy in the midst of a pandemic.
When she's not reading or writing you can find her in a dance class or walking her three-legged senior Pug, Puggy.
When she's not reading or writing you can find her in a dance class or walking her three-legged senior Pug, Puggy.
Ryne Jungling
Ryne Jungling is a writer and encourager from Mandan, North Dakota. Since losing their son Anders in an unsafe sleep situation at daycare in 2019, Ryne and his wife, Rachel, have been educating and promoting sleep safety in various ways. In 2020, the Junglings were participants in the GGaV project where they shared Anders's story with the world. Ryne writes on his blog at rynejungling.com and is currently an Area Director with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in central North Dakota.
