For the love of Art, Birth & Earth
“On a microcosmic (personal) level, creation has been and will always be my compass: a way of being that animates every aspect of how I relate to life.
Macrocosmically (collectively), creation arrives in boundless forms, with a river of continuity: it’s the governing pulse we all belong to, forges our interconnection within Earth’s cosmology, and is our unified spark of ensoulment, awe and wonder.
This river of creative life force is the wellspring from where art flows from my heart & through my hands. It’s the source I connect to while accompanying mothers birth their babies and propels me to fortify, support and uplift families as they bond.
Whether I’m immersed in the creation process of paintings or the creation of families, my north star remains the same: Returning to the remembering we are interdependent with the wider world and born as extensions of the Earth. While modernity pushes the narrative of separation, my mission is to re-instill belonging — turning toward the nature of our bodies in relationship to Earth’s elements as the ultimate wisdom keepers. My birth care offerings orient from this place, and I aim to visually convey the intricacies of interconnectivity through each work of art.
I believe that art has the power to awaken humanity from separation to wholeness, alchemize pain into purpose, and bridge consciousness through a soul-stirring, universal language. I offer these paintings as an emanation from the Earth and love-note from the cosmos, to you — may this artwork be a mirror into remembering the inherent beauty and eternal inspiration of your own becoming.”
— Emma Marie
Emma's creative process, professional offerings & life are inspired daily by: the ocean and creeks, forests & animal kin where she lives, daily practices of dance, yoga & meditation, connection to ancestral wisdom and Earth-based traditions, nurturing & playing with children, and her current apprenticeship in herbalism studies.
Raised at the base of Mt. Tamalpais, the early imprint of nature immersion & regular swims in the ocean with her family forged her connection to the Earth’s elements: her greatest artistic muse today.
She lives in Woodside, California (Ohlone lands) with her beloved partner, offers birth-centered care to families throughout the Bay Area & Santa Cruz county, and creates art at her home studio, where redwood forest, rolling meadows and mountains meet the Pacific Ocean.
Biography
Emma Marie Whelan — visionary artist, muralist, holistic birthkeeper (doula) & educator, Innate postpartum care practitioner, yoga teacher and ceremonialist — lives in devotion to the vision of thriving life.
Paintbrushes, pencils & sketchbooks accompanied Emma as steady allies throughout childhood and adolescence. At age 17, in the emergence from autoimmune disease, she turned more intentionally toward creating art, and found a lasting, influential love: yoga. She has been practicing & teaching throughout the past decade, and this daily sanctuary continues to ripple into the flourishing of her artistry, birthwork & life.
In 2013, Emma expanded her visual expression from paper to canvas, and began immersive studies in the Mischtechnik approach to oil painting with her first painting mentor, Amanda Sage, in 2015. Her formal art education continued through The Academy of Visionary Art in 2016 — 2018, both in Italy and Vienna, Austria, with incredible, diverse cohorts of international teachers & students.
Emma’s dedication to her creative process simultaneously coincided with an emergent reverence & fascination with our origins: birth. In 2019, Emma studied Wachakuy: Sacred Birth Ways in Peru with a wisdom keeper of Andean midwifery — one of the pivotal initiations into orienting toward birth as ceremony, and becoming a guardian of the childbirth continuum.
In 2020, her long-wave path of studying physiologic postpartum care through the lineage of INNATE Traditions commenced, and she has found profound fulfilment in offering prenatal preparation + education and in-depth care for families as a Certified Innate Postpartum Care Practitioner.
Emma’s love for art and birth culminated in the facilitation of Mother Blessings & Belly Adornment ceremonies for mothers, families & their concentric circle of loved ones — and continues to be a central emphasis in the celebration of growing, birthing and nurturing new life as one of humanity’s most sacred rites of passage.
Her studies in the gestational, birth & postpartum realms have been ongoing, and you’re welcome to read more about her story & influential trainings in the FAQ on her Thriving Origins page. She offers her work with humility and gratitude to her teachers & cross-cultural lineage holders of original birth arts, with the commitment to share the innate remembrance and beauty of these ancestral ways with as many families as possible.
Transparency
We are authentic and genuine, and share our own story along the way. We have tried everything ourselves first, so we know it works. Everything we offer has our flair and is true to us.
Quality
The experience of working with us is elevated in every way, and our services help people feel relaxed and restored. Our products are made with only the finest materials and finishes.
Sustainability
The Earth is as much a collaborator in our projects as our clients, which is why we focus on where we live, and aim to unite our community around access to clean air, water, and energy.
