About
Visual Storyteller/Photographer/Solo Traveler
Designer-Publisher: The Wandering Muse: Update on An Unrealistic Life: https://conta.cc/35LvBBa
Despite majoring in language and literature, I became an artist, creating large-scale aerial sculptures for public spaces and teaching artist residencies to squirrelly kids. In between, I traveled from Pittsburgh to Paris, Borneo to Buenos Aires taking photographs and collecting stories. Very unrealistic, according to my family who urged me to get a real job. I grew up in the heartland of Indiana far from the sea, so in 2009 I sold everything to live near an ocean. Puerto Vallarta is now home base, if I'm not traveling nomadically. My upcoming book, An Unrealistic Life: The Art of Following Your Dream without Getting a Real Job, entwines my artistic journey with profiles of other creatives who are pursuing their passion outside the confines of the 9-5. Projected launch date is June 2025. The Wandering Muse, my periodic newsletter, features cultural glimpses of my travels, international and domestic.
Featured Work
Work in Progress: An Unrealistic Life: The Art of Following Your Dream without Getting a Real Job
Defying her brother’s warning that her lifestyle was “simply unrealistic,” artist Elena Hiatt Houlihan embarked on a quest to discover others who dared to venture beyond familial and societal expectations. An Unrealistic Life: The Art of Following Your Dream Without Getting a Real Job describes the struggle and euphoria of being an artist; romance and betrayal; travels from Pittsburgh to Paris, Borneo to Buenos Aires; profiles of real people who have braved the odds to do what they love.
Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher: photographers capturing African tribes' ephemeral ceremonies; Eddy L. Harris, whose acclaimed book Mississippi Solo recounts his journey battling the currents in a canoe; Natasha Moraga, whose vision created a sparkling mosaic park in Puerto Vallarta.
An Unrealistic Life is a collage of art, photography and adventurous tales entwined with the lure of tango and the creative dance of life. Are your dreams withering in a job, a city, a marriage? This memoir calls you to embark on your own inspired journey of creativity and discovery.
