BY SUZY STUMP for WEEKLY VOLCANO 8/22/25 |
When artist Angelina Rusconi was ten years old, a family trip to Disney World unexpectedly set her on her path. What should have been a magical vacation was interrupted by a stomach bug that confined her and her siblings to the hotel room for days. To pass the time, Rusconi picked up some drawing materials and began sketching a portrait of her brother. She remembers studying his face carefully, determined to capture the details. When she finished, the likeness startled her with its realism. “It was the first time I felt like, ‘Maybe I am an artist,’” she recalled. That portrait still hangs in her parents’ home.
That childhood discovery has blossomed into a life of artistic exploration rooted in both nature and spirituality. Rusconi lives in the Puyallup Valley, where her surroundings constantly feed her work. Gardens tended by neighbors, the nearby river, and the quick drive to the Ruston waterfront are part of her daily landscape, and they appear in her paintings as trees, birds, and flowers. Just as important is the region’s embrace of creativity. “There’s a real appreciation for local artists here,” she said. “That kind of support is invaluable—it helps you feel seen, connected, and inspired to keep creating.”
For Rusconi, painting is more than craft. She calls herself an intuitive artist, and her process—known as intentional creativity—begins not with a fixed image but with a question or an emotion. She might start with a color or a phrase and then let the work lead her forward. “It’s a deeply therapeutic process,” she said. “I never know what’s going to come out next—it’s always an adventure. Along the way, I fall in love, I let go, and I allow the art to reveal whatever it wants to reveal to me.”
The results often surprise her. One of her most personal pieces, Leo Rising, began during a turbulent time in her life when she asked herself, “Where do I go from here?” She painted figures who resembled mushrooms, then spirit guides, and at the center a girl holding her heart. Over time, the heart transformed into a dandelion—the artist’s favorite flower—sending seeds into a crown of wildflowers and mushrooms. Rusconi realized the work was urging her to follow her heart, to let it grow beyond any prescribed path. The painting inspired her to create a picture book so others could trace the piece’s evolution layer by layer.
Many of her paintings are accompanied by journals and poetry she keeps during the creative process. Her piece Amber Dragonfly, the first she created using intentional creativity, inspired a five-chapter book of its own that has only been read by two people. She said the work still feels too sacred to release widely. “Most of my work contains layers upon layers of hidden meaning—stories and symbols that few people will ever fully see or understand,” she explained.
The philosophy of intentional creativity came to her through Shiloh Sophia, founder of Musea: Center for Intentional Creativity. Sophia and the women who make up Musea’s global community changed how Rusconi understood art. “It’s not just about the final image on the canvas—it’s about the process, the inquiry, the inner dialogue that happens as you create,” she said. Being part of that sisterhood gave her the courage to step into her own voice as an artist and to begin sharing her work more publicly.
Her painting The White Raven revealed to her how others’ interpretations can add meaning she hadn’t noticed. In the piece, a raven carries a heart from which a rose grows, golden roots spreading beneath it, with blue smoke rising from both heart and figure. When she showed the work to a psychic, the woman explained that ravens are messengers and that the smoke symbolized purification. “That interpretation added a whole new layer of meaning,” Rusconi said. “It deepened my connection to the piece and affirmed the healing I felt in making it.”
Though her paintings are deeply personal, Rusconi hopes viewers feel their own stirrings when they encounter her work. “I hope that when people look at my art, they can feel the healing it helped me achieve—and that it sparks some form of healing within themselves,” she said. She often paints goddesses, figures who seem to rise from her subconscious onto the canvas, and she hopes they can offer inspiration and comfort to others.
Her mission now includes teaching. With her friend Katie Beloved, Rusconi has developed a series of workshops combining yoga, sound, and painting. Each session focuses on one of the seven chakras, with the next class exploring the crown chakra on September 27 at Three Trees Yoga in Federal Way. She envisions future offerings both online and in person, expanding the reach of intentional creativity. “These classes are just a small introduction to the potential of this work,” she explained.
She also continues to share her art in the community, including the Ruston Art Walk on August 23 and 24. For Rusconi, each event is not only a chance to sell paintings but also to connect with others who may see themselves reflected in her work. “If my journey and its visual documentation resonate with even one person on a soul level, and make a small impact, that is my mission,” she said.
Ruston Art Walk, Aug. 23-24, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Waterfront Market at Ruston. More info: Rustonartwalk.org
