My name is Julie Wan Hsieh, and I live in Seattle, Washington. My story is that of revelation, revelation of my true self through journeys. My first journey came at the age of six, when my family moved from Taipei, Taiwan, to Dallas,

Texas. I felt shy and out of place in this new country, worked hard to learn the language without an accent. I have a musical year which helped. I also developed a big singing voice and joined my school choir in the sixth grade. By high school, I was taking voice lessons and entering vocal competitions. Singing helped me to get out of my shell, developing my self-confidence. I wanted to be an opera singer and attended vocal performance summer workshops. My parents thought it was a hobby and recommended being a doctor or a lawyer. I ended up deciding to go to Stanford and was pre -med while continuing to take voice lessons and performing for fun.

I continued down the path of becoming a doctor more as an obligation than a calling.

I did it. I got my medical doctorate, completed a residency in family medicine, and opened up my own private practice in the Seattle area.

After seven years of seeing patients, I decided to quit my practice and move my family, my husband, and two small children back to Taiwan. I felt there was something missing in my life, and went on a journey, my second journey, to find it. In Taipei, I was walking in my neighborhood and saw a DIY Art Studio. I went in, picked up some acrylic paint colors and brushes and started to paint on a canvas. I hadn't painted since I was a child. The piece that materialized was red and explosive like a fire that was inside me all this time waiting for me to discover it. My heart palpitated from excitement as my creative energy unleashed itself. This was 2016.

The start of my newfound passion and career in the art field, as an artist and the founder of Wanru Gallery. One of my most inspiring and memorable experiences as an artist was a one-week artist residency in Rome, Italy at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome. The director of the museum was a filmmaker and anthropologist who converted four exhibition rooms into glass artist studios. Every week, four artists would create art in their glass box studio with onlookers observing the creative process. For this artist residency, I brought a large roll of paper and two jugs of paint, along with my large handmade brush of hemp rope. I was truly inspired by the entire experience of creating art in the birthplace of art, Rome. Thank you for listening to my origin story revelation of my true artist self through journeys.