A Journey Of Healing & Art with Gigi Wilborn

Artist GW Harper, known to her Serenbe neighbors as Gigi Wilborn, is represented by a number of Atlanta galleries including Dogwood, Kuali Studio, and the Chatt Hills Gallery, and she is a former Goat Farm Arts Center studio member.

In this episode, Gigi tells us how her painting career was jumpstarted by her husband's gift of a weekend away, what is was like to be a nurse during a pandemic, and how she's combining her passions for healthcare and art.

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Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

Monica Olsen (1s):
Hey guys, it's Monica here. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast that I've started with my very good friend, Jennifer Walsh called Biophilic Solutions. Our last season of Serenbe Stories, building a biophilic movement, was so popular that we decided to dedicate an entire podcast to it every other week. Jennifer and I will sit down with leaders in the growing field of biophilia. We'll talk about local and global solutions to help nurture the living, social and economic systems that we all need to sustain future generations. More often than not, nature has the answers. You can find Biophilic Solutions on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and follow us today so you don't miss an episode.

Monica Olsen (41s):
All right, now let's get back to Serenbe Stories. Artist, GW Harper, known to her Serenbe neighbors as Gigi Wilborn is represented by a number of Atlanta galleries, including Dogwood Quality Studio, The Chat Hills Gallery, and is also a former Goat Farm Art Center studio member. In this episode, Gigi tells us how her painting career was jump-started by her husband's gift of a weekend away. What it was like to be a nurse during the pandemic and how she's now combining her passions for healthcare and art.

Gigi Wilborn (1m 15s):
For years I forgot and it wasn't until three years ago where my husband knew I was a creative and surprise me with a starter art set with an easel and everything. And he sent me to a hotel without the girls for two nights and said, I want you to paint your heart away. I've been painting ever since.

Monica Olsen (1m 36s):
Hi everybody. Well, I want to welcome everybody back to Serenbe Stories. Today, we have artist and resident Gigi Wilburn, and we've got Steve Nygren. Hi guys.

Gigi Wilborn (1m 45s):
Great things, Monica. Glad to be here.

Monica Olsen (1m 52s):
I am super excited. I'm huge fan of all of your work. I'm also an art history major. So like, it's really like in my sort of like DNA and I get really excited. It's like sort of a, a side, beloved area of my life. So one is sort of dig into your art, how you kind of came to it. What's going on with it. But our first question we always ask everybody is how did you discover Serenbe and find yourself?

Gigi Wilborn (2m 21s):
Ooh, that's a good question. It's that serendipitous question. So actually believe it or not years ago, I had a coworker who ironically, my maiden name is Anderson. We had the same initials who were both G Anderson. I worked with her. She actually moved down somewhere, I think off Ricoh Road. And she posted about the Serenbe Inn. This was two years ago. I actually saved that to my home screen. And there it stayed for years. I've gone through so many phones and for whatever reason, when I'm cleaning off my phone, I always get to that app. And I'm like, I can't take it off. That just continued for years and years, I had another coworker tell me about Bamboo Juice.

Gigi Wilborn (3m 6s):
Just never made it down. Just randomly was down here. Actually I was at, I saw I was at a wedding at Fox Hall, discovered Fox Hall, I actually from moved from Fairburn. So I wasn't too far. Okay. And I went down one day. They weren't open for brunch. So this is how I discovered the Hill. So that is how I discovered Serenbe and I just kept coming. I just, I was in love with the place. I was just, I feel like it's the place where the land speaks to you. And it's one of those things I tell people. It's like, either you get it or you don't, it's black and white. There's no gray in between you either call or you don't, simple as that.

Gigi Wilborn (3m 46s):
So here I am.

Monica Olsen (3m 49s):
Yeah. You do hear that a lot that even between like couples or partners, like there's sometimes a push-pull of like, one of them is just all in and the other one's like, I'm not so sure.

Steve Nygren (3m 55s):
Right? Right. And the fun things, a lot of times it's switches. Which one then? 

Gigi Wilborn(4m 1s):
Right? Right. I'm actually, I've been very lucky. Reggie has been, my husband, Reggie has been all in just a hundred percent like this is not some crazy idea, Gigi has to move down here. He's, we've had honestly, no intentions of moving. And my art brought me here and we literally no intentions and we looked at each other and we were like, let's do it.  By two months later, we were here and then the pandemic hit.

Monica Olsen (4m 37s):
Right. We've had so many people move here during the pandemic. And so now how, how, I guess a really interesting question is like, how was it? And then how is it now that everybody's getting vaccinated? And people like the social life is like on steroids right now. Tell, tell me like, kind of what's happened since you've been here. Yeah.

Gigi Wilborn (4m 58s):
Well, I tell people I've never really truly experienced Serenbe yet because of the pandemic. I think we came in on my daughter's birthday, April 3rd and everything completely shut down. There was no moving. We couldn't find moving anything. It was shut down. We got our stuff in, just, think, just in time. So now it's this, I feel like it's, it's almost like, we've moved again. It's like, there's this new neighborhood. It's like you've been here a year, but you weren't in that neighborhood, it's like this whole summer, it's like, I'm so excited. It's like, now I get to see what Serenbe is about being able to go to people's houses. And it's one of those things you always think and this is the one thing I thought when i first moved here was, when does the novelty wear off?

Gigi Wilborn (5m 46s):
It's a new experience because you're able to like meet and greet your neighbors. You know, one of the first things right before the pandemic happened, when I came over for a meeting at the gallery, one of the things I noticed, and I will always hang on to that. I saw it as a cute little couple. The, the guy was holding a dish and the woman was holding a flower pot, cute little flower. And I was like, oh my God, they'e going to a dinner tonight. I can't wait to do that. And it's like, wait, I'm waiting to be that couple with the dish and the flower going to a dinner.

Monica Olsen (6m 29s):
Well and we're recording this right before 4th of July weekend, which for those of you that haven't been down or haven't lived here is just like a crazy fun, fabulous, just outdoors, you know, resident potlucks, you know, there's a really amazing parade that you know, is open to the public. It's just a lot of fun. So I think there'll be like a little coming up out party for everybody.

Gigi Wilborn (6m 54s):
 Yes. I'm excited that ironically, just yesterday, my daughter was riding in the car and she randomly says, I never want to leave Serenbe mom and dad, we can make that happen.  My oldest, my oldest, Audrey is eight and my youngest Reagan is six and they will be actually starting Acton in the fall. So it's just kinda like, they're super excited. They're just like anytime Reggie and I go somewhere, the first question is, is it in or out of Serenbe?This is a whole world to them.  Like, are you leaving our Serenbe? So no they're in love with the place

Steve Nygren (7m 36s):
 Free range kids. That's one of the biggest things we had. Exactly. And it's built their confidence as kids, their independence. It's just, I can't, it's amazing. I'm watching them grow and being responsible and just being, it's huge. I'm just in love with Serenbe. 

Monica Olsen (7m 50s):
We love that.

Steve Nygren (7m 59s):
They thought a university should study the Serenbe kids and study them for the next 40 years to see the difference.

Monica Olsen (8m 11s):
Oh my God. That would be interesting. Really interesting. So Gigi, tell us how you got into art because you are by day a nurse. Yeah. And so tell us your trajectory,

Gigi Wilborn (8m 31s):
Oh wow. That's, that's an interesting story. So I basically, I've been a creative my entire life. Basically when I decided to go to college, my mom basically told me, I'll send you to school to be one thing. And one thing only has to be a nurse. Anything else you can finance yourself. Didn't really have too much of a choice there. She wanted to be, my mom is actually great, were great creative herself great with interior design. However, growing being born in 1943 in the south as a black woman, you don't exactly get a chance to be an interior designer in the south.

Gigi Wilborn (9m 14s):
So brothers who were older than her sent her to school to be a teacher, she pretty much followed the same thing. Send me to school to be a nurse. She told me I have to put away my childish things. And so I forgot. For years, I forgot. And it wasn't until three years ago where my husband knew I was a creative and surprised me with a starter art set with an easel and everything. And he sent me to a hotel without the girls for two nights and said, I want you to paint your heart away. I've been painting ever since. Oh my God, I just got chills.

Monica Olsen (9m 48s):
Oh my god, I just got chills.

Gigi Wilborn (9m 54s):
So initially I bought a house at a house built in 2005. Of course, being that age, I can't afford real art. So I remember not even having an easel. I remember very vividly being on my foyer on puppy pads. I put my canvas on the puppy pads and I painted this, these two pieces of work just to have something up in the house. 12 years later, we sold the house. As I'm getting rid of stuff like, you know, we just need to decompress. People are like, oh my God, would you, would you sell that artwork? I'm like, what, what, you want to buy that. So I ended up selling it. And ironically years later, the person that bought actually my very, very first piece fell on, kind of fell on hard times.

Gigi Wilborn  (10m 42s):
And I told him, I was like, I would, I'll buy that piece back from you for like triple the amount you paid for it. He told me I will never sell it to you. I will never sell it to you. I treasure it. I will never sell it. And that just does, did something to me. And I've literally been painting ever since. Our routine was, we would put the girls to sleep and I wanted to make sure I had gotten to the point in my life where I wanted to do something different. I was like, I can't keep making excuses, waiting for this, waiting for the perfect studio, waiting for X, Y, and Z. It's not going to come. You have to live your life in that. Seize that moment make it work in my kitchen.

Gigi Wilborn (11m 23s):
So my husband would cook and I would paint every single night. And that's how I have all the artwork. That was just a release. And I just started just getting into this art world and just loving it and just coming up with new ideas and allowing my art to, you know, expand. And, and that's actually, my art brought me here. I actually was looking after Aker Egan at the Hill. Of course, I'd walked down to the gallery and I, Judy Walker and Linda (inaudible) were in there and I just casually asked them, how do you procure your artists? And they were saying, you know, we're a, co-op, we're not really looking for any artist right now.

Gigi Wilbirn (12m 6s):
And they asked, you know, was I an artists looked at my artwork while I was standing there. And I guess we started following each other on social media and probably a year later with eating at the Hill again, randomly Judy comes out and she stops and she's like, Gigi, I've been meaning to get in contact with you. We want you to join the gallery. And literally I was like, let's move.I had no intentions of moving. None, let's move. Let's go. We initially it was going to build a house, huge house that we realized, no, we don't need all that space, you know? And it just wouldn't materialize. And we came here and I was like, this is an ironic, Reggie just told me yesterday.

Gigi Wilborn (12m 47s):
He's like, this is the best decision you've made, absolute best decision that you have made. It's like, and he's like, I'm glad I, I'm glad I went with you on this one. I'm

Monica Olsen (12m 58s):
I'm blown away. That it's only been three years. I mean, I know that you had done that original piece early on, but your work is so layered and thoughtful and infused with emotion and ideas. Can you tell us a little bit about, I mean really Gigi, it's amazing. Well, and I'll tell our listeners where we're one of Gigi's pieces is going to go up publicly. Once we get it printed in the coming weeks. So everybody will be able to come see it, but, but you do sort of abstract images, acrylics, watercolors, mixed media, layered pieces. Can you tell us sort of like where that started, you know, just sort of the medium, and then let's talk about, I'd love to talk about like, kind of how the pieces, you know, sort of speak to current events a little bit.

Gigi Wilborn (13m 54s):
So basically I, I started with abstract just to kind of get my feet wet, you know, learning about the different mediums. So I was used in acrylic. My favorite to work with, however, it is the mixed media on wood finished in resin. That's definitely my favorite to work with also work with (inaudible) and I'm learning oils, which is, I swear, that's not even art, that's sorcery.  It's just a whole 'nother beast. With my mixed media pieces, however, that are, actually ironically started. I had actually a coworker who I hadn't spoken to actually in years, she reached out to me and randomly said, suggested that I go out for a exhibit, but they had the criteria was you had to work on a canvas that was 10 by 10.

Gigi Wilburn (14m 46s):
And I'm like, who in the world works on something that small and where would I find that. What is happening? So anyway, I figured I'll get a piece of wood 10 by 10. That's easy. So I randomly came up with that concept and before I could get the keys to the actual gallery, someone bought it. Wow. So I had to make another one It got it. I took it to the gallery and someone bought it a few days later. So I had to make another one to stay in the gallery. So that's how those started. Those type of pieces started. It was me literally just continuously making these different pieces and it just became a thing.

Gigi Wilborn (15m 30s):
And I just, I love, I love doing it. And it's just, I, a lot of them, I think I like key because there's so many layers to them. I like to infuse a lot of subliminal messages in them. It's, it's, it's the background on that is, it's almost something it's unfortunate. It's probably this person's worst experience. It's something ugly, but I infuse it with flowers. I put them in a bed of flowers. I'm uplifting them, I'm taking something bad and turn it into something good. When you initially see it, you see the flowers, you see the color and it's like, oh, that's pretty.

Gigi Wilborn (16m 13s):
But then when you actually look at it, it's like, oh, that's much deeper than I thought it was going to be. That's what I like to get out of. You know, when people see my artwork, now I let it, let me just make pretty pictures. I like to make something that actually has some type of statement.

Monica Olsen (16m 31s):
Yeah, no. And, and you did, you were saying, I think before we got on that, one of your more well-known pieces is actually a nurse that you had painted during COVID. Can you tell us a little bit about that one?

Gigi Wilborn (16m 45s):
Yes. That one was actually a painting from a selfie I took during COVID. It was literally, it was marking the day that I was done. I was done with traditional nursing. I was done being collateral, what I felt was collateral damage. I was done being a warm, warm body. I was done having to walk into these rooms and have patients say their final goodbyes on an iPad. I was done having to have wear respirator for 12 hours. I was done having to fight for a mask that could potentially save my life.

Gigi Wilbiorn (17m 29s):
Like I was done with all of that. This isn't why I'm in nursing. I just felt like it was just like, I was another number and it just really made me, it made me see my own mortality. And when my girls, I come home and my girls are like, no, you can't touch mommy. And she has to shower first. Yeah, that'll make you sick.

Monica Olsen(17m 49s):
Well, when you've pivoted, right. So tell us a little bit about what you're doing today. You're still in healthcare.

Gigi Wilborn (17m 56s):
Yes, very much so. I just recently opened was a mobile. Now it's mobile and I have a physical location, IV hydration. So I do IV hydration pretty much. I, like I said, because I had to look at my own mortality. Serenbe was the start of a huge shift for me. I realized, especially as an emergency room nurse, I'm giving out band-aids. How can I, how can I promote wellness on the front end? Hmm. As opposed to on  the back end where either you're already sick or I'm not making anything better, I'm just handing you a bandaid. You're going to come right back.

Gigi Wilborn (18m 38s):
Now, it's let's promote wellness. Let's promote, you know, staying healthy before we get sick, less promote, less having these discussions because even individuals who may not even qualify for my services, I still have discussions with them on their health, how to improve your health, what can you do? Right. And then I'm, I'm in the process of infusing that with my other passion. So it'll be, I'll be having soon, I'll be having drip and paints. So you can have your IV hydration, and I used to give a lot of paid parties before COVID so you will be able to do for the hour that you're sitting there infusing you can paint with Gigi.

Monica Olsen (19m 22s):
Oh my gosh. Thats incredible.

Steve Nygren (19m 23s):
That's so, it's so innovative. Is anybody doing anything like that?

Gigi Wilborn (19m 27s):
 I have searched and searched and apparently I am the first person looks like. Thank you. I can't find anyone else is doing it. I guess, you know, most people that are nursing, not necessarily artists too.

Monica Olsen (19m 43s):
Now, were you self-taught when your husband gave you that kit, was that sort of the beginning or you had taken some classes before or was that just early days? 

Gigi Wilborn (19m 53s):
No, I'm entirely self taught.

Monica Olsen (19m 56s):
Have you thought about at all doing anything or, I mean, your work is beautiful, but I just think I'm so impressed that that's all just you, just time in.

Gigi Wilborn (20m 7s):
Thank you. Thank you. I just started well, right after I moved in, soon after I moved in, I took, I started taking oil classes with Melinda. So I'm starting to do more of the oils, but all of my acrylics, all of my resin pieces, all of my guash pieces, those are all, self-taught. The one I have in the Daisy, the bumblebee in the Daisy; those are all self-taught. 

Monica Olsen(20m 32s):
Amazing, because Melinda Lively is another resident here for our listeners. And there's a space here called the Paint Space. And you can take classes. Are you doing one-on-ones with her or is that in a class? I've heard a lot of residents that really, really enjoy her.

Gigi  Wilborn (20m 46s):
 She is an absolutely amazing teacher because I'm more of, I never knew that until I took classes with her. I'm more of a graphic artists. Like I say, oil is a completely different, you got your thought process changes. How you look at trees, apples, everything completely changes. So I took about two months worth of classes with her and now I just go over, I have canvases in the Paint Space and I periodically go over and work on those. 

Monica Olsen (21m 19s):
Oh, I love that. Well, I'm definitely gonna we're we'll put up some of your paintings and a link to your website on our a show note. Tell me, so will you be doing any of the IV painting here or is that going to be in your space, your current IV?

Gigi Wilborn (21m 36s):
Both. Yes, definitely more so probably with, especially with the painting more so mobile, just for space. I have, like I said, my, my physical space is a much smaller space in, off of Moreland in Atlanta, but yeah, definitely, definitely. We'll be doing mobile with that one. I'm really excited about that trajectory and where that takes me. That

Monica Olsen (22m 1s):
That is great. And so tell us a little bit for those who don't know what IV hydration is. Cause I, cause I mean, we just may just assume that people understand that well, will you explain what that is and what the benefits are?

Gigi Wilborn (22m 13s):
Yes, yes, yes, definitely. So basically you're only, I tell people you're only as healthy as your gut is, you know, and a lot of times our stomach, we don't absorb half the nutrients that we need, especially with, you know, certain foods, different vitamins, even as multivitamins that we take, especially vitamin B, B complex. Our gut, isn't set up to absorb those type of vitamins. We only absorb about 9%. What you take orally. The best way to get, get it is either intravenously or in your muscle as a shot. So that basically, you get what we call a 100% bioavailability, which is, it goes directly to all your organs.

Gigi Wilborn (22m 59s):
They are water-soluble vitamins, which means you're going to eventually excrete them. No different than any vitamins that you intake while you eat. But it's really, it's a lifestyle. It's a, it's a wellness lifestyle. A lot of my vitamins infusions and collect, magnesium, which is great for like headaches, migraines, the heart calcium, great for, you know, muscle (inaudible). B vitamins, selenium, zinc, which is great for thyroid. It's just a combination. And I'm at the point now where I'm starting to do custom drips. 

Monica Olsen (23m 36s):
Oh I was going to ask about that because it sounds like there would be sort of, do you, would you take somebody's blood and do an analysis and then, then create a custom? Or how would you do that?

Gigi Wilborn (23m 46s):
Right now, we're not doing any blood analysis just yet. A lot of clients will have, you know, recent blood work from their doctor's office. They bring that in. We'll do analysis from that. And basically based on people's symptoms, client's symptoms, You know, are you having headaches? Are you, what's your past medical history? I do a complete screening before we do any type of injections, but yeah, I just pretty much get a complete history and just listen to the client, see what their needs are to make a regimen that suits their needs the best.

Monica Olsen (24m 20s):
No, I love that. And, and did you think that all that you would ever combine, I mean, is your mother still with us? Like, would she be blown away that you've combined these two things together? 

Gigi Wilborn (24m 31s):
Yes, it's crazy. But you know, it's the crazy thing. My mom is so old school. She's my, I swear I can't, I just cannot, I can't get her to the other side. She's just one of those types of people where she's just like, I can't believe you moved all the way down there and she lives in Southwest Atlanta. Have you lost your mind? You're doing the art now. You, you know, you quit your job, like what's going on with ya and I just said, Mom, I have a dream. I want to combine my passions. These are the things that make me happy. I became a nurse because I want, I also want to make people healthy. I don't want to see them just in sickness or worse, especially as an emergency room, I've done trauma.

Gigi Wilborn(25m 14s):
I've been a flight nurse, jumping out of helicopters. I'm pretty much done. Yeah. I've pretty much done it all. So it's just, I want to see people, I want to be able to encounter people at their best and not just their worst. I always, I've always gotten the bad side. I want to encounter them. Let's talk about you staying well, as opposed to trying to turn this around and it's gone too far. Right. You know, so yeah. 

Steve Nygren (25m 52s):
You know, Gigi, we have, we have a few instances where the parents have thought it was crazy. Just all sorts of things. And then the real fun is when the parent decides to move here. You never know, once your Mom visits a few times, see some of the things we're going to be doing to age in place.

Gigi Wilborn (26m 1s):
I love it. You know what Steve, you know what, you know what, that is my goal now. That is definitely my goal to get my mother to move in to Serenbe. 

Monica Olsen (26m 13s):
Yeah, Gigi, she probably just needs a tour with Steve, you know? Yeah. I think so too.

Gigi Wilburn (26m 21s):
Yeah. I think so too. I love it. I love it. She just hasn't gotten it yet. I'm, I'm still holding out hope that she'll she'll eventually get it.

Monica Olsen (26m 28s):
Yeah. I love it. I'm so excited that your girls are going to Acton and in the fall, that is going to be so cool that they'll be able to like walk to school.

Gigi Wilborn (26m 36s):
Yes. That's what we're so excited about and actually it was their art teacher at Acton for this last semester. And just being able to just know the kids and just see how they interact. I just love it. And it was just like, this is perfect. I just want to be being immersed in that. And you actually see what happens on a day-to-day basis. It was just a wonderful opportunity and then to be like, we want to be parents of state of learners here.

Monica Olsen (27m 12s):
Yeah. There's something that's another one of those amazing things that we forget that having a neighborhood school, whether, you know, whatever kind it is to, that sort of brings the whole community together and around, you know, we've lost in so many of our schools, you know, there's, there's districts have gotten so big that there or they've closed schools. So I think it's really exciting to have an opportunity to sort of bring the kids together and they can all kind of not only go to school together, but sort of live down the street from each other and the families know each other, which is really lovely. I do have to go back to the jumping out of the plane, by the way.

Monica Olsen(27m 54s):
I love that. So explain that. What in the world, I mean, had you ever, how did that come about? What, what is that?

Gigi Wilborn (28m 2s):
Okay, so I was actually, okay. It doesn't even get better. I was actually working on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona when I saw a flight nurse come in and I remember asking her, what is you job description and how to get the client, that nifty aircraft. She told me. So when I came back to Atlanta, I looked into it and I applied and was, I worked for Emory Flight for, I think, two and a half, three years, and even started to do the, what they call fix wing, which is the Lear Jets that go all around the country. But yeah, for the helicopters, they were shut down the highway and I would be the person that would come and take patients to hospitals, especially places that were more in like the rural type areas where they didn't have a trauma center close by.

Gigi Wilborn (28m 56s):
It was amazing because you just really had to think on your feet, you're in this helicopter, you're thinking of, you know, your safety with the helicopter, trying to keep everyone safe and you're caring for the patient simultaneously. So it was an amazing, amazing experience. And I would probably still be doing it, but just like, oh, I'm just a little bit, a little bit that's in my, my, my young days

Monica Olsen (29m 20s):
Once yuhave kids suddenly you're like rethinking some of the choices, you know?

Gigi Wilborn (29m 24s):
Right. Exactly, all of the choices. So, yeah, it was, it was amazing, amazing experience. I got to put all of my trauma nursing, working at Grady, all my critical care skills, ER, ICU merge, all of those and able to care for someone that needed me most. 

Monica Olsen (29m 44s):
Well, I'm so glad that you've been able to sort of find this sort of, you know, still do the work that you love of caring for people, cause that's so important, but I, I can't even imagine what you've gone through this past year and I'm so happy for you that you've sort of found this, you know, a little more glorious place to live in. Not the Serenbe, although that is glorious, but I meant sort of for you personally kind of finding your space and wellness. I just think it was a really tough year for everybody. But I think for, for the nurses and doctors, like I just,You know, you know, thank you guys so much for everything that you did for everybody. It was incredible.

Gigi Wilborn (30m 30s):
Incredible, but it's crazy. Serenbe has a crazy thing. It's not about just the neighborhoods, ironically, it's the community. I didn't know I needed. I never knew, I never knew I needed it. You know, I was about to go, you know, build this huge, fabulous house with neighbors that wouldn't even probably speak to me. And I was in a neighborhood for 12 years. I can not pick my neighbor out of the lineup. Could not. And here it's just like, you're inspired daily. I walk to my car, I have neighbors that know me. I'm, you know, I walked to the Daisy, you have that comradery, but you don't know need until you have it.

Gigi Wilburn (31m 16s):
So it was now it's kind of like, even when I was crazy and I go to Atlanta, or just leave Serenbe just like, oh, I'm inspired. Even going into the Paint Space. I'm inspired by the level of art, you know, the creativity that keeps me going, that keeps me pushing. What's my next level? What's the next thing I need to do? Always. And I don't think I had, I had that drive, but it's just [inaudible] power right now, since I've been here. You know?

Steve Nygren (31m 58s):
And I think what we see is during COVID, a lot of people started reanalyzing their lives and it, well, you came into the early and it sort of all sorts of accidents. Other people have really started this year. I think analyzing what is it that they're missing? And started coming to those conclusions. 

Gigi Wilburn (32m 39s):
It's crazy. And it's just like, you look at your own self, what you're doing, you know, what legacy you're going to pass on to your children? You know, what do they, how do they see you? And that's another reason I even put my, my young daughter, daughters in my artwork. I want them to see their faces in modern art. It's like, wait, your mom didn't paint you like that. I want that to be their norm. You know, I'm trying to change the way I was raised. So to speak, not saying that it was bad or anything, but I want to give them that extra push.Yeah, you can do it. And you can be an entrepreneur. You can be, you can do whatever you want to do. You just have to sit down, you just have to, you just have to make a plan. That's it. You've got to make a plan. You're going to fail. That's okay. That's a part of that. But you have to get back up and you have to pivot and you have to do something different. 

Monica Olsen (33m 3s):
In teaching the kids to go after things, with hope and an open mind and an open heart, rather than fear, I think is something that is invaluable to give them.

Gigi Wilburn(33m 12s):
 Oh my goodness. And I think a lot of times with parents, they mean the best, but they don't realize they pass their fear to their children. 

Monica Olsen (33m 23s):
We model, we model for them. So it's important. I know Steve, I think you had a last question for Gigi.

Steve Nygren (33m 30s):
I do, but there's something I want to say to, to touch in. I think we have to be clear Gigi, your piece of art. It's being printed. It's going to go up on the wall at the Hill. And I think it's kind of ironic that it's going to go at this step where you first discovered Serenbe.

Gigi Wilburn(34m 12s):
Oh my God. Wow. Oh my God oh wow. My business is Essential Wellness 360. Circles. I just told somebody that today circles, I literally a few minutes ago, just tell everybody about the circles.

Monica Olsen (34m 20s):
That is wild. Thank you for pointing that out. 

Steve Nygren (34m 26s):
The other thing is, I think your story of how you came back into the art is a love story. This needs to be reprinted or done for Valentine's Day. Monica let's, let's get a Valentine's story on, on that entire thing. It's just beautiful. And then, and then your husband agreeing to cook. So you could, yeah, no, he's amazing. He said he saw something in me that I couldn't see myself. I was told you can't do that. And I just, I went with it and didn't know why I was so unhappy. And now it's just like, I look guys, I'm living my best life right now.

Gigi Wilburn (34m 44s):
  Yeah, no, he's amazing. He said he saw something in me that I couldn't see myself. I was told you can't do that. And I just, I went with it and didn't know why I was so unhappy. And now it's just like, look guys, I'm living my best life right now. I want everybody to know that. My best life. I love it at the heel. That's where exactly. I love it.

Steve Nygren (35m 8s):
A question we always ask everyone is for those who are visiting maybe the first time or they've been here a couple of times, but they really don't know Serenbe, what would you suggest that they seek out? What's the thing that might not be obvious as they're driving their cars around the streets? 

Gigi Wilburn (35m 24s):
 Oh, definitely the labyrinth, definitely the labyrinth. Like I took me minute to find that one. I think it, it be amongst, to be in the middle of it, there's a certain type of spiritual presence. That's definitely, if they can find the labyrinth then I, that for me, that was kind of a turning point.

Steve Nygren  (35m 52s):
That's great. 

Monica Olsen (36m 4s):
Yeah that's a great one. Yeah. Well, Gigi, is there anything else you want to share with us? I mean, I just, this has been such a great conversation to get to know you so much better.

Gigi Wilburn (36m 13s):
Thank you. No, it's just, I thank you. Thank you for having me. No, I just, I, I, you, you have to just allow the universe to speak to you. That's in general, whether it's Serenbe or, whether it's wherever you are, you have to allow and just be still sometimes when you're doubting life choices or trying to figure out what you want to do. Sometimes you just have to, oh, another place is the clock on the ground where it tells you (inaudible) just that's something that really spoke. That's something that really spoke to me. And that was ironically, see, that was before we officially moved in, we went for a hike on the trail before we moved in and I saw, and I remember taking a picture of it and I'm just like, this is just, oh my gosh, this is just, this is me. This is just it's speaking. Like, oh my God, they put this in for me.

(inaudible)

Steve Nygren (37m 15s):
It's that moment. It's a thing. We, we forget. We're on such a treadmill that we forget to be in easily. Everything we're searching for. It's just right there. 

Gigi Wilburn (37m 56s):
Yeah, exactly. It's so much intentionality. And I come in, you see, oh my God, there's just so much intentionality with Serenbe and being the mere fact that I can walk down the street and pick blueberries. It still boggles me. I was like, I am just eating blueberries off, like turn it off. Like what else can I say, I just love it? 

Steve Nygren (37m 15s):
Well, we're delighted you're here. Look forward to all the things to come and to your piece being up on that important wall at The Hill. 

Gigi Wilburn (37m 48s):
Thank you so much, so much. Thank you. 

Monica Olsen 

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