Inspiring Conversations with Monika Hilleary of LightDance Studio | Monika Hilleary

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monika Hilleary. 

Hi Monika, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Creativity and art have been in my blood since early childhood, when I already showed evidence of having artistic abilities.

My early drawings and paintings took a turn towards photography and by the time I was 21, I opened my first photography studio in the small Iowa town, where I grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River. Prior to my first studio, I approached various photographers that ended up becoming my mentors. Some I worked for, in exchange for learning, and absorbed all the knowledge and experience that I could, like a sponge. More formal training also included Winona School of Professional Photography.

I paused for a while to have a family and later re-entered the workforce after some life changes became necessary due to a toxic first marriage. Relocation to a larger town as a single mom of 2 daughters, opened up the opportunity for a “real job” working for a printing company.   A later promotion was offered with a transfer to beautiful Colorado, which to my delight directed my journey westward. That position led to another, which involved starting up and managing a satellite office for a Military Contractor providing imaging /mapping services.  When after several years, that company decided to pull that office back to the main headquarters in Texas, I declined to move with it.

As stressful as being unemployed was, it was probably the best thing that could have happened. It didn’t take much time for me to start back up my photography business as a portrait and wedding photographer. After many sessions  photographing people, I started incorporating commercial photographic work and before long, that type of work became primary to my business.

While working more and more commercial photographic projects, I was asked to photograph some buildings. Architectural work is quite challenging, and was especially in the days of large format film. I was mostly self-taught as there just wasn’t much for training available in this area of photography. My architectural work turned into a specialty, where all work was obviously done on location and the demand was great. Few photographers were specializing in architecture and least of all female photographers at that time. From there my portrait studio was sold and I went on to become one of Colorado’s top architectural photographers, primarily shooting high-end residences in the various mountain resort towns. For 12 of those years, I was also the main photographer for Vail/Beaver Creek, Steamboat, Breckenridge, and Summit County Magazines as well as various other well known magazines.

After a number of years, it came time for another major shift when my husband, was eligible for an early retirement. He formulated a plan for us to move to New Zealand. WHAT??? I always thought we were going to end up in Sedona, AZ.  Giving New Zealand a try, I soon jumped back into a much lighter workload of photography as a freelancer. It was hard to let go of the successful business I had developed in Colorado, but honestly, I was a working fool. With a lot of traveling and very long hours, hauling a lot of heavy equipment and mostly working late into the nights for perfect lighting. Slowing down and letting go by this move to an island country took a while, but it was a good choice in the end.

We traveled back to the states when it was winter in the southern hemisphere, which happens to be  summer here, to stay close to family. After going back and forth for 7 years, I became ill and in need of a kidney transplant, so we stayed full time in Sedona, which fortunately was only 2 hours from Mayo. That was 7.5 years ago, and only because my oldest daughter who offered me the gift of life, by donating one of her kidneys, allowed me to get a closer match from another live donor. We did a 6-way paired exchange that day with 6 live donors and 6 recipients all at the same time. So I guess all along, I was meant to end up in Sedona.

Since living full time in Sedona, I re-focused all my work on fine art, which I find tremendously therapeutic. I have captured many landscapes in Sedona and the southwest. My “Ancients” image won 4 different awards alone, after being curated into an exhibit by a guest judge from the Phoenix Art Museum.

In recent years, I have let my creative freedom flow, literally by going off the tripod for the first time ever and using a technique I like to call “camera painting”. The resulting images are multiplied through camera effects and movements in a single but long exposure. The compositions come together and verge on soft painterly abstraction. Since I also paint abstracts, this particular style of work speaks to me as it’s caught between the worlds of reality and abstract….and this really excites me.

Of all the forms of photography I have worked with over the years, this is my absolute favorite. Depicting fleeting images allows me the most creativity and celebration of freedom in the open air, passion, the addiction of creating, and the challenge of trying to be different than each artist before me. The need for calm and simplification in both my life and artwork come through in my more recent contemporary works.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
My primary struggles have been working around health issues, although I never let that stop me. Even though you would probably never guess by looking at me, as mentioned, I had a kidney transplant and continue to live on anti-rejection meds for the rest of my life.  This compromises my immune system and with the seriousness of Covid, this certainly isn’t a good time to be compromised.

The failure of my kidneys was likely brought about by the fact that I was diagnosed a Type 1 Diabetic when I was only thirteen. Not to be confused with Type 2 Diabetes, Type 1 is an autoimmune disorder. and requires insulin in order to stay alive. Since I am considered a very brittle diabetic, my blood sugar can crash very suddenly, can and has gone to the point of rendering me unconscious. Throughout my career, I’ve always had photographic assistants that also had the added job of keeping an eye on me and getting sugar into me if dropping low. Over the last decade, I now have some tools to make things somewhat better, such as a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump. They are merely tools that help tremendously, but after all these years treatment still has such a long way to go.

Over the last 5 years, I now have two incredible service dogs, which I am crazy about and are my lifelines. In addition to formalized public access training, my husband and I have trained them both to detect and alert me to my glucose dropping low. They most often are more accurate than a blood glucose meter. These two pups are my other major passion, not to mention so full of love and my velcro guardian angels.

We’ve been impressed with LightDance Studio | Monika Hilleary, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Personalized attention! I love it best when I have a direct consultation with clients, as I can really give them advice and things to consider with what might work best for their needs. Additionally, I’m also able to do a mockup of their space with the artwork (even framed) rendered in place on their own walls. This is an invaluable aid to help visualize sizing and how it fits the space once they email me a photo of their own wall(s). The bonus for me is getting to know my collectors and making many new friends along the way.

My online storefront is where you are able to purchase various size prints on a selection of different media, such as Fine Art Prints, Canvas, and Aluminum. Other offerings are also available as more customized options including the addition of framing and other media along with wallpaper. Really the options are endless.

In addition to working directly with clients, I also work through several art consultants, residential and commercial interior designers, and galleries.

Raku Gallery, in the ghost town of Jerome, AZ is one of the best local galleries for my landscape work and carries a number of my top selling images.

Any big plans?
My future plans include trending toward even more minimalist work with both photography and mixed media paintings. I’m looking forward to the day that I can feel comfortable traveling again, especially to the ocean for abstract images both from land as well as aerials. I can’t wait to get up in a chopper again and photograph with the doors off!

If only we can  get past Covid and make things safer again, this will open up many more opportunities.

Contact Info:

• Email: art@lightdance.net
• Website: www.lightdance.net
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/monikahilleary.lightdance
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/lightdance.net

Image Credits
LightDance Studio | Monika Hilleary