Hello I'm Allie Lemrise...It's nice to meet you!
I AM AN EDUCATOR, AN ARTIST, A SMALL TOWN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER, A DREAMER, A PLANNER, A CHAOS MANAGER, A COLOR ENTHUSIAST, A SHOPAHOLIC, AND A #BOYMOM WHO BELIEVES LIFE IS MOST BEAUTIFUL WHEN WE SHARE OUR MOST AUTHENTIC SELF WITH THE WORLD.
Creating is a necessary part of my life. In between keeping up with my busy boys, and working full time as a teacher, you'll find me in my home studio painting, designing, editing photos, and or creating decorations for one celebration or another. Creativity satisfies my soul and brings me a sense of calm and peace that I have never been able to find anyway else. Even in the darkest hardest times in my life, I have always turned to a creative outlet for comfort, relief. and soul searching. Creating leaves me feeling refreshed, relaxed and revived. Mixing beautiful new colors on my palette, putting a brush-full of wet paint onto a canvas, looking through the view finder of my camera, decorating my home, and even just editing my photos... each physical act of making something new feeds my soul with excitement, balance and purpose.
My home is my sanctuary. I have always known I love the comfort of my own home, and take much bride in making it look beautiful. But after surviving 365+ days of a global pandemic, and many months in quarantine, I now believe this more than ever. I believe that life is so much sweeter when we have a personal connection to the artwork and the objects that we surround ourself with. I also believe that the art on our walls can and should feel like cherished friends who bring us joy. The photos that we frame and display remind us of memories, and moments we froze in time in hopes to never forget. My passion is to make artwork and capture photos that are bright and happy, and that spreads the attitude of beautiful optimism to those who invite my art into their lives.
I'm so thankful that this is my journey. As a mother, I am discovering that the roles of artist and mom compliment and complicate one another in wonderfully unexpected ways. I try my best not to become unmotivated by overwhelm. I strive to became more driven to make my art and see it grow in new directions. My personal art-making time, where the challenges facing me are so creatively different from my other day-to-day tasks, recharge my ability to care for my family and feel happy and present. You can't poor from an empty cup or so they say. Embracing all my roles as mother, educator, and artist brings such fulfillment to my life and makes me feel more deeply that I am living my true purpose and best life. Keep scrolling to meet my children, hear my story, and get to know me better.
The Artist...
I truly believe that art is not alone just a god given ability. I believe it's a talent that is crafted through hard work, practice and effort, but I must say that Artistic talent does run in my families genes. As far back as I know of my family history (which really is quite a lot) artistic talent has been prevalent in every generation. My personal immediate family members are all uniquely gifted with an artist eye and pursue different artistic careers and hobbies.
My creative journey started with a fondness for art class in grade school, and the admiration of my big sisters drawing talents. I remember sitting and watching her work on her sketches in awe of the abilities she had. I remember on hot summer days we would name characters from our favorite movies and she would draw them life sized on the sidewalk for us. Again, I stared in awe of her talent and knew I wanted to be able to do that too. At an early age I had an interest in decorating, velvet coloring posters, and personalizing everything I owned with stickers gel pens and puffy paint.
Something I remember specifically from that season of my childhood was that NOTHING seemed impossible or out of reach. I was so young and so new and so naive to what failure could feel like that I just tried any idea that came to my mind!! My overarching confidence and fearlessness allowed me many unique opportunities at a young age. Like the day I convinced my best friends parents that I was fully qualified to painting my best friends bedroom. I chose hot pink and construction worker orange-having zero experience every picking out paint colors or painting interior walls of a home. Or the time I convinced my high school teacher to let me paint large murals on the walls of her classroom... once again having never actually done this before. Those murals still adorn the walls of child care room 175D to this day.
Fast forward to my early college years...I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. From the time I could read and write I was making up worksheets and assignments for my little sisters to do. 'Playing school' was more like actual real life school as I assigned them work and made them study and practice even in the Summer time. But my first few general education corses were just not exciting me the way I had always hoped they would. I was taking a photography class at the local community college just for fun and as an elective and my councilor asked me why I was taking that. I started telling her all about my art that was just a hobby and but something that I always enjoyed. I told her about the large murals I was painting for my friends newborn babies nursery and how much fun I was having in the photo class I signed up for mostly on a whim. She said to me that I lit up when I spoke of those things in a way she had not seen ever before. She urged me to consider changing my major slightly to Arts Education and the rest is history.
My creative journey started with a fondness for art class in grade school, and the admiration of my big sisters drawing talents. I remember sitting and watching her work on her sketches in awe of the abilities she had. I remember on hot summer days we would name characters from our favorite movies and she would draw them life sized on the sidewalk for us. Again, I stared in awe of her talent and knew I wanted to be able to do that too. At an early age I had an interest in decorating, velvet coloring posters, and personalizing everything I owned with stickers gel pens and puffy paint.
Something I remember specifically from that season of my childhood was that NOTHING seemed impossible or out of reach. I was so young and so new and so naive to what failure could feel like that I just tried any idea that came to my mind!! My overarching confidence and fearlessness allowed me many unique opportunities at a young age. Like the day I convinced my best friends parents that I was fully qualified to painting my best friends bedroom. I chose hot pink and construction worker orange-having zero experience every picking out paint colors or painting interior walls of a home. Or the time I convinced my high school teacher to let me paint large murals on the walls of her classroom... once again having never actually done this before. Those murals still adorn the walls of child care room 175D to this day.
Fast forward to my early college years...I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. From the time I could read and write I was making up worksheets and assignments for my little sisters to do. 'Playing school' was more like actual real life school as I assigned them work and made them study and practice even in the Summer time. But my first few general education corses were just not exciting me the way I had always hoped they would. I was taking a photography class at the local community college just for fun and as an elective and my councilor asked me why I was taking that. I started telling her all about my art that was just a hobby and but something that I always enjoyed. I told her about the large murals I was painting for my friends newborn babies nursery and how much fun I was having in the photo class I signed up for mostly on a whim. She said to me that I lit up when I spoke of those things in a way she had not seen ever before. She urged me to consider changing my major slightly to Arts Education and the rest is history.
The Educator...
I pursued my artistic degree at Illinois State University in Bloomington Illinois. During my time at ISU I emerged myself in art like never before. I lived and breathed in this new and exciting culture and embraced with open arms a career that did not feel like work at all but felt fun and rewarding and meaningful. I felt so blessed to have found a path for myself that felt so right. I finally felt like I found where and how I fit into the world. I found good people who built me up and made me feel confident and strong in the person I was. I met people who helped show me the type of person I wanted to be, and I made life long relationships with friends who inspired me each in a unique and different way.
Bringing creativity to peoples lives, brings me joy. As a High School Art Teacher, creating & learning have always been dual driving forces in life. I try to instill in my students a love of learning, or at the very least a sense of curiosity, and a better understanding of their metacognition. I want my students to be able to question the world around them, but also to appreciate the beauty and the wonder in a world that sometimes can look and feel quite the opposite. I hope my students leave my room, with a better sense of self, and a new found appreciation for visual art. Growth Mindset is something I instill in my curriculum and work very hard myself to learn, practice and grow each day. If you would like to learn more about my Teaching Philosophy or if you would like to view my Student Work Gallery click the link.
Bringing creativity to peoples lives, brings me joy. As a High School Art Teacher, creating & learning have always been dual driving forces in life. I try to instill in my students a love of learning, or at the very least a sense of curiosity, and a better understanding of their metacognition. I want my students to be able to question the world around them, but also to appreciate the beauty and the wonder in a world that sometimes can look and feel quite the opposite. I hope my students leave my room, with a better sense of self, and a new found appreciation for visual art. Growth Mindset is something I instill in my curriculum and work very hard myself to learn, practice and grow each day. If you would like to learn more about my Teaching Philosophy or if you would like to view my Student Work Gallery click the link.
The Mama...
This website is dedicated to my family. My career has exploded and I fell in love with the world of education and teaching in the High School Art Room. I have been lucky enough to be one of those people who always knew what I wanted to do with my life. I have always known I wanted to be an educator, and most of all I have always known my number one purpose in life was to be a Mother. After graduating college, I jumped right into my full time teaching career teaching at a small town K-8 school. My life just took off and I found myself engaged to the most amazing man, and became an auntie for the first time which as all aunties know is truly magical. I found myself enjoying the successful in my career, but my heart was yearning for more. In the spring of 2017 we found out we were expecting our first child. We were trilled and overcome with joy. We had no idea that at 21 weeks pregnant, we would find out that our dear sweet baby boy had life threatening complications and would not survive birth. We lost him after an almost full term delivery at 31 weeks and I found my world and myself forever changed.
Eleven months later, we welcomed our beautiful rainbow baby Leonardo into the world. Baby Leo restored so much hope and joy into our lives that we desperately needed. He began the journey of healing our hearts and our relationship. And in November of 2020 we welcomed our third baby, Lincoln (we call him Link) into the family.
Our journey into parenthood was like a wild, fast-paced, terrifying but life-changing roller coaster ride that we never anticipated. Through it all, we have been changed in the most beautiful ways. Today I fill my days with dinosaurs, play dough, goldfish and giggles, and I truly feel my purpose in life has never been clearer. The baby we never got to bring home is the very member of our family that forever changed our home and how I view life. The impact of Baby Oatleys' story has taught me not to hold back, and to appreciate my children, even in those really hard moments. I feel so lucky to have the privilege of being able to be a mom and experience those trying moments because I remember the empty feeling and sorrow of coming home with those empty arms. My dear sweet angel baby reminds me every day that the unthinkable can happen in an instant, and to try and not take anything for granted.
Eleven months later, we welcomed our beautiful rainbow baby Leonardo into the world. Baby Leo restored so much hope and joy into our lives that we desperately needed. He began the journey of healing our hearts and our relationship. And in November of 2020 we welcomed our third baby, Lincoln (we call him Link) into the family.
Our journey into parenthood was like a wild, fast-paced, terrifying but life-changing roller coaster ride that we never anticipated. Through it all, we have been changed in the most beautiful ways. Today I fill my days with dinosaurs, play dough, goldfish and giggles, and I truly feel my purpose in life has never been clearer. The baby we never got to bring home is the very member of our family that forever changed our home and how I view life. The impact of Baby Oatleys' story has taught me not to hold back, and to appreciate my children, even in those really hard moments. I feel so lucky to have the privilege of being able to be a mom and experience those trying moments because I remember the empty feeling and sorrow of coming home with those empty arms. My dear sweet angel baby reminds me every day that the unthinkable can happen in an instant, and to try and not take anything for granted.
MEET MY LITTLE FAMILY
KevinOur constant calm, fixer of all things, expert fisherman, food guru, and the patient thoughtful kind, hardworking Daddy that brings all of our dreams to reality for our family!
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AllieThe dreamer, teacher, momma, photographer, artist, activity planner, event organizer, and lover of all things floral & purple!
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Leonardo SeldenThe smart, goofy, fun loving, and very witty 3.5 year old who loves to play outside, read books, have dance parties, make people laugh, and old soul who very proudly wears the new title of 'big bro'.
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Lincoln DanielOur big guy, and the missing 'Link' to our family who thankfully is super chill, and tolerates all antics performed by his crazy mama and loving big bro with a sparkle in his eyes and a smile that lights up his entire face, who.
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Lyanna RoseOur brand new addition to the family, is our sweet baby girl who arrived February 2022. We are so excited to have a little bit more pink and more floral around the house and we are just so in love with her.
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The Story of Our Angel
Oatley Vernon
In order to truly know our family, there is a member of the family not pictured above but is very much a part of our life and our story. Our first born, and the little boy who made me a mommy...the child who we both dreamed of our whole life, and who's name we chose during a hypothetical conversation on one of our very first dates...our dear sweet Oatley Vernon. At 18 weeks we had a sneak peek appointment and found out the gender of our baby, in order to have an end of Summer/Gender Reveal celebration with all of our friends and family. We went all out for this event. Kevin smoked brisquet and grilled delicious meats. I searched Pinterest for months and made all kids of decorations, activities, chalkboards and cute pinterestie things to make the day memorable and feel extra special. The day of the party came, and our air conditioner broke, our guests were sweating it out under tents in our front yard in the heat of the hot August sun, our dear aunt tripped and fell breaking her elbow, and the mosquitos were out in swarms.... but the day was perfection. It was in that moment, hosting that party, that for the first time in my life I let myself feel the abundant joy that being a mother brings. I felt so loved, and so at peace and so excited for the future that this child would bring. I felt as if all my dreams in life had come true. I had no idea that at my very next doctors visit at 21 weeks, we would find out that our sweet baby boy had severe complications from a large tumor/mass growing in his abdomen and would likely not survive. Our hearts and souls broke on that day. We faced some hard decisions in the days to follow but chose to carry our baby to term, for as long as his little heart would allow. We went for weekly appointments and held our breath and cried tears of relief each week when we heart his strong heartbeat play from the sonogram speakers. We become hopeful as week after week our doctor said he could not explain how or why our little boy was still with us, but he was. He was in their mind a medical miracle to have survived as long as he did. We said hello and goodbye to our little boy at 31 weeks, November 18, 2017. Carrying a baby with a fatal diagnosis changed our lives. Leaving the hospital and heading home with empty arms and broken hearts changed us as people, as partners, and as parents forever.