Our Founder
Heather Maas has lived and breathed the arts since she was old enough to pick up a pencil. She comes from a long line of home-taught artists, who taught succeeding generations. Her own arts instruction began under her mother, from whom she first learned drawing, painting, fiber arts, and the sort of crafting that might be termed folk art.
From that early home life to the present, she has worked in art galleries and in custom jewelry, shown her work in galleries, and passed on her family's arts legacy to her own children, as well as whichever children show up at her house on any given day.
The creation of Circle Dot Line LLC was several lifetimes in the making and Heather's way of formally widening the circle to her community. She began with the idea that art as a practice is critical to so many life skills: patience, fine motor control, resilience from failure, respect for effort, creativity as a problem-solving function, and self-regulation. Art is also critical to personal fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment, and enjoyment, which makes it the perfect vehicle to teaching those less-exciting skillsets in a manner that feels more like play. This is not only valuable to children, for whom life is play, but also to adults, who do not play nearly enough. Creativity does not have an age limit, but like any skill, it does need to be tended to stay useful.
In her personal life, Heather practices embroidery, watercolor and mixed media painting, found object assemblage, and Western calligraphy as well as several dance styles. She has a particular passion for making art out of recycled and repurposed materials, which permeates the curriculum she has designed for Circle Dot Line LLC.
