about britt
Newport Beach–based artist and healer Britt Michaelian creates paintings that combine Jungian symbolic forms with a guided meditation for the collector's personal wellness practice. Her visual language centers on the circle — layered, radiant forms that reference mandalas, ritual, and the human desire for wholeness. In Jungian art therapy, the circular form is associated with integration and psychic balance. In Michaelian's paintings, it becomes a contemporary, sensorial motif that is graphic, calming, and deeply personal.
Her studio process incorporates 528 Hz tuning forks, powdered mineral pigments, and Reiki — a complementary therapy now used in integrative medicine programs at major hospitals, with recent research indicating measurable reductions in patient anxiety and pain. As a Usui and Karuna Ki Reiki Master, Michaelian brings the practice into the act of painting itself: a discipline of attention, presence, and intention embedded in the making of each work.
Trained in both fine art and clinical practice, Michaelian holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and master's degrees in Art Therapy and Marriage and Family Therapy. Before devoting herself fully to her current practice, she worked as an expressive arts therapist with pediatric, oncology, and heart-transplant patients — experience that continues to inform the emotional clarity and intentionality of her work.
Each painting is accompanied by a guided meditation, extending the experience beyond the wall and allowing collectors to engage with the work as part of an individual wellness practice. Michaelian's paintings are held in private collections worldwide and have been exhibited across the United States, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara.
She is the founder of Healing House, an art-and-wellness gathering built around her 7 Daily Healing Practices, a framework for personal restoration and intentional living that is also the basis of her forthcoming book. Healing House and her therapeutic art have been featured in the Los Angeles Times and other publications.
Education
Notre Dame de Namur University, MA - Art Therapy
Notre Dame de Namur University, MA - Marriage and Family Therapy
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BFA
Otis College of Art & Design, Foundation Program
University of Southern California
Certifications & Healing
Usui and Karuna Ki Reiki Master
BQH Quantum Healing Hypnosis Practitioner Certification
California Pacific Medical Center, Practicum
Certification in Expressive Arts Therapy in the Hospital Setting
Ordained Minister
Selected Galleries & Exhibitions
2026 Healing House at The Ecology Center, San Juan Capistrano, CA
2026 SCAPE Gallery, Corona Del Mar, CA
2026 The Healing Power of Art & Artists: The Healing Power of Color
2026 Healing House at Lido Theater, Newport Beach, CA
2025 Invitational Exhibition “HerStory” 2025, Manhattan Arts International
2025 Healing House at the Peace Dome at Ecology Center, San Juan Capistrano, CA
2025 Invitational Exhibition "Love, Peace, Unity and Hope" to Celebrate Manhattan Arts International's 25th Anniversary
2024 Artventure Juried Exhibition, Costa Mesa, CA
2024 Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
2024 Healing House : EXPANSION at SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA
2024 Abstract Frequency, Weinholt Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2024 The Healing Power of Color 2024
2023 The Healing Power of Color 2023
2023 Manhattan Arts International: HerStory
2023 THE PEACE WITHIN at Healing House, Laguna Beach, CA
2022 The Healing Power of ART: Resilience 2022
2006-2010 Private Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
2006 Sundance Film Festival - Self Magazine Luxury Lounge, Park City, UT
2006 Kana Manglapus Projects, Venice, CA
2006 Stricoff Fine Art, New York, NY
2005 Cannonball Fine Art, San Anselmo, CA
2005 Blue Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 LIMN - Ligne Roset Showroom, San Francisco, CA
1999 Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Associations
National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society
Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS
“Britt Michaelian is an extraordinary contemporary abstract painter and a quintessential artist/healer. Her transformative paintings emanate a universal and eternal presence of equilibrium, tranquility, and restoration. Repetitive circular shapes and patterns serve as profound metaphors for the wholeness we strive for within ourselves, the interconnectedness in our human relationships, and our bond with our environment.”