There are moments when words escape us. When the mind loops and the body tightens.
Then without thinking, we reach for something to create with. Not to produce art to be consumed, but to produce something that is authentic and brings true healing.
This is where making gently becomes medicine.
When thinking of a person on the Plateau whose art and story inspire me, I thought of one artist in particular.
Michele Schwartz, owner of Divine Landscapes, photographs the Highlands-Cashiers landscape, capturing its grounding tranquility and healing.
The shutter makes its sound just as the sunlight spreads across the ridge. For a moment, everything aligns. The body and mind still, the breath becomes relaxed, and the world is held in a single frame. This is the quiet power of making art – it brings us back to ourselves.
For Michele, this process begins with an open mind.
“I leave my house without an exact plan of what I want to capture,” she explains. “I look for what moves me. And more often than not, Mother Nature shows me what she wants me to see.”
The act of making begins to do its quiet work. In that instance, art becomes something more than creative, it becomes restorative.
Michele says, “When I’m out there, surrounded by beauty, I don’t think about any problems. Nothing else matters.”
And even on the days when it would be easier to stay in, she says, “I’ll push through, and it never fails, I’ll catch the most incredible sunset. It feels like a gift.”
What begins as a personal return often becomes something shared, carrying that same sense of presence and feeling with it.
Admirers of her work are often brought to tears.
Michele states, “These places are in their backyard – it reminds them of why they were drawn to this place.”
That’s part of the medicine, too. Not just making art, but the quiet way emotions ripple outward. The artist follows what moves them, and gives others the gift of feeling something they may have forgotten how to access.
Sometimes, that’s all the medicine we need.
In the early summer of 2026, Michele will open her gallery, Divine Landscapes. The gallery will be located in Village Square, convenient to Kelsey-Hutchinson Founder’s Park in Highlands.
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