Cathy has always known that “playing” with her clay and art materials has helped her feel better and stay positive. Even as a child, her intuition told this truth. In essence, Cathy’s ability to write, create art and share with others led her to study Art and Education with a BA and MS in both. She has taught in both public and private schools and volunteered in the community. She was awarded the Pennsylvania State Teachers Award after completing her undergraduate work at Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. While raising a family, she pursued Interior Design Consulting Certification and started Liott Interiors & Mia’s Designs in 1990. For 25 years she has practiced and served many clients in Sarasota, creating beautiful yet functional designs. She presently continues Liott Interiors & Mia’s Designs on a consultation basis only.

Life’s twists and turns always brought Cathy back to expressing and healing herself through the arts. She considers creativity a birthright and after receiving a Certificate in Expressive Arts Facilitating at Expressive Arts Florida Institute, she hopes to share the healing practice with others. After an internship at Girls, Inc. last summer, Women in Search…Healing Through the Arts was born!! The work with the girls validated her childhood practice of “going in” to discover and explore creative solutions for life skills! All the modalities such as dance, movement, music, sounding, visual arts, journaling, meditation are all layered in different ways to allow for freedom of expression in a very non- judgmental way.

Cathy continues to gain new perspectives on life through her own expressive arts practice of working with clay/pottery/sculpture and multi media art. “Playshops” are designed to create a safe container for those attending to witness one another and trust the process of creating for the sake of creating! She also enjoys traveling, journaling, walking the beach, gardening and playing with her grandson.