TONI QUEST
New-York, USA
'Curator, Educator, Designer, and Award-winning Artist'
Member Putnam Arts Council, Putnam County, NY
BIOGRAPHY
Toni Quest is a portrait artist, public speaker, curator, jewelry designer, and author. In her recently published memoir, Actualized, a Life in Progress, she candidly tells the stories within the story of her life. Her book is based on the instructional plan she wrote in graduate school. The plan, Self-actualizing Portraiture ©, earned her an MAED in adult learning theory.
Her award-winning piece, 'U.S. in Us' is featured on the cover of the anthology, View from the Middle of the Road, Volume II, U.S. in Us ' (PRA Publishing). A selection of her poetry is featured in the anthology as well.
As a jewelry designer, Quest launched the Energy Stoners TM Jewelry Design Salons. Attendees gather, in the spirit of comradery, and enjoy food, wine tasting and music, while engaging in jewelry design instruction which features her expert instruction, utilizing genuine quartz and other quality energy stones.
In her books, and through her paintings, TQ bears her soul and her affinity to the collective consciousness of humankind. Her intent is to provoke emotion and thought, thus inspiring constructive communication.
Toni Quest teaches 'Self-Actualizing Portraiture ©, a course founded on how she taught herself self-portraiture after a debilitating accident in 1994. She later formally wrote the instructional design for this course while in graduate school in 2008. Her instructional design focuses on the needs of combat veterans who suffer from the symptoms of PTSD. She has also taught her course to others in need of a creative and constructive outlet for self-actualization.
Currently Toni Quest is engaged in a number of creative endeavors, including commissioned paintings, jewelry designs, books, and curatorial projects. Most recently, Toni Quest was appointed as a permanent juror for the Mondial Art Academia, in Aimargues, France.
Within her local and global communities, Toni Quest volunteers her time to interview artists and business people on local and internet television. She genuinely embraces a global mindset, with the intention of sharing and exchanging creative ideas.