Artist • Writer • Author • Editor • Accessible Travel Expert & Tour Coordinator
Annabel Valerie Sclippa is a multifaceted artist, writer, and marketing professional whose rich cultural background and personal resilience have profoundly shaped her creative endeavors. Born in Southern France near Limoux, the original birthplace of sparkling wine, Annabel’s early years were marked by a diverse upbringing that spanned continents, including China, Africa, New York, Colorado, and Arizona. This eclectic upbringing instilled in her a deep appreciation for varied cultures and artistic expressions.
At the age of 17, Annabel faced a life-altering car accident resulting in a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed. Demonstrating remarkable resilience, she navigated these challenges with grace, allowing her experiences to enrich her artistic voice. Her art, deeply personal and transformative, reflects themes of survival and metamorphosis, resonating with audiences on a profound level.
Professionally, Annabel has significantly impacted Arizona’s cultural and business landscapes. As Vice President of the Cottonwood Old Town Association, she played a pivotal role in revitalizing the area, attracting winemakers to establish tasting rooms and transforming Cottonwood into a sought-after wine destination. Her marketing acumen further extends to her role as a social media strategist for Sedona’s New Day Spa, where she crafts engaging content that enhances the spa’s online presence. Annabel is also an accomplished author, with works like “Blood, Bones & Bliss: Transformational Slam Poetry on Love,” where she captures the essence of love in its various forms.
Annabel’s journey is a testament to her indomitable spirit, artistic talent, and unwavering commitment to community enrichment. Her diverse experiences continue to inspire and influence those around her, solidifying her reputation as a dynamic and influential figure in Arizona’s cultural scene.
The Artist
THE EUREKA WINE ROOM, Tasting Room Hosts
The LADY AS LANDSCAPE series is a personal reflection of life-saving surgeries, paralysis, and healing, as shown through a process of transformation of trauma into beauty. They examine the physical body as the place where the process of life is reborn; incorporating trees, flowers, earth, fire, water, cityscapes, and sky. The expression of stagnation to freedom portrays overhauling paralysis through images of roots, rocks, bubbles and flowers imbedded in healthy, beautiful bodies.
More broadly, LADY AS LANDSCAPE represents in Sclippa’s words,
“the body as landscape, seen through the beauty of the woman: woman as earth, mother earth, how we put roots down (dryads), become the sun (morning moon over mountain), are nourished by nature (skin like bark, hair like leaves, movements of water cascading, bleeding with the moon’s cycle), brightened by flowers (are flowers), stimulated by thorns (acupuncture, thistle, rose thorns), burned on the pyre (“witches,” healers), soothed by stone (hardened into soft marble statues, muscles rubbed out by rounded pebbles), enlivened by love (bubbles bursting forth, water dancers crashing in waves)… and the landscape we wear as the history of our existence (scars, lost organs, burst hearts-breaking, limbs akimbo, bags under eyes, big teeth that want to show themselves, arches of backs that wish to bend further, hands that cannot grasp their desire or that free them as well, breasts swollen with children unborn, atrophied muscles, missing faces, all heart and blood, life in motion)..
I am inspired by many woman of the Verde Valley whom I’ve met that are dynamic survivors, a homage to the history of this land. They have cheated death only to become more beautiful, strengthened by the sheer will to survive and often having hidden the struggle. They are a reflection of the desert itself, in it’s ability to replenish from vast desolation, to bear flowers and fruit.
Presenting:
“Since people frequently refer to me as a mermaid, not using my legs, and floating along over the ground. Plus, there are all those movies like ‘Splash’ with Daryl Hannah, and various plays where the chick in the chair ends up in a tub unfurling her tail when no one is peeking. I want to embody this beauty and playfulness.”
The Artist
Presenting
Her “Transformation” series are a reflection of her life experiences through traumatic surgeries, paralysis, suffering through an autoimmune disease, and heartbreak. Expressed as a process of transformation and transmutation of trauma into beauty. They examine the physical body as a rebirth place for the process of life, incorporating flowers and wildlife, or an expression of freedom within the paralysis through images of mermaids, flora and fauna = freedom and healing.
Let us keep you in touch with our artistic journey.
Annabel V. Sclippa
