Rooted in the Making: Creative Women of San Diego pt. III
Part three: Josie Sardina
Grounding the Work
Josie Sardina identifies as a San Diego Native. She is a woman who wears many hats and is well known throughout all of San Diego from working with the youth to finding new ways of self expression. You can follow her on IG at amazinjosie and arti4gotabt.
In being asked to describe her creative practice using her own words, she identifies movement (yoga, dance), painting, drawing, photography, and travel to name a few. Something that I feel she left out here is that she also sketches – and she’s quite good at it. She speaks on ensuring that she doesn’t give herself the “ick” by not feeling tied down by guidelines or thinking too much about the process.
When asking about resistance and how she works through it, she identifies comparison as a big one along with her ability to notice when she’s doing exactly that and turning it off in order to flow. Wellness, to her, means connecting with her ancestors and indigenous people through her art of storytelling, sound bowls, and meditation.
The Path Inward
A pivotal person for Josie and her self expression is that of her father. She shares that he was a very creative person and was heavily involved in the arts including a breakdance group by the name of San Diego breakers in the early '80s.
Josie speaks on wellness being seen as that of a taboo, “Italians have a saying around not airing out your dirty laundry… keeping things close to you and being secretive. I really didn’t learn about vulnerability until I established safe, meaningful friendships.” In discussing her experience in accessing care for her wellbeing she mentions that growing up therapy was seen more as a privilege than that of a need. She once met for an initial intake with a provider who made her feel “Like that overall I was ok… what I was coming in for wasn’t urgent…” Which ultimately led her to feeling dismissed.
Some signals that tell Josie she might be getting off track from her flow are that of control, filtering, or micromanaging her feelings. She shares that part of this could be due to having learned about vulnerability at a later stage in her life. “As a kid I always had to be chill, not question much. I think learning to be authentic and expressing myself has definitely evolved.”
Restoration
When feeling vulnerable in her work and looking for a bit more support, she leans into acceptance, humor, and laughter or as she likes to say, “Let’s see what happens.” Josie speaks to working with youth, specifically that of prevention, as feeling the most restorative to her. This looks like teaching kids how to identify their emotions and building some awareness around such.
As we wrap up, Josie highlights that ultimately she’s a nature girly who enjoys tapping into a vast array of her creative outlets – whether that be movement, photography, painting, or sketching. Throughout this interview she’s actively stretching and welcoming her infamous laugh that can be spotted from across the room.
