Some official stuff
For the last 36 years Monika has been inspiring women to love themselves the way they are right now. The transformations have been amazing! Her happy wearable art brand Monika Astara was a big part of it.
Now she is equally passionate about inspiring you to create freely and with lots of joy, so that - regardless of outer circumstances - you can live your life from a place of inner joy and calm
Monika's professional life started as a teacher in a prison in Germany where she taught everything needed for a GED.
Students had no books, there were no copy machines, no computers at that time. She had to be creative to keep their attention and have them graduate.
That was followed by several years of teaching in public schools - and teaching night courses for adults in a community college.
In Germany Monika had extensive teacher training, followed by teaching under unusual circumstances to unusual students.
Monika still teaches in short, fun ways with instant gratifications at every step in her current courses and in-person workshops.
After moving to the USA Monika taught some more in a community College.
In 1987 the overwhelming creative yearning took over.
Monika started making fun, comfortable clothes that make women's eyes light up - and they feel absolutely great about themselves.
She has been doing that ever since.
From the very beginning Monika has always come up with her own painting methods and patterns.
She even made Star Trek type clothing - and Star Trek jewelry with cardstock, hot glue, silver and gold foil and all kinds of crystals.
A lot of conservative men were inexplicably drawn to them - and bought them to wear and to hold.
For 13 years Monika had a boutique at a resort in Colorado.
Woman called it "the transformation place where you fall in love with yourself".
She dressed women for their daily jobs as cashiers as well as for several presidential inaugurations - and everything in between.
Over the years Monika has played with thousands of women - and some men - one on one and in groups to dress in ways that light them up.
After selling the boutique and moving to Austin she got into wholesale to wearable art boutiques and galleries around the country - as well as doing shows and private trunk shows.
The lockdowns some years ago provided the perfect "reason" to finally listen to her yearning to teach again.
With a focus on creating with sustainable joy while creating with the hands.
Monika is now teaching all of her totally innovative methods.
They are super simple and super fun. They produce what boutiques call "high-end looking, stunning styles."
Teaching and creativity are in Monika's blood.
She needs both like food and water. It shows in her teachings.
Her clients say that they have never had this much inner joy and happiness as in her courses.
Meet Monika in her online courses, on Zoom for private sessions or in person at her Studio in Austin, Texas, USA.
Monika is determined to spread joy around the world through simple, fun creative ways where people can light up with joy - and pass it on to others.
Some quirky stuff
I have always loved creating things with my hands.
But - most traditional art and creative processes either bore me - or frustrate me. I always automatically make creative processes super simple, faster and more fun.
When I was 10 I started making my clothes from old curtains in the attic.
I love improvised baking - and feeding people with yummy baked goods and great coffees.
During college years I worked in a prison for 3 years. Doing group evenings and teaching cooking and baking classes at night. In the teenage and adult wings.
During the day I did everything a social worker would have done.
In 1981 lived in a bamboo hut in India - next to a jungle - with rats, ants and an occasional python as visitors.
At the time there were no cell phones or computers or easy ways to get in touch with "home".
When you were gone - you were gone - until you hopefully returned.
And according to doctors I should have been dead after a severe food poisoning.
I met my husband of 41 years while hitchhiking in California.
13 years ago I settled down - after having moved over 40 times.
Hardware stores are the BEST!
I love all the possibilities for creating with nuts and bolts and...and...and..
A jewelry piece from my Star Trek phase - with an amazing transformation story.
You can read it below.
"My life fell apart so beautifully.
Thank you for my amulet."
This is a beautiful story of a radical transformation, facilitated by an “amulet“ similar to the one I’m holding in my hand in the above picture.
The phone rang at my then-home in Sedona.
As soon as I picked it up, a super excited voice with a slight accent blurted out : “Will you make me amulet?”
I laughed: "Sure! Who are you and where are you calling from?"
"I am Roberto. I am at my chiropractor's office in Sarasota, Florida. He is wearing an amulet and belt buckle that you made for him. Will you make me amulet, too?"
Over the next week I was tuning into Roberto. I felt like I was walking around in a space filled with love. It was utterly beautiful.
I started picking crystals and playing with a shape. His amulet came together in this meditative state that felt like a dance of innocence, purity, gentle strength and child-like love.
I sent it off. Very excited and curious if he would like it.
But there was no response.
6 months later my doorbell rang - at 8am in the morning!
This gorgeous young man stood there, eyes beaming, with the biggest smile: “Thank you for my amulet! My life fell apart so beautifully! ”
Roberto had come to Sedona to thank me in person.
We sat, had breakfast and he told me his story:
His heart had been aching to be an artist. But he was trapped in a family business - surrounded by machines.
According to their tradition the parents and the wife’s parents had arranged the marriage he was in.
He respected his wife, cared for her and felt like they were good friends. But he did not love her as a wife.
He loved and respected his parents. But his desire to create art and live life as an artist had gotten immensely strong. He wanted to live his passion.
But he also didn't want to hurt anyone. He had been yearning for a solution that would be filled with love.
When he got his amulet, he hid it. But he took it out every chance he had - and he slept with it every night, holding it in his hands, pressed to his heart. He started painting whenever he had some free time.
Eventually he opened up to his wife. Telling her about his passion for art, how he loves her as a friend but not as a wife. To his surprise his wife started smiling and crying at the same time. She confessed that she loves another man and would be so happy if she would be free to be with him.
He then went to talk to his parents, holding his amulet in one hand. They all ended up crying together. The parents didn't want him to keep suffering. They wanted him to be happy. They let him leave the family business that he was supposed to take over.
He got his own place and a studio for his art.
He decided to come to Sedona to thank me for "his life falling apart so beautifully."
