Emilee Bozic

My name is Emilee Bozic. I was born at the Great Lakes Naval Base on January 19, 1970. I grew up in Grayslake and fondly remember riding my bike along the edges of cornfields and swimming and ice skating at a little pond at the end of our street. I was a brownie, Girl Scout, ballerina and oboe player. My mom remarried when I was 13 and we moved to Vernon Hills. In High School my new friends were part of the 'alternative' crowd and we often went to Chicago. I took a drafting class my senior year and realized my love of it. So, I went to the University of Illinois at Chicago to continue my study of Architecture.

During my third year, I studied in Versailles and traveled all over Europe. It was there that I began drawing organic forms. I graduated in 1994 and was unemployable. During my six years at college, architecture had shifted from hand drafting to computer systems. I wasn't prepared for this, nor was I interested. My love was hand drawing.

After college I learned about feng shui and studied in San Francisco and Boston with Professor Lin Yun. I became a feng shui consultant. At the same time, I had been working at the Four Seasons Hotel Health Club as a desk attendant making friends with the many massage therapists, as well as working at a neighborhood coffee shop. There, I met my husband, Peter. We married in September 1997 and a few months later moved to Asheville, North Carolina. I went to massage therapy school and opened my own practice. To be of service to my many pregnant clients, I also became a doula. 

We had our first daughter, Sonja, on Valentine's Day 2002. A few months later, life spiraled us back to the Midwest, just miles from where we were from. We moved to Woodstock in November 2002. (My massage office has been packed away in a corner of our attic ever since.) My new profession began: stay-at-home mom. We had our second daughter, Helen, in March 2004. We have spent the years here making our house a home and raising our daughters in a special, almost 'old-fashioned' way.

I have always brought my pens and paper along with me on this journey. Drawing has been the 'hobby' that I always go back to. For me, the act of drawing is a meditation, a reconnection with nature and the organic process. Drawing is a moment when I am at one with myself, peaceful and contented.