Rick Belden
Poet / Author / Artist / Men's Coach

Art has been an important mode of creative expression for me throughout my entire life.

Restoration of my relationship with my artist self, which was strong in childhood and then lost in adolescence, has been an important element in my process of healing, growth, and actualization for many years now. In an essay on this topic called "Growing back into art" I say:

"It's easy for me to see, although I wasn't fully aware of it at the time, that the Iron Man Family Outing project was every bit as art driven, every bit the product of an artist, as it was the product of a writer, a dreamer, and a poet."

This page contains some samples of my artwork. Media include collage, Sharpie art, Xerox, felt tip pen, processed photographs and images, and sandtray. You can click on the images below to zoom in and see captions.

Additional Information

"Growing back into art", my essay about the loss of relationship with my artist self and my ongoing process of restoration of that relationship, is available as a PDF in the "Creative Path" section of the Best of the Blog page on this site.

Words + Pictures

I've also been exploring combining my poetry with images (art and photos), both my own and those created by others. A few examples:

• "arrow": Poem with processed image by Rick Belden.
• "samurai flower": Poem by Rick Belden with image by David Jewell.
• "virus": Poem by Rick Belden with art by Staci Poirier.
• "winter prayer (solstice 2010)": Poem and photo by Rick Belden.