Victoria Zurkan, licensed marriage and family therapist and painter based in Portland, Maine, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore how the impulse to understand people and the impulse to make art are, at their core, the same. With roots in animation studios in San Francisco and Budapest and graduate training in psychology in London, Zurkan reflects on the winding path that brought her to Maine and to a body of work entirely her own.

Now painting with a clearer sense of intention, she shares how her latest series was born from a simple question: what would happen if something unexpected appeared in a quiet winter landscape? From the ways drawing can serve as a portal into the unconscious to her plans for teaching portrait painting at the South Portland Community Center, Zurkan reveals how curiosity about the human experience continues to guide both her clinical work and her art. This conversation invites listeners to consider how creativity can be a form of healing, and how the act of making something is a gift worth giving yourself.