Born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, Sophia Kelly Shultz grew up in house where art was like breathing; creation could occur at any hour of the day or night, and the medium in which it manifested was never predetermined.

As a child, she was introduced to sketching, pen and ink drawing, colored pencils, and various types of paint; later, her best friend’s mother, who also happened to be her 9^th grade Home Economics teacher, taught her her first embroidery stitches. While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, she discovered a niche doing portraits of science fiction conference attendees in fantastic settings. Her almost simultaneous discovery of science fiction costuming and 1980s bridal beadwork, combined with inspiration from her needleworker college friend has inspired award-winning beadwork and embroidery, including her accidental crazy quilted robe, My History’s Embrace, which was based on one of her paintings.

Art is also part of Sophia’s spirituality, and she feels that empowering people to do art is among her callings. She also has a working relationship with chaos, via the Egyptian god Seth, who is in fact not the Devil (that’s what they say on the all-knowing, all-seeing internet!)

She is the author and illustrator of three publications: The Stone Circle Oracle, The Promethean Oracle, and Seeking the Spirits of Palo Kimbisa (all published by Schiffer Publishing in Atglen, PA.)

Cheered on by David, the most tolerant husband in the world, she works in her attic studio, on the second floor, or in the living room of their 140-year-old house located in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, shared with an enormous rock collection,a young and enthusiastic English Springer Spaniel whose best friend is a spirit dog,, and a very small, very bad cat.

Scheduled for this year:

• It’s Not All About Death: Reading the Egyptian Amduat for the Living