West Columbia woman uses art to heal

When Pam Borawski learned she had painful fibromyalgia, the West Columbia woman went searching for her own cure. Listen as Borawski explains how she found relief through spiritual healing now embodied in her artwork.

By Taylor Estes
April 20, 2017

Of all the red, green and gold spiritual healing objects arrayed on the table in front of Pam Borawski, the gold rimmed piece she calls a piece of Kintsugi artwork clearly is special.

It’s a Japanese concept, says Borawski, of West Columbia, who patiently explains the purpose behind each of the polymer clay shapes she has made: “When china breaks, they don’t just toss it out. They mend it with pure gold or silver.”

Hope – and mending – is central for Borawski, who was diagnosed 20 years ago with painful fibromyalgia. Many of these objects she sells through Sacred Spirit Design promote the spiritual healing she says she’s found.

“My hope is always that my art can make people feel good, in any way they need, because that’s what the art has done for me,” she says.

Borawski, 45, says her interest in spiritual healing grew from the diet a holistic doctor prescribed that immediately eased the pain.

With a little research, Borawski, who says she’s had an interest in art since she was young, found that some holistic doctors use art forms like the polymer clay figures she makes, as well as crystals, to promote healthy energies.

“This illness has taken its toll on me just as much mentally as it has physically,” she says. Making the art, Borawski says, gives her “a renewed sense of hope and improvement in my mental health.”

Borawski’s husband, Randy, says there were days when he couldn’t persuade his wife, who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about a year after they were married, to leave the house. But now, he says, she often takes trips into town and spends more time in nature. She agrees that she’s enjoying her time now more than ever.

“Some days are easier than others,” she says. “But the art helps.”

Columbia Voice sat down with Borawski to discuss her journey to spiritual healing and how it has changed her life.

• This excerpt has been edited for length and clarity. (Listen to the full podcast).

So how did you get started into creating artwork and selling it professionally? …

I’ve always been into creative kinds of things. I started out doing a lot of photography, and then that kind of moved into writing poetry. And I used it at first not really to sell it to anybody, but more of a catharsis to help what was going on with me, because with my illness, I was inside a lot, I couldn’t really get out at first. And so I would take photos … just as a way to get out and have something to do. …

My whole basis of my company is my artwork, is about spiritual concepts, or concepts about the Earth and the energy of crystals and things like that. … I just started getting so many pieces of the polymer clay and jewelry and things, and my mom said, “You need to find a way to start getting rid of this.” … So that’s when I started last year going to craft fairs. …

So you said that you enjoy creating spiritual art in relation and helping your illness. If you’d like, you can discuss your illness briefly and maybe what forms of spiritual art have helped you, and maybe what spiritual art means to you? …

In 1996, less than a year after I was first married, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It’s a very painful disease, and I basically just was living every single day of my life in pain, and I could not get out, it was so severe. …

And then of course when you’re in pain for so long, it starts hurting your emotional well-being. … I’m very connected to the Earth. … Even my bracelet here, it’s fire, Earth, air, and water, and I just feel connected to the different parts of Earth. I feel like things have spiritual energy, like crystals have different spiritual energy. One of the most common ones that people know is rose quartz. It has a very peaceful energy to it.

And so as I started learning these things, it actually helped my emotions. … So I started looking up different concepts, like the one that I showed you before with the gold. That’s a Japanese concept … Kintsugi … and what they do is when china breaks they don’t just toss it out. They’ll mend it with pure gold or silver. And to me it was more than an art style, it was a concept of just because you have things that have hurt you in the past and maybe you feel like you’re broken, you can still be beautiful and you can still mend that. …

Do you have any particular piece … that means the most to you, that perhaps follows that line of thinking or any other line of spiritual wellness that makes you feel good?

Well I really do like the two pieces, I have a pin and a necklace that I did with the Kintsugi in mind. … Some of the things that I make are, I guess you could call them prayer beads or meditation beads, and it’s using the concept of the crystal’s energy with it, and those mean a lot to me. …

Even if you don’t believe that a crystal or whatever you want to call it does not have energy, there’s still something psychological about having something to hold that makes you feel peaceful. It’s like people with teddy bears, you know? The teddy bear is not magical, but it is because it makes you feel better, it connects you to something. … I think that some of my things people like even if they don’t have a spiritual connection or religious connection…

So how did you get into learning about spiritual beads and spiritual energies with art? …

Growing up, I was in a very, very strict Christian environment, super strict, almost to the point where I might call it a cult. … And so I was searching for something because I knew that wasn’t right. And so that’s when I started, I traveled, I’ve gone overseas for a few things – Cyprus, Germany – and I just started learning about different religions. … At first, I was just I don’t want to have anything to do with spirituality, I don’t want to have anything to do with religion, because it’s all fearful and it’s all just hardship on people. But then I realized, no, there’s more. The crystals, plants, flowers, the sun, the wind – all these things give to us and are here to give to us happiness and joy. …

So I just decided that I would find out what it is I connected to … and so it was kind of a meandering little path to it until I actually figured out exactly what I wanted more my path to be as far as spirituality, and not really religion, but just spirituality.