Bio
My name is Jessica and I am an artist, writer, and musician. I have a B.A. in Art and Art History, and a "Me-hD" in natural healing. American born and raised, I traveled for several years in Romania and Hungary before getting parked back in the US for long-term maintenance of chronic illness, when Joyclam Studio was born. Now in remission after 10 years, I am a dual resident of Budapest and Vienna, with my Transylvanian husband (who claims he's not a vampire but I have my suspicions). I love art, music, world cultures, self-healing, the life and teachings of Jesus, and have a big crush on cognitive neuroscience.
This website is my pearl, my art, and my offering, fully designed, photographed, written, and maintained by yours truly.
Mother-of-Pearl
The name comes from an actual typo that appeared in a church bulletin when I was a baby. It became an occasional nickname growing up, and eventually turned into a fitting artistic identity.
“How could you reach the pearl by only looking at the sea? If you seek the pearl, be a diver..." -Rumi
In 2015, after repatriating to the US from Europe, I began weaning off of pharmaceutical antidepressants after 16 years of SNRI/SSRI use for "hereditary chemical imbalance," with severe discontinuation / withdrawal effects. Then in 2016, I found myself infected with Lyme disease, Babesia, and Bartonella from an undetected tick bite. These infections were slow to respond to treatment, leaving me with debilitating symptoms, reduced physical and mental capacity, and bringing my life to a screeching halt. After the failure of Western medicine and worsening anxiety and panic, I dove into the sea of self-healing, Chinese Medicine, and nutrition. By 2019 I realized not only did chronic illness come with PTSD that needed to be treated, but the original "clinical depression" and chronic fatigue were themselves manifestations of C-PTSD, childhood and religious trauma. 2020 brought the challenge and the opportunity of learning to heal my nervous system (and the immune system along with it) and reinvent myself during a pandemic. Thankfully this mess also brought frequent encounters with grace, a deeper (and deconstructed) relationship with God, and a whole new relationship with my Self. By 2022, I was declared in remission from tick-borne diseases and off all medications, and began a slow crawl toward reintegrating life off the couch. I am returning to my European soul and my roots of art, music, and writing, letting it flow through pain and joy, fear and hope, rather than be blocked by it. Always a work in progress.
About Joyclam
"They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls." - Charles Spurgeon.
Natural pearls are formed when a bivalved mollusk, like a clam, launches a defense mechanism against a foreign substance. It envelops the irritant with layers of nacre, creating a beautiful pearl from what was once a dangerous invader.
Like a clam, my days are infiltrated with misfortunes and irritants. Over time, Love - call it God, Grace, Spirit, Source, or Truth - envelops my circumstances like nacre, and layers of experience and refinement turn them into pearls of joy, hope, and faith.
Joyclam is a strand of rare pearls, strung together on the thread of my life, dug from the seas of affliction.