Miriam Wagoner
About the Artist
Miriam is the artist behind Art of Truth and the co-founder of a spiritual education company called The Second Paradigm.
As a spiritual mentor, she regularly helps others to connect with who they are as the soul. As an artist, she creates pieces that do the same. Her custom Art of Truth pieces serve as a constant physical reminder of the unique beauty of our soul’s essence.
But even beyond capturing snapshots of people’s unique soul essences in custom pieces, Art of Truth also captures fleeting moments and feelings and brings them to life.
Whether it’s a person, place, or thing, everything has a unique energetic. Miriam’s gift is capturing that core feeling in this unique visual artform.
What we’re left with are stunning colors and textures that help us connect to the feelings we cherish most.
Art of truth
About the Art
My relationship to Art of Truth has been passionate and deep. It’s a love I can’t explain.
I started creating Art of Truth in March 2016. I had a friend/mentor who was creating pastel pieces for people. She would share them with me and ask me to read them. And boy did I ever! I couldn’t get enough. I loved reading energy and she loved the validation. I remember reading one of her pieces and saying, “It feels like this woman has chickens all over her kitchen.” My friend couldn’t believe it. The person was in fact a woman and did in fact have her kitchen decorated in chicken decor!
We would spend hours discussing the pieces she was creating for people. It was so fun! Then I asked her how to do it. She reluctantly told me how. I didn’t sense reluctancy at the time, but looking back I can see it. “All you need is pastels and paper.” That was true.
I picked up pastels and paper for the first time earlier than March 2016, but it never quite felt right. They never felt like my expression. They never felt like me. They were flat. Literally flat. They looked like how people normally use pastels. There were no piles, no texture, no blowing through copious amounts of pastel boxes. They were boring.
One warm spring day in March 2016, I was sitting outside in San Diego, California and I started creating a piece. It wasn’t anything specific. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t asking to bring through a particular type of energy. I was just sitting outside pasteling my little heart out.
Then I hit the piece of paper with my foot. All of the pastels piled up into what looked like little bubbles. That’s when I realized, “This is Art of Truth! This is me! This is it!”
I was off to the races. I started selling so many pieces. At this point, I believe I’ve made over 100 custom pieces for people. Their energy, their child, their family, their pet, places, etc.
My friend didn’t like this at all. It was either Art of Truth or our friendship. You clearly know what I chose, but it was hard.
I didn’t think piles of pastels on paper could ruin a friendship. Little did I know that our friendship’s end would be just one of many in the years to come.
As hard as it was, I couldn’t get enough of Art of Truth. I wanted everyone on social media to have one! I wanted people to pull hex codes from their AOT to build their businesses. Really, I wanted people to use them for everything! Phone backgrounds, phone cases, pillows, leggings—anything and everything! I connected people to each other based on their similar colors. And the stories, oh the stories!
Each piece has a unique story. Most of them are mind-blowing—mind blowing to me at least!
One woman hated her Art of Truth. There was nothing that made her happy. I was in a group mentorship program with her, and she was the type that never shut up. No one liked her. For some reason she didn’t bother me. I know, shocking! I’m usually bothered by everyone. She wanted an Art of Truth and it was stunning! Blues and pinks. Very bold colors. I even listened to Sublime while creating her piece. She emailed me back and told me she hated the colors. “This isn’t me at all!” and “By the way, I hate Sublime.”
Ugh, great. I rolled my eyes and responded with, “Well, maybe you’ll find yourself liking this piece eventually.” For some reason I never felt like I messed it up. I’ve never felt insecure about AOT. Years later, I emailed her to ask about her AOT. She laughed and was shocked, saying her branding had changed to those exact colors and she was learning a Sublime song on the ukulele. Ya don’t say. Ya don’t say!
It’s really not up to me how people receive them or how they make sense of their pieces. It just is what it is. Like a rock. It’s just sitting there. You’ll either embrace it and notice the quartz or you’ll walk right by. Either way, it’s still there!
In 2019, I wanted to create an oracle deck with all of my favorite AOT pieces—an oracle deck, but not. I didn’t want to make people bad and wrong. I didn’t want there to be any weird witchcraft in there. I didn’t want an upside down card to mean “death.” My guidebook said, “Pulled it upside down? Flip that bitch the other way!”
I still have the prototype. The only copy. It’s beautiful! It’s all about trusting yourself and not listening to anyone, not even me.
Then 2019 turned into 2020 and well… most of the people that supported my project got swept up in the bullshit. They didn’t trust themselves at all. I became an enemy because I had opinions. Fauci became the savior, and the person they actually knew (me) became the enemy. Weird how that happens.
I couldn’t complete the project. I felt like a failure. Maybe not a failure, but more so a loser. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, but I didn’t know what else to do. All these people in 2019 loved Art of Truth—they loved me. I knew every single person that preordered. Maybe they even had custom AOTs of their own. But I was changing. I didn’t know how to reconcile things, so I just kept it all at arms length. My pastels didn’t make it to the trash, but I didn’t pick them up until the summer of 2023. I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything. I felt frozen.
Finally I decided to take out a loan and repay everyone in one lump sum. I went through one by one and looked at every single name who ordered from me. I wasn’t the same woman that launched the project in 2019. I mean, I was. I was calling bullshit on things. I was fierce and fiery, but nowhere near the woman that I’ve become post-2020. I sent back money to everyone, even my dad who emailed me at one point to make sure I wasn’t running a scam by having people pre-order Art of Truth. What a dick.
David and I slowly paid off the loan. I wasn’t really thinking about it. Then, bam. Our last payment went through on the exact day I picked up the pastels again!
Since then, Art of Truth and I have been rebuilding our relationship. This time it feels like a slow healthy burn. We get together whenever we do, and it’s just what it is. I’ll share the ones I feel called to share and that’s it. If you’re meant to have a custom one, you will.
As far as what they are to you, they can be whatever you need them to be. Portals. Connection points. Truth. You can read them the same way I used to read them with my friend. What you feel is what you feel.
To me, Art of Truth will always be more than pastels and paper. What it means to you is for you to decide.
My relationship to Art of Truth has been passionate and deep. It’s a love I can’t explain.
I started creating Art of Truth in March 2016. I had a friend/mentor who was creating pastel pieces for people. She would share them with me and ask me to read them. And boy did I ever! I couldn’t get enough. I loved reading energy and she loved the validation. I remember reading one of her pieces and saying, “It feels like this woman has chickens all over her kitchen.” My friend couldn’t believe it. The person was in fact a woman and did in fact have her kitchen decorated in chicken decor!
We would spend hours discussing the pieces she was creating for people. It was so fun! Then I asked her how to do it. She reluctantly told me how. I didn’t sense reluctancy at the time, but looking back I can see it. “All you need is pastels and paper.” That was true.
I picked up pastels and paper for the first time earlier than March 2016, but it never quite felt right. They never felt like my expression. They never felt like me. They were flat. Literally flat. They looked like how people normally use pastels. There were no piles, no texture, no blowing through copious amounts of pastel boxes. They were boring.
One warm spring day in March 2016, I was sitting outside in San Diego, California and I started creating a piece. It wasn’t anything specific. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t asking to bring through a particular type of energy. I was just sitting outside pasteling my little heart out.
Then I hit the piece of paper with my foot. All of the pastels piled up into what looked like little bubbles. That’s when I realized, “This is Art of Truth! This is me! This is it!”
I was off to the races. I started selling so many pieces. At this point, I believe I’ve made over 100 custom pieces for people. Their energy, their child, their family, their pet, places, etc.
My friend didn’t like this at all. It was either Art of Truth or our friendship. You clearly know what I chose, but it was hard.
I didn’t think piles of pastels on paper could ruin a friendship. Little did I know that our friendship’s end would be just one of many in the years to come.
As hard as it was, I couldn’t get enough of Art of Truth. I wanted everyone on social media to have one! I wanted people to pull hex codes from their AOT to build their businesses. Really, I wanted people to use them for everything! Phone backgrounds, phone cases, pillows, leggings—anything and everything! I connected people to each other based on their similar colors. And the stories, oh the stories!
Each piece has a unique story. Most of them are mind-blowing—mind blowing to me at least!
One woman hated her Art of Truth. There was nothing that made her happy. I was in a group mentorship program with her, and she was the type that never shut up. No one liked her. For some reason she didn’t bother me. I know, shocking! I’m usually bothered by everyone. She wanted an Art of Truth and it was stunning! Blues and pinks. Very bold colors. I even listened to Sublime while creating her piece. She emailed me back and told me she hated the colors. “This isn’t me at all!” and “By the way, I hate Sublime.”
Ugh, great. I rolled my eyes and responded with, “Well, maybe you’ll find yourself liking this piece eventually.” For some reason I never felt like I messed it up. I’ve never felt insecure about AOT. Years later, I emailed her to ask about her AOT. She laughed and was shocked, saying her branding had changed to those exact colors and she was learning a Sublime song on the ukulele. Ya don’t say. Ya don’t say!
It’s really not up to me how people receive them or how they make sense of their pieces. It just is what it is. Like a rock. It’s just sitting there. You’ll either embrace it and notice the quartz or you’ll walk right by. Either way, it’s still there!
In 2019, I wanted to create an oracle deck with all of my favorite AOT pieces—an oracle deck, but not. I didn’t want to make people bad and wrong. I didn’t want there to be any weird witchcraft in there. I didn’t want an upside down card to mean “death.” My guidebook said, “Pulled it upside down? Flip that bitch the other way!”
I still have the prototype. The only copy. It’s beautiful! It’s all about trusting yourself and not listening to anyone, not even me.
Then 2019 turned into 2020 and well… most of the people that supported my project got swept up in the bullshit. They didn’t trust themselves at all. I became an enemy because I had opinions. Fauci became the savior, and the person they actually knew (me) became the enemy. Weird how that happens.
I couldn’t complete the project. I felt like a failure. Maybe not a failure, but more so a loser. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, but I didn’t know what else to do. All these people in 2019 loved Art of Truth—they loved me. I knew every single person that preordered. Maybe they even had custom AOTs of their own. But I was changing. I didn’t know how to reconcile things, so I just kept it all at arms length. My pastels didn’t make it to the trash, but I didn’t pick them up until the summer of 2023. I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything. I felt frozen.
Finally I decided to take out a loan and repay everyone in one lump sum. I went through one by one and looked at every single name who ordered from me. I wasn’t the same woman that launched the project in 2019. I mean, I was. I was calling bullshit on things. I was fierce and fiery, but nowhere near the woman that I’ve become post-2020. I sent back money to everyone, even my dad who emailed me at one point to make sure I wasn’t running a scam by having people pre-order Art of Truth. What a dick.
David and I slowly paid off the loan. I wasn’t really thinking about it. Then, bam. Our last payment went through on the exact day I picked up the pastels again!
Since then, Art of Truth and I have been rebuilding our relationship. This time it feels like a slow healthy burn. We get together whenever we do, and it’s just what it is. I’ll share the ones I feel called to share and that’s it. If you’re meant to have a custom one, you will.
As far as what they are to you, they can be whatever you need them to be. Portals. Connection points. Truth. You can read them the same way I used to read them with my friend. What you feel is what you feel.
To me, Art of Truth will always be more than pastels and paper. What it means to you is for you to decide.