Born near the point of where three rivers meet in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Starr grew up in the woods next to a small tributary that flowed through the yard and into the Monongahela River, just a few miles away. That stream provided endless opportunities for her big imagination to run wild with creativity. Creativity and nature have always gone hand in hand in her life. Starr has been going with the flow living and working, creating various forms of art, stewarding land and water, and making friends with people and animals in towns, farms, and in the mountains all along the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers and tributary streams, from their beginnings and as far as they flow. Her mind didn’t set out to follow and explore all those waterways for so long, but her heart had plans. She has always been amazed of the new wonders places that only a car drive, bike ride, or hike, can bring. Starr enjoys her life going on adventures big and small, and a spending a balanced portion of time at her unique, creative, and beautiful oasis in the rural Laurel Highlands. A special place built from the ground up with her husband Thomas,(www.talkingleavesart.com) Together they are a joyful and expressive couple creating art and bringing community together in line with nature. 

Starr Shoemaker
A woman with colorful tattoos on her arm is working on a large abstract painting in an art studio. The studio has two windows with a view of green trees outside, and the table in front of her holds painting supplies, including small cups of paint, a palette, brushes, pens, a notebook, and a brush. Several smaller paintings are hanging on the wall behind her.
Woman with tattoos wearing blue top and orange pants squatting in a lush, mossy forest stream, collecting stones.
Woman with tattoos wearing blue top and orange pants squatting in a lush, mossy forest stream, collecting stones.
A woman with long hair, wearing a white shirt and tan pants, standing in a forest clearing, reaching up to touch a tall plant with large leaves.