A. A. Parr

A. A. Parr is founder and Managing Director of Type A Media, a new indie arts & culture small press in Sault Ste. Marie, publishing and promoting fresh, diverse voices from Northern Ontario and beyond. As a professional Life Strategies Coach, she also works together with individuals to achieve fulfilling outcomes in many areas of their lives, utilising creative approaches and artistic media as tools for personal exploration and development. In 2008, she founded The Art Within in Toronto to provide individuals seeking to lead happier, more fulfilling lives with a safe and nurturing space, as well as the guidance and support necessary to assist them in achieving their goals. For nearly a decade before striking out into the world of business for herself, she worked as an arts and literacy educator for a variety of private companies, helping primarily at-risk school aged children and their families to explore their world and themselves in new and empowering ways.

 

She received her Specialized Honours BFA (in Creative Ensemble, Playwriting and Visual Arts) from York University with a double minor in Psychology and Cultural Studies. She went on to achieve professional certification as a Life Strategies Coach through The Spencer Institute and graduated from the OSEB Business Start-Up Program at the Toronto Business Development Centre.

 

She has contributed to numerous literary publications and has worked as a staff writer for a variety of commercial publications globally. Her creative works have been seen on stages, in galleries and in print throughout North America. Her talents span from painting and drawing to textile fabrication, poetry, playwrighting and storytelling, to photography, digital art and performance work.

 

Currently, she lives in Northern Ontario, solo parenting two beautifully inquisitive little artists of her own and exploring the world from behind a lens as she captures everyday life in her vivid and colourful street and landscape photography. She owns Naturally Fabulous, an all-natural luxury cosmetics company, and writes a bi-weekly series of poetry about strangers entitled "I Wrote You This Poem". Her debut chapbook, "What Lasts Beyond the Burning" is forthcomingfrom Nightingale & Sparrow Press in December 2020. Additionally, she is a vintage photography colourist, with three collections of selective colourisations as part of her “Our Ghosts” project. Her artwork is available for purchase at Fine Art America and locally.