Even early on, Eileen Ferrone Roth had a passion for art, and that's never left her. She set up a studio in her parents' basement when she was in grade school. As an only child, Roth spent hours creating paintings and sculptures and developing photographs in her Syosset, New York studio. It was only a 40-minute train ride into New York City, where Roth was inspired by phenomenal museums and diverse cultures. The artist designed and copyrighted a unique multimedia technique called Photostration in 1971, her freshman year at the prestigious School of Visual Arts School in Manhattan. It is a technique that combines painting, collage, photography and graphic design. The result is an image that is very unique.

The artist worked in ad agencies for years. After she moved to northern Arizona, she promoted her work through galleries and art shows. But when COVID-19 hit, a lot of her income dried up, as it did for many other artists engaged in similar activities. So Roth got creative -- she decided she would combine her love of art with her keen interest in the supernatural. 

Roth is curious about past life regression. She got an idea that she could create art from subjects' accounts of lives they might have lived before. In other words, if you found out you lived in ancient Egypt through working with a hypnotherapist specializing in past life regression, Roth can then create a design that depicts you existed in that long-ago era. Whether or not you believe in this, it's fascinating stuff.

Some advocate hypnosis as a tool to help people manage anxiety, panic attacks, or depression. Roth believes looking at prior lives might offer insight into coping with the present. Although she admits there is no direct scientific evidence that we have lived before, Roth adheres to the thoughts of the great physicist Albert Einstein, that "energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be changed from one form to another."

Roth said she usually begins a new project with a black and white photograph of her subject, provided by a client. Sometimes, the artist does her own sketch, or the likeness can be a combination of both processes. Either an interview with the client or a self-written bio gives Roth the background she needs to build her 'look into the past.' Sometimes, the artwork is finished on a giclee, a technology that uses a higher-quality printer. The end result of Roth's work is stunning.

Like many artists in the performing or fine arts, Roth has had to reinvent herself during the pandemic because the unemployment rate in Arizona is still high (10.6 percent) and artists have it especially tough. In addition to her art, Roth is a trained crisis intervention counselor who volunteers monthly as a victims' advocate. She said she hopes that her representations of past lives might provide closure or resolution for people who have not had success engaging in more traditional therapies.