Victoria Mullen

Born and reared in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Victoria Mullen first expressed her creativity to a family outsider at the age of four, when she meowed at a librarian. As a child, she fashioned fables from thin air, fabric, and fur (the stuff of her mother's memories). Through the years, Mullen explored many different creative mediums: piano and violin in the 1960s; stained glass, journalism, and photography in the 1970s and '80s; creative writing, painting, and mixed-media art since the mid-1990s; acting since the 2000s. She came late to drawing and painting because she believed that using an eraser constituted cheating -- it was impossible to create anything that was perfect, so it was safer to do nothing at all. That view changed when she began making art -- acrylic, collage, and mixed media -- in the mid-1990s. From September 2003 until May 2008, Mullen focused her attention on the study of law. She began law school on a whim and a few semesters in, she realized that it was too late to turn back. While waiting for the results of the Bar Exam, she took an acting class -- also on a whim. (Mullen admits that her life is but a whim; it makes things very interesting.) As for acting, she was hooked. Mullen often draws upon her Greek heritage for making sense of the world and her acting roles. She finds inspiration in the Nine Muses, who played, sang, danced, and inspired others to do the same. Each Muse oversaw a particular field of human creation. Of the Nine Muses, Mullen identifies most strongly with the versatility of Polymnia, who, depending upon the source, was the muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, rhetoric, eloquence, and pantomime. The ancient Greeks believed that the artist did not himself 'create' the work of art, but served as a mortal channel through which the muse's divine voice could speak. So, an epic poet would offer a prayer to the appropriate muse to guide and assist him in his creative endeavor. In addition to acting, making art, and freelance writing, Mullen also writes grants for nonprofits, such as Crash's Landing (a no-kill cat shelter in Grand Rapids, Michigan).