patricia williams, MA

Why do I make art… and why do I make art that honours the natural world?

 

Is it because my Metis blood carries memories from both my Cree and my Celtic ancestors…people who understood their place in Nature and revered Mother Earth? Was the poet Rilke right? “If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted like trees.”

 

Did my rural Alberta upbringing indelibly imprint upon me the wonder of life – the profound beauty, and the tenacity and fragility that was reflected in the people, the plants, and the animals of the prairies? 

 

Or is it because I now live in one of the most beautiful places I know, and the cedars and Salish Sea have made their way into my bones and blood?  Is it possible that I cannot help but create art to honour the divine, ancient energy that pulses in the web of our beautiful island home? 

 

Do I make art because I have experienced the profound healing power of creative expression, both personally and professionally as an art therapist? I do know that I integrate art-making into my workshops on Mindful Self-Compassion because I believe bringing creativity, mindfulness and compassion to ourselves is essential if we are to bring compassion to our dear Earth.

 

Do I make this nature-inspired art to share the awe I feel in the liminal spaces between land and sea, sea and sky, the microscopic and the macro, the specific and that which is universal, including the sacred, fractal patterns that echo throughout all living things?  

 

I don't know if these questions are pointing toward an answer for why the creative fire burns most brightly for me in the sacred space of Nature… However, what I do know is that that art-making is “‘the holy work,’…the real work, the work we were meant to do, the work that makes us whole.” – Phil Cousineau.

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PS: “Of the original phenomena, light is the most enthralling.” (Leonardo da Vinci)