Friday, September 21

regenerate.

At the Squam art workshops last week I was able to get into nature and do some art I've not been familiar with until now. 
My second class was Earth Art with a sweet illustrator named Penny as our teacher. She had us meditate to come up with a word that means something to us and then we were to strike out to create a symbol of that word within the constraints of nature. Amazing. We all cried just a little by the time the class came to a close, our explanations reverberating through each classmate. 
Mine was Regenerate. Strange word, I thought at first. I based my 'design' on the ripples of a water droplet that I had been so intent on during class the previous day.
Regeneration. The tiny drop creates change and life beyond it's scope, bringing life back to itself in turn. It's hard to explain in my own words what I was feeling or meaning. The art said it best, really.


Just now I was reading 'A field guide to NOW' by Christina Rosalie, and something she wrote encompassed exactly how I felt about my Earth art project:

"...There is something fragile and breathtaking in me, like a field of irises; something unstoppable like the innate instinct that sends salmon upstream through rapids and turbines, following the scent of sweet water. Something tremulous, like the song of the thrush, that tells me this life is meant to be lived ardently, not merely spent. Life is abundant and impermanent. It burst forth, ripens, and then becomes just as quickly another thing. Leaf to soil. Breath to song. Bone to spirit. Natures claims us, holds us, remakes us again and again."

Perfect.

How nice that she was at Squam as well (I think we were both meditating and relaxing in solitude at the lake for hours one afternoon, just a few rocks over from one another?). It's simply magical there.

7 comments:

  1. What a beautiful post! I'm glad I got to read about the idea behind your earth art after having seen it in person :)

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    1. thank you! the fact that it's been so hard to explain all the goodness of squam has me quite baffled! ;)

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  2. Oh! I'm so glad you wrote about your piece. It was so beautiful... so meaningful. I loved getting the chance to talk to you, too. Kindred spirits. :) Those are nice to find. :)

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  3. Love all of this! It was such a pleasure to be in both of these workshops with you:) Can't wait until my copy of A Field Guide to NOW arrives in the mail...

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  4. Penny, I had SO MUCH fun doing this class, it really opened my eyes to what art is really about. Liz, I'm so happy to have met you and I hope you enjoy your book as much as I did! :D

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