Making art helps us illuminate the magical process of how we can each bring what’s living inside us into form in the outer world.
Many of us have wonderful things inside that we can’t bring out and might not even be aware of and so might feel frustrated or blocked.
By doing art we are continuously exercising the process of bringing forth our inner essence into an external reality.
Different materials and techniques activate different parts of our inner world and help us to express them, just as being with different people brings out different aspects of ourselves.
Once we start working with materials we find they take on a life of their own. We can also be inspired by this interaction and find we are expressing varied and unexpected parts of our being.
four media
On this course we will do art exercises and be given the opportunity to learn techniques in four different media ; paint, clay, felt-making and land art.
We will be able to experiment and find which medium works best for us at a particular moment.
With paint we’ll be encouraged and supported to freely make marks and see where this leads us . . . . . soul-painting, abstract art, landscapes, portraits . . . .
With clay we have the earth in our hands. We can mould it directly. It is immediate. Any shape can be formed beneath our fingers. We will see what wishes to emerge.
With sheeps’ wool we can make felt. An alchemy occurs as we transform this light airy substance into something strong and durable. We can make jewellery, wall hangings, pouches ………
Skill builds up as we get into a rhythm and we quickly develop confidence.
With land art we go out into nature. We listen to, feel and observe our environment . We use found objects and land forms to create: – sculptures, mandalas, patterns. Our work is part of the natural world and changes with it
Working in these different ways with varied materials we find ways to drop deep inside and be in the present moment.
We find ourselves here, now and in relationship with the materials and tools we are using and the places we are in.
We have to pay attention and paying attention keeps us in the present moment.
We get into a state of being focussed and being free and we can tap into our creative source.
Making art in this way helps us make a tangible expression of our inner states. We can bring them into a lasting form.
Like with dreams, we may only understand them on reflection or we might not understand them at all on a conscious level. The act of making itself can be enough to thoroughly satisfy us.
We are empowered to bring our internal world out into the light of day.
Below are some quotes from Andy Goldsworthy about Land Art
Nature goes beyond countryside—everything comes from the earth.
Looking, touching, material, place and form are all inseparable from the resulting work. It is difficult to say where one stops and another begins. The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within.
The weather—rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm—is that external space made visible. When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space around it.
Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work.
I want to get under the surface. When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material in itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue.
Now This Moment 