International Soul Art Day Gallery

What Inspired you to do a Soul Art journey?

on soul art day, my intention emerged as “connect deeply to heal transform with others”

in connecting with Laura in May: i reflect back now to my wish to bring awareness to community research and recalled a kindred connection to laura’s light beacon of good hope from afar. In my vision of a better world, i work with my associates to support deep dive reflective activity to open minds to what would governance looks like if it works. i founded a community research institute to advance participatory research in public decision making in 2008. the soulful quest continues towards enacting integrity in governance as an example. to bridge this deeper knowing to what is actually so in ways that empower local voices. this year (2024), we gearing up to reach more people about participatory research and to share about where sustainability meets the groundwork for democracy.

thank you, Laura, for inviting the Institute’s presence as a sponsor of soul art day 2024. your holding and carrying of the soul art journey for so many taught me so much as arising so fluidly from the well of your experience.

How would you describe your creative process?

my words were plant healing, love and goodness.
my body map was my hands.

during the guided session…i traced my hands cupped in caring offering a few times over…..

then when I was ready with my art supplies, i saw that energy was coming from the tips of hands like flames overlapping in a delicious camp fire….and as i traced it seemed like energy was coming out of my hands…and so that is my image as in my mind’s eye shared with the healing energy of many others wrapping our home the earth the biosphere nourished as seedlings tended each of us.

earlier it was a flurry of finding my art supplies, followed by delight when i did. of playing with what i could do with what i had on hand. on rehabbing and opening to the play. of then, bringing into expression what i felt heard saw in my mind’s eye heart. then…simply playing more…marveling at what appeared and in its stages. taking photos to remember myself again in the process. daunted at times ..and then released. warmed by the chance to spend time in this deep dive and looking forward to doing this more…

i used prang oil pastel crayons, i started with prang water color crayons on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of recycled printer paper. ha! that was the body mapping… I really wanted wateriness..but well…. my acrylic white was all dried up in the tube. it’s sitting on my counter as a project to revive it. the old fredrix art board that I use on my knees when lounging to write got a quick renovation and cleaning with pericetic acid and spray paint (ugh – never again)…but well…there you have it. i used a good ole pink eraser to blur the crayon a bit…and could even erase pencil marks. my finger nail worked to clear out muddying of color when it occurred with all the flaking of the crayon. I’m happy with the process all the same. did all this on a high enough work surface for it to be easy and not back breaking at all. very fun.

the art and process completed themselves on the day – thursday – soul art day. i cleaned up later …and meandered forward in my other journeys arising towards the memorial for my beloved. lots of good energy and flow. he died october 5 and we are celebratin him on the anniversary of his death with an art show. thank you so very much for this experience.

What insight did you receive from your Soul Art?

the result evokes my experience of sharing light energy towards healing our water planet.

remembering these spaces from my earlier years over 30 years ago when i was young and the counter culture held in mind’s eye of mainstream as lesser than. i found sweet awe in hearing the featured artists evoking what i also held in my mind’s eye…snippets and fragments of shared understanding. i marveled at evoking together in shared space how we can nurture the seeds of our better futures.

i felt awesome gratitude at experiencing live my soul art journey intention as guided by laura to do- which I’d quickly scribbled down in a flash – brought to life.

What is the most important thing you would like to share about your Soul Art experience?

thank you. very precious and deeply authentic

laura mentioned a few things like: high vibe energy and rooting the energy. she also said: “holding light together” “holding plant seedling together”

there were other synchronicities and I have these in my notes like holding our hearts in our hands… all grace.

i have 44 pages of notes. yep. i’m super excited to bring this revelatory practice to bear on the questions of our times. i hold immense gratitude for being alive and holding the flame of hope forward. much gratitude.

i very much appreciate connecting with the beauty beings who engage in soul art with laura. thank you. may much good arise.

i’m happy to share an old photo (2012) from my time co-managing colorado’s oldest organic farm…est. in 1974 as a commune with much transcendent and mundane.