Exploring art, nature, and what we can learn from the lives of our friends, the beaver

I have had bunch of ideas swirling in my head over the last few months around art therapy, nature, and the animals we encounter in the wild. I want to unpack what impact these recent experiences have had in my life and how nature, art, animals, and metaphor can have deep impact and resonance for us all. What can happen when we are open to the power of art and nature, seeing art in nature, creating art in nature, and are immersed in nature? In an attempt to weave all of these ideas together I will share a reflection I have been pondering about the life of beavers and what we can learn from these industrious creatures. I have some personal stories to share about recent experiences while being in nature as well as reflections on being in the natural world and in the forest.

“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

~Rumi

“You don’t need a special gift in order to paint for process. You just need a brush. You don’t need another class, you don’t need another technique, you don’t need another idea. There is not any special state you have to be in. The important thing is to start; the rest will take care of itself”
(Cassou & Cubley, 1995, p.5).

In this podcast I will discuss and reflect on the process and power of spontaneous art making. I will discuss what spontaneous art making means and how it can support us on our journeys. At the end of the podcast I will invite you to engage in this type of art making process.

“Look deep into nature, and then you will know everything better.”

~Albert Einstein

In this podcast I will bring you a brief overview of eco-art therapy, some of the background and theory, describe how nature can be a container and support for us, the potential benefits of eco-art therapy, as well as bring you information from a virtual presentation I recently attended discussing finding community in nature during times of grief. I will close the podcast with a description of how we can start a process of connection to nature through the process of art making with natural materials, as well as share a self-reflection.

In this podcast we will be exploring poetry therapy. We will examine the relationship between poetry therapy and art therapy and how we can bring these creative processes into our lives as a tool for grounding and healing. To close the podcast I will read a poem from local poet Lauren Carter, and invite you to create a response. After the reading Julie and I will explore our responses to the poem. I invite you to take a moment with us and explore the world of poetry therapy, how it connects to art therapy and how this process can support us on our journeys.

In this podcast we will explore Art Therapy and how it can support us on our journeys. We will examine the role of the art in the healing journey, the concept of resource art / art as a resource, and the power of the use of metaphor. To end the podcast I will invite you to engage in an art directive, one which Julie and I will each complete and will process at the end of this podcast. My hope for this podcast is to shine a light on art therapy, explain how it can support us on our journeys, and give a tangible take away in a directive for those of you tuning in.

Some of these places may be known to us, some we may have pushed deep down in an attempt to forget, and some of these places may have come rising to the forefront of our minds during these uncertain times of Covid19.

My hope in this podcast is to give a frame for what may be coming up for people, for what people may feel but have not been able to name, and to offer some clarity, perspective, as well as tools to ground and reflect.

I am wanting to share some Positive Art Therapy directives that can help support us during these uncertain times. However before we move into the directives I want to set the ground for what we will be exploring with some history / background information on Positive Psychology and Art Therapy.

Let’s feel the feelings we are experiencing and rely on old ways and perhaps discover new ones of expressing these emotions.

What have you been taught about grief / grieving? How have we learned to grieve in our culture? What happens when we don’t have space to grieve and mourn? What are other ways we carry grief that are not directly related to losses?

Art can take us beyond language, to our unconscious and can permit direct expression of our hopes, fears, losses, dreams, fantasies, and other unexpressed inner experiences which we can have difficulty expressing with words.