A lot of my art is very personal, and some is very fleeting and temporary, a leaf arrangement that blows away in the wind or a song sung spontaneously to a bird that listens nearby. Sometimes, it seems it is even just a thought sent out in beauty. Other times, it’s more of a practice that helps me with feelings I am learning to work through. It’s a gift. A gift that comes from the heart. –Sheila Coughlin

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet and participate in a virtual meeting with Trebbe Johnson, writer and artivist, who spoke on her fascinating work with Radical Joy for Hard Times. Below is a link to the recorded meeting. It was inspiring and led me to doing some thinking on working in wounded and threatened places with found object art. Giving back a gift to the places we love which are seeing hard times is something that really spoke to my heart. I’m not totally sure how this will unfold or if it even will, but I am opening it up to the universe. Some of my fondest memories during my college experiences with Art Therapy was with my Ecopsychology classes, meeting on the shores of Lake Superior, connecting with other creatives, making art in nature, and sharing together in a community where we let nature take the lead with healing.

When we quiet ourselves and look closely, what we need to heal is right in front of us. It’s art. Nature is the true artist. Maybe, it is a heart-shaped leaf dried up, brittle, and starting to fall apart on one side. Somehow, when you see it, you just know you have to pick up this special gift and place it in the nearby river to send it where it needs to be. Perhaps, it’s a rock stuck in a crack in the sidewalk trampled on yet shining in the sunlight with one small tuft of grass glistening with dew, a gift meant for you sent to remind you it to pick yourself back up and keep going. When you put it in your pocket, you know the sun is going to shine. It is a fresh, new day. ART. Art that speaks to the inner depths of yourself. YOU. A reflection made in beauty as if the wind gently blew it in to lift your spirits and help you along on your journey.

Making art in nature with natural, found objects can be an intensely moving experience, and something I am feeling more and more pulled towards. The fact that it is usually temporary speaks volumes to how art doesn’t have to be something hung on the wall, found in a gallery, or even be pretty at all. It doesn’t have to be sold. It can be really messy or look broken. It can be dried up. It can be charred. Some people even use found garbage in the most desolate of places. Carl Jung spoke about the shadow self in much of his work. These “shadow places” are not evil or even dark in the way some people perceive them to be. They are unacknowledged. Ignored. Abandoned. They are left unexplored. We live in a very broken world. Our people here are hurting just as the earth is. We seek answers and want to know how to heal the earth and ourselves. Some of us are frantic. Some have even lost hope. These are hard times. How can we heal these broken places within ourselves and the earth?

*Here are a few pictures and a video I took on a spontaneous adventure exploring places unexplored by me. I want to return with my good DSLR camera and play with pictures in different lighting and see who’s doing the blooming. Check out my post on Nature Photography: Connecting to Earth.*

I’m not a therapist. Know when I share here, I only share from my own personal experiences. I’ve taken plenty of Art Therapy classes and Ecospychology classes, worked in the chemical dependency field, and taken coursework to receive a chemical dependency counselor certificate. I hold no license as a counselor or therapist. I’ve been on a journey of healing approaching half of my life-time now. It’s been hard. It’s been beautiful. It’s been many shared tears with family and friends. It has been joyous laughter. It’s been getting to know myself on a very deep level and not letting fear hold me back from going to the places within myself that I need to go. To heal. To be me. To feel whole again. It has been a lonely path, at times. It has been shared with many.

We are in healing times, these hard times that I see us in today. I’ve heard many say that it is not getting any better, that it is getting worse. Where do we start? How do we undo centuries of inter-generational trauma? How do we heal our disconnection from the earth, from ourselves, and from each other? I by no means have an answer, but I do believe it needs to start with ourselves. Each of us. Making the commitment to hop on the healing path whatever that may look like for each of us and to keep going.

Like I said earlier here, I have been opening it up to the universe in regards to working with my art in broken places. Hurt places and threatened places as Trebbe Johnson does in her work with Radical Joy for Hard Times. Places that need love. Whether or not this will ever blossom into anything, I don’t know. Today, though, I plant the seed and will wait to watch what grows.

Thank you for joining me with these reflections on art, earth, and healing. I hope you’ll continue to join Nature Art Explorations in reconnecting through nature, art, and culture. As always, feel free to comment below or “Contact Me.” I love hearing from my readers!