Summer is upon us, with temperatures in the 80’s, and thunderstorms roaming around. Earlier in the week our office AC went down, and it is a relief to have it back.
I’m finding I need to have some time outside at the end of the day, an opportunity to reconnect with Nature. I’m grateful for the robin and her brood in residence on our front porch, for the crows in the back field, and for the plants that share their late summer exuberance with us.
I’ve been reading Me Artsy, a book, edited by Drew Hayden Taylor, we picked up in Toronto. Artsy is a collection of essays by Indigenous artists from across many disciplines, each of which addresses the artist’s creative trajectory and way of working. Many of the essays speak to art that is deeply embedded in traditional culture and worldviews, even as it engages in dialog with the world-wide art scene. The artists look beyond the immediate task of creating images, situating themselves and their work in a world that is holy and alive, a world that inspires and nurtures them and their creative endeavors.
Reading this volume is refreshing, reminding me that I am not alone in my desire to make art that engages with the Holy, nor in my belief that our current political situation is dangerous, not just because totalitarianism is on the rise, but because it distracts us from the crucial task of returning to balance with the wider world. I am particularly buoyed by the essay by dancer and choreographer, Santee Smith, who is a member of the Kenien’keha:ka nation, and who insists on placing herself, and us readers, firmly in our bodies in the midst of Creation.
May we join the essayists in this small, profound volume, as they acknowledge their debts to the Ancestors and to the Natural world. May we, too, remember our place in the world, and our connections to Life, and to All That Is.
Please share your thoughts and join the conversation!