Some excerpts from a final project exploring art and mindfulness practice, written for UVic Art Education class, AE410, Visual Inquiry as Research, 2023.
This project began with the question, “How might art help me to become more present in my life?”. Like so many people today, in our capitalist society that normalizes stress and disconnection, I often struggle to stay engaged with what truly matters. The mind is busy and active to such a degree that I sometimes miss what is right in front of me. I have always loved making art, and felt that creativity is a source of nourishment on a soul level, yet struggle to make space for it in my life. I wondered what gifts, teachings, and discoveries might emerge from a regular art practice, and decided to explore this further with an inquiry experiment of building a daily art practice into my life and tracking the ways that this might or might not bring a greater sense of presence to me.
What is mindfulness? Thich Naht Hanh taught that “Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life.” I know that life can feel incredibly rich when I am able to access this kind of awareness or presence – likewise, the quality of life diminishes greatly when I feel disconnected or clouded with the fog of unconsciously moving through my days in a rush to get things done, out of touch with my own depths or sense of aliveness.
I believe art can be a direct line in to that space of awareness and presence. While over the two weeks that I was working with this project, I sometimes struggled to meet my own commitment – often feeling the weariness of day-to-day life’s responsibilities in such a way that just having gone extra thing to do – even something typically joyful for me – felt burdensome. On these days I when I pushed through my aversion or avoidance and actually sat down to create something, I found that I experienced a tangible shift mentally, emotionally and physically. in that space of creating, I found a clarity of mind that felt light spacious, calm and bright.
The practice of art making seemed to shift my consciousness – shift my awareness – easily and effortlessly.
As I wrote and reflected about my experiences with the art practice, I found myself dropping into what I can best describe as a soulful space that is perhaps the source of creativity. My practice became a meditation and I felt ripples of this quality expanding into my day to day to life. The form of my writing shifted too, as I began to express things though poetry – a soulful language that, like art, can sometimes better capture that which felt or sensed in the body or spirit.
