“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life”
Message from Our Founder Peter Watkins:
Hello dear members and friends of Inside Out
Hope you’re all keeping cool during the heatwave. While there is a pause in our on-line activities, do stay creative. I always love that quote of Picasso ‘art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life’ . We will all have a slightly different way of interpreting that quote but for me he is saying that art can take us out of the ordinary and into the less than ordinary life, where we may re-vision life, be inspired, live with more heart and soul. When did you last experience your heart & spirit leap up in delight at something you had created? It happens!
It’s interesting how often our art images are inspired by the natural world, even work that gravitates more towards abstract expressionism may be influenced by the experience of nature. I find that I can hardly write anything at the moment that doesn’t come from the great outdoors where I’ve spent a lot of my lockdown time. This is not surprising. We have a hunger for a reconnection nature; think how popular nature programmes are, how important gardening is to many, how we love to surround ourselves with indoor plants. Think what a sensory & emotional pull the coast has for us; the wild countryside; tree’s; birds. We have a great need to connect. We are of nature ourselves, we still have wild hearts. Though many feel a disconnect, we are part of the earth community of animate beings. We know deep down that we belong to the earth; it is mother earth that sustains us. There is a longing to embrace our natural selves to walk lightly on the earth and live with love and reverence for the earth. A great deal of art we make symbolises this in some way. Perhaps to paint a landscape, a flower, a bird, in some way re-connects us, allows us to feel part of that earth community again.
We can only experience real wellbeing if the earth and the earth community are well. We are not separate, we are all part of one system in this astonishing biosphere. So It is not surprising that so many of us feel an undercurrent of anxiety & depression that at times fills us with dread & despair. because of the way we have polluted and exploited our giving earth. It is our greed and not our need that has led to this and that has to change. So much poetry, nature writing, art, song celebrates, re-connects us, and in a sense sanctifies, this astonishing blue planet.
Please continue to post nature inspired images of your amazing work on the group pages during August. Look out for the exciting new autumn programme which will be coming soon.
warmest thoughts and all good wishes
Peter
Peter Watkins
Co Founder Inside Out Community
Image: lichen growing on a concrete tank trap at Sizewell.
