Is This How You Feel?
With this project, I explore our feelings of gratitude for natural spaces. Nature-related gratitudes solicited from my community are written on the ceramic components, and these components comprise a larger artwork. This project draws the community together to focus on nature as one of the positive and unifying aspects of our lives.
Spending time in nature is a source of renewal for all people, regardless of race, sex/gender, religion, or economic status. Given the current political climate, I believe we need to actively create more experiences which demonstrate our overwhelming similarities as people. By focusing on something positive that we share, I hope to take space away from fear.
This project is important to me because I believe artists have a responsibility to shape culture in positive ways, through critique, re-direction, and advocacy. This project will guide viewers to reflect on their positive experiences in nature, that they have in common with many others, while also providing space for individuals to reach their own conclusions about the value of nature and connections.
Spending time in nature is a source of renewal for all people, regardless of race, sex/gender, religion, or economic status. Given the current political climate, I believe we need to actively create more experiences which demonstrate our overwhelming similarities as people. By focusing on something positive that we share, I hope to take space away from fear.
This project is important to me because I believe artists have a responsibility to shape culture in positive ways, through critique, re-direction, and advocacy. This project will guide viewers to reflect on their positive experiences in nature, that they have in common with many others, while also providing space for individuals to reach their own conclusions about the value of nature and connections.
Is This How You Feel? (Maquette)
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Gratitudes
-Grateful for animals' intuition
Anne Honeycutt
-The smell of the ocean on a rainy day
Maria Batista
-Grateful that there are many microbes that are helpful to humans and also delicious!
Frances Raftis
-Grateful for the clean air produced by trees and plants
Cheryl Hamilton
-Grateful for all the different bird songs
-Grateful for patterns in natural things
-Grateful for growing things
-Grateful for the pollinators
Christina Steele
-Grateful for bearable weather
Sonja Jankov
-Grateful for how beautiful the snow looks on the trees.
-Grateful for the bulbs now poking through the soil
-Grateful for the gorgeous view I get when walking home
Sarah Brownlee
-Grateful to live in Canada
-Grateful for my healthy body
Chika Ando
-Grateful for the smells of marketplace spices
-Grateful for bumbling skunks
-Grateful for fainting goats
-Grateful for bioluminescence
Trevor Cooper
-Grateful to smell the salty air of the ocean
-Grateful for the sounds of trees swaying
-Grateful to forage in the forest
-Grateful for shells on the beach
-Grateful for tall grass to be solitary
-Grateful for the plants and animals
-Grateful for the exploration
Jenn MacGregor
-Grateful for Oliver therapy (aka dog love)
-Grateful for the smell of the ocean
Shelley McIvor
-Grateful for childhood summers spent at the lake
-Grateful for solitary early mornings in the row boat
-Grateful for all discoveries at the lake, from fossils to various living creatures.
-Grateful for bike trips along coastlines and through forests
Dzee Louise
-Grateful to see the moon from my bedroom window
Emma Cooper
-Grateful for 61 years on this planet
-Grateful to be regenerated and revived by nature
Jeff Holmwood
-Grateful for the feeling of grass between my toes
-Grateful for the feeling of sunshine on my face with my eyes closed
-Grateful for the ability to grow food in my backyard
Emma Fineblit
-Grateful for the scent of lilacs in the spring
Holly Truax
-Grateful for the wind that makes the city feel restless
Paige Louter
-Grateful for reminders that we are ecosystems not individuals
Niel McLaren
-Grateful for the majestic Canadian Rockies
-Grateful for the blueness of the Bow River
-Grateful for the pine smell in the forests near Bowness Park
Bette McKinley
-Grateful for animals' intuition
Anne Honeycutt
-The smell of the ocean on a rainy day
Maria Batista
-Grateful that there are many microbes that are helpful to humans and also delicious!
Frances Raftis
-Grateful for the clean air produced by trees and plants
Cheryl Hamilton
-Grateful for all the different bird songs
-Grateful for patterns in natural things
-Grateful for growing things
-Grateful for the pollinators
Christina Steele
-Grateful for bearable weather
Sonja Jankov
-Grateful for how beautiful the snow looks on the trees.
-Grateful for the bulbs now poking through the soil
-Grateful for the gorgeous view I get when walking home
Sarah Brownlee
-Grateful to live in Canada
-Grateful for my healthy body
Chika Ando
-Grateful for the smells of marketplace spices
-Grateful for bumbling skunks
-Grateful for fainting goats
-Grateful for bioluminescence
Trevor Cooper
-Grateful to smell the salty air of the ocean
-Grateful for the sounds of trees swaying
-Grateful to forage in the forest
-Grateful for shells on the beach
-Grateful for tall grass to be solitary
-Grateful for the plants and animals
-Grateful for the exploration
Jenn MacGregor
-Grateful for Oliver therapy (aka dog love)
-Grateful for the smell of the ocean
Shelley McIvor
-Grateful for childhood summers spent at the lake
-Grateful for solitary early mornings in the row boat
-Grateful for all discoveries at the lake, from fossils to various living creatures.
-Grateful for bike trips along coastlines and through forests
Dzee Louise
-Grateful to see the moon from my bedroom window
Emma Cooper
-Grateful for 61 years on this planet
-Grateful to be regenerated and revived by nature
Jeff Holmwood
-Grateful for the feeling of grass between my toes
-Grateful for the feeling of sunshine on my face with my eyes closed
-Grateful for the ability to grow food in my backyard
Emma Fineblit
-Grateful for the scent of lilacs in the spring
Holly Truax
-Grateful for the wind that makes the city feel restless
Paige Louter
-Grateful for reminders that we are ecosystems not individuals
Niel McLaren
-Grateful for the majestic Canadian Rockies
-Grateful for the blueness of the Bow River
-Grateful for the pine smell in the forests near Bowness Park
Bette McKinley
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First phase of this project funded by:
This page features a maquette of the final artwork. It will be updated when the project is complete.
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While I was making this project, I found a website called "Is This How You Feel?" Although the website didn't inspire my project, I connected to website creator Joe Duggan's concept of creating a resource for climate scientists and concerned members of the public to express their ecological grief. While my project has a different focus, it is a response to my own experience with ecological grief. I wanted my project to ask the same question, is this how you feel? If we all feel the value of nature, we should remember that feeling when making choices that could affect the environment.
Duggan's Is This How You Feel? includes some links to take action. His page urges that we contact our representatives, and includes Australian and US contact links. Here is the link for Canadians.
