Continuing with the bird knowledge the students have learned through story and craft and with the skills developed in needle felting is the creation of hanging eco sculptures. Working with additional natural foraged material to provide additional depth and shape, Yolanda led the young hands taking needle felting to another level. Yolanda explained her low impact method of harvest to express her relationship with the land.
Yolanda writes “Third workshop was a hit! The kids were so confident with the felting needles, we barely broke any this time around. They were intrigued by the materials respectfully gathered for adding to the felted hemp structures. Some students have been foraging for another project and brought those skills to the table. A beautiful sense of creation and calm seems to set in during these workshops, the meditative nature of the work takes hold.”
The students were encouraged to take nests home and install them at home or in a bird friendly location where perhaps some winged visitors may come by to visit.
Yolanda leading the class in the creation of hanging nestsForaged natural items from land and seashorea hanging nest fully stocked with natural foraged items and ready to hang from branch.a hummingbird drops by to see the nest creations in progress
I am a contemporary outsider artist that believes in the healing properties of the natural environment. I paint landscapes in abstract as an expression of my connection with nature and its ability to provide me peaceful inspiration. As organisms on this earth I believe we are interconnected with nature and highly interdependent.
But as the psycho-social environment we live in today gets ever increasingly complex its effects on us are becoming more pervasive, corroding and sophisticated. However the energy, peace and serenity of our natural surroundings can provide a way of grounding our senses and healing our minds. I try to capture the interrelationship between my mind and nature as I see and feel it; it’s an expression of my soul captured on a physical medium and in a point in time. Going through the process in itself contributes to balance.
Driven by my own lived experience, I am a self proclaimed arts-based advocate for mental health and strive to demystify and eliminate stigma around these issues. My initiatives in this regard include being the Vancouver Caucus leader for the Artist Alliance for Mental Health, a collective member (2010) of the artist-run Gallery Gachet in Vancouver and the Producer and Host of Sound Therapy Radio a peer oriented mental wellness show on CJSF 90.1 FM. I have a true belief in human potential and in the statement; ‘art is a means for survival’.
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Creative Cafe Artist Collective 