spirituality
FINDING
YOUR
CREATIVE
SPIRITUALITY
by Mandy Eve-Barnett
Have you ever been so engrossed in a creative activity that time is inconsequential? I have and the more I do, the more I enjoy that interwoven harmony of creativity and spiritualty. When I write I become calm, centred, focused and relaxed. In essence my spirituality guides my creativity allowing me to create a physical form of my imagination. The link between my creativity and spirituality has always interwoven. Although, when I was younger I did not understand this connection. It is only as I have grown older, that I have discovered the calm focus I experience when creating, is akin to meditation.
Young Artist From early on, I was seen as ‘artsy’ making things from whatever materials were around me. It could be sticks and stones, leaves and flower petals, paper or card. I created collages with natural or man-made materials stuck together, stacked in 3-D form or mounted on cardboard. The act of creating something from nothing made me content. As an emerging teenager escaping younger siblings, I went to a place of peace and quiet, which allowed moments of reflection and curiosity. That place was a nearby walled graveyard. It may seem odd that I chose such a place, but the peaceful setting among the grave stones sitting on a moss covered mound underneath a weeping willow, refreshed my soul. I would read a book or just sit with my thoughts, enjoying the stillness
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of the place and the birdsong around me. There were many beautifully carved and ornamental gravestones. I would read the newer inscriptions and after a time began to clean the older stones revealing the names, dates and inscriptions. This may not seem strictly creative but I thought of it as a caring ritual for those long passed. The process of carving out the moss, lichen and dirt accumulated over decades elicited a spiritual synthesis. Although, at the time I did not understand that was what was happening. At school, I was encouraged to explore my creativity with art in its multitude of forms by an excellent teacher. No matter how outlandish my idea, she would find a way to make it happen. From breaking clocks and watches for a moving my creativity and cog operated spirituality has wall hanging to obtaining the always interwoven large cork notice board from the school corridor for a large geometric design painted in black and white squares with paper-mache entrails at its center. Miss Randall made my creativity important. Having such a mentor meant I could create whatever my mind devised. I would never want art class to end and went to the art room every lunch time, where I felt euphoric. This was my creativity and spirituality fusing together.
