Awakening Hearts & Minds to the Climate Crisis through Art Making.
I’m Marsha Dinelli, and for 40 years, I have studied the relationship between art making and the subtle energy in the ecosystem. In that time, I have come to understand that if we resist changing our relationship and behavior with the natural world, we will not be able to impact the climate crisis in a positive way.
My research aims to provide a more complete perspective to understanding the world we live in by providing a different way of seeing the world. It is a perspective that provides a positive context for change in a broader conversation about how we understand and care for our home —Earth.
So, if you are interested in or passionate about art making and want to engage in climate crisis action, you’ve come to the right place.
It is difficult to find a straightforward definition for “art making” as it seems to lead us to the definition of “art,” which in the Western world leads to the product and not the process. But I like the definition anthropologist and author Tim Ingold provides,
This definition clearly depicts the art making process as a flow of resources between the physical and invisible dimensions of the world as the artistic form takes shape, supporting the interconnectedness inherent in a holistic world. In my mind, the process is also tempered by the art makers’ cultural background and experiences, which provide the context for how the art maker understands their skill, materials, and creative energy.
The art making process involves working with the materials needed to make it physically while mastering the techniques of the craft, all while integrating with the creative energy that allows the form of what we create to emerge.
How does art making connect us to the world around us?
Art makers are already skilled in the back-and-forth dialogue that nurtures the relationship between the artist, the energy, and the emergent work.
Many art makers already credit their creative ability to forces beyond their control and see themselves as a conduit for the work they ultimately bring to form.
The process of art making provides the framework for grounding our understanding of and developing a relationship with the natural world.
By understanding the natural flow of resources between the physical and invisible dimensions, we can develop a relationship based on cooperation and collaboration instead of the extractive nature of our current science-based relationship.
A Relationship of Reciprocity.
For centuries, indigenous communities have taught the importance of having a relationship with the natural world.
These cultures tapped into this relationship to keep their ecosystems healthy and themselves aligned with their ecosystems.
The role of the shaman in these communities was to,
In other words, Shamans in these communities were concerned with the world’s well-being, which included the humans within it.
As part of an indigenous view, there appears to be a spiritual focus that accepts a way of knowing that involves more than what can be objectively observed, a recognition that the relational experience within a connected system of living entities is infused with an energy or vital force that exists not only within each entity but throughout the whole system.
Our Physical & Energetic Connection to the World.
Most Westerners are familiar with the Eastern traditions of acupuncture, tai chi, chi gong and yoga, popular, meditative practices designed to promote health and well-being in the individual. But they may not be familiar with the deeper Eastern understanding of the –
My research looks to create an opening to explore and consider the process of art making as environmental action.
As a citizen of the industrialized West, it has been my experience that our mainstream worldview has focused on the earth in its physical form, which is where we focus our restoration efforts. But what if more was needed to return an area in need of restoration back to its natural state of health and well-being? What if the energetic component that connects the aliveness of the earth plays a part in optimizing our restoration efforts? And what if those of us who understand the benefits of knowing the world in this way and our ability to strengthen the energy dimension through our practice were able to put that deep understanding into the physical process of restoring the local landscape?
In my mind, the recovery of our planet may very well depend on a combination of physical restoration with an ongoing infusion of qi in a gentle courtship of people and places and a respectful relationship between the two. This type of recovery would transform the restoration process from a benign set of scientific instructions delineating a particular landscape to an environmental experience interlaced with the dialog of the art making process.
In our modern world, this work might be akin to or lead to art making as used in the rituals and ceremonies of Indigenous cultures to provide the relationships needed for resilience.
This is arts making – a chance to play seriously.
As a trained dancer from an early age, spins and jumps were as natural for me as running, and my walking was always peppered with a leap or two, a kick, or a twist. Playing outside and dancing around was my modus operandi, as dancing was not something that was confined to only a dance class. It was embedded in my kitchen chores routine, leaf raking choreography, and caring for my pets. I willingly performed for nature. The sky, trees, birds, meandering creeks, and wayward streams were my constant audience. After college, I began to see my childhood behavior in a more positive way rather than a purely comical light. Dance became a daily meditation and preparation for being in the world.
Graduate school beckoned and proved to be life-changing. A master’s degree in Culture, Ecology, and Education from Portland State University, followed by research and a doctorate in Arts Education and Ecology from Simon Fraser University, brought the two threads, dance and the natural world, together in my life’s journey, allowing my art making to act as a conduit to the more than human world.
Later, I worked for several environmental non-profit organizations until I began to question my work’s effectiveness in changing how people lived and cared for the environment.
This is the experience I bring to this work, and I invite you to join me in this way of knowing.
I teach an online class with a local field experience component to introduce this perspective.
Sign up for the 8-week class to change your view of the world. The perspective is essential to anyone who has an artmaking practice or uses arts-based learning in their work with others.
The class is relevant to anyone.
But it is especially relevant to these professions.
- Preschool teachers and teachers in the arts.
- Art therapists or art makers in health or medicine and creative wellness programs.
- Scientists with an art making practice.
- Art makers who work in various arts and culture programs.
I am also available for consultation with groups, organizations, or other entities that are interested in this perspective.
Course description
The course is a hands-on look at the art making process and its relationship to the universal energy and aliveness of the natural world. By focusing on this subtle energy and our ability to connect to it through the practice of art making, we are reminded of the many Indigenous and East Asian cultural practices that used art making to connect their health and well-being with that of the planet.
The reciprocal nature of this energy flow between all living components of the ecosystem is key. By strengthening this universal energy flow through our art making practice, we help to build its resilience to withstand the climate crisis and, in the process, transform our perspective from a Western industrial cultural point of view to an interconnected holistic one.
Immersing students in the mechanics of a holistic perspective allows them to make the information their own and to initiate new behavior patterns that honor the intention of this different way of understanding our relationship to the ecosystem.
Teaching Philosophy
For me, it is all about the process of experience. To nurture that process and play with it as you work hard to earn what you know.
An explanation of something is never as good as the actual experience of it, and to realize the goal of strengthening the energetic interchange between humans and the rest of the natural world to build resilience within the ecosystem, you have to engage and immerse yourself in the effort.