There is no better way to understand the emotions and feelings of another person than to walk in their shoes. A close second is to portray a character that walks in their shoes. This is where drama comes in. Through imagining, we experience situations and lives not our own. Those experiences can be vividly real … Continue reading Drama and the Art of Empathy
Where do creative ideas come from? How do you get in touch with that source? For someone who is not a “natural” and must work to develop artistic inspiration, this will be a reflection on my personal journey toward artistic expression, and how I learned to “see” what mattered. Rev Frances Deverell is a … Continue reading Painting and the Art of Observation
The art of Indigenous painter Ken Monkman has shaken and shocked both the Canadian art world and the political world. Monkman is a visual disrupter at the intersection of art, history, sexuality and politics. To be a creative disrupter is to take familiar images and insert the unfamiliar. In so doing the observer is shocked … Continue reading Artist as Disruptor
Summer 2020 was a moment of racial reckoning. However, with those months of intense activism behind us, those committed to social justice must ask “What do we do now?”. As Unitarians committed to this struggle, it is important that we continue to engage and support anti-racism work through spiritual practice. Donovan Hayden is a Black activist, … Continue reading Anti-racism Work as Spiritual Practice
How we observe changes us. He said, ‘See my wife’. And then sensing that wasn’t enough, he said, ‘Behold my wife.’ If you slow down and read that last line again, you’ll likely feel a difference between seeing and beholding. They are not the same thing. When we behold another, we shift our relationship from … Continue reading Behold and Be Seen
Our Unitarian Universalist ancestors live again on this All Hallows Eve. Showing up are some admirable spiritual siblings who made their mark in the advancement of science, the arts and humanitarian endeavours. Meet the British nurse Florence Nightingale, and the Czechoslovakian/Canadian humanitarian Lotta Hitchmanova. They are joined by scientist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, transcendentalist … Continue reading Meet the Ancestors Part 2
On the eve of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment response in Glasgow, Scotland, we watch as world leaders maneuver words around real action on addressing environmental catastrophe. (*Remember our theme this month is Non-fiction and the art of Truth Speaking!) While the world leaders talk, what can we do to shift our own … Continue reading Think like a Rock! Sensing our Interconnection with Nature
PJ Patten will talk about his own story and art from his graphic memoir Tower 25, which reveals his own challenges of trauma, isolation and becoming sober, allowing him to process his own past in hopes of inspiring greater empathy from the general community for those struggling with homelessness and addiction. He’ll be describing the … Continue reading Tower 25
In researching and writing her children’s book, Shelter: Homelessness in our Community, Lois Peterson straddled the fence between presenting verifiable facts and recognizing that there are varying opinions about the causes of and solutions to homelessness. Lois will share how she struggled to keep her balance while staying true to her own values and presenting the … Continue reading Non Fiction in Truth Telling
Reconciliation is a beautiful word and a beautiful process, filled with dignity, wisdom and honourable human work. The deep kind of work that all our relationships deserve if we are to honour ourselves and the people we respect. There is much to learn about reconciliation from the Indigenous people of this land. Lessons that we … Continue reading Truth and Reconciliation
