How Art Heals-WEB

81 34. Shona Wilson WWW.SHONAWILSON.COM NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA “I had been working with natural, found materials in my studio for twenty years and then was without a studio for six months after I’d moved. I de- cided to take my art practice outdoors and began making small-scale, site-sensitive ephemeral works. I had been inspired by Andy Goldsworthy twenty years ago. “Previously, I had been collecting and processing natural, found materials indoors to make ‘saleable’ works for exhibition with galleries, I was also feeling creatively exhausted—physically, mentally, and spiritually too. The One a Day ephemeral art project arose from making a single work while camping on my birthday. I enjoyed it so much. The freedom, surprise, and ability to be playful was so refreshing. This prompted a week and then a month and finally a year of a daily practice, becoming an online project that developed a social media presence in a very organic way.” This project was a yearlong, everyday “activity,” and sometimes I felt frustrated, surprised, joyful, angry, sad—but predominantly it had the effect of calming me and helping me feel connected to something wondrous and always changing: nature. It became a daily creative, healing, meditative, art-making ritual that grounded me and gave me a lot of joy and peace. It was different from simply walking in nature. The direct engagement with the materials helped me focus and tune in to a more subtle and more meaningful connection to where I was and to myself. The photography was another layer that helped me see the work as a mirror to myself and the world; it was very revealing. The sense of greater connection it gave me was empowering.