Exploring Awe in Life and Art

1000 year-old tree on Meares Island

I have had many experiences of awe in my life: the birth of my third grandchild last summer was a highlight. I actually experience awe each time I see him. But other than that miraculous experience, I felt awe when I taught a Workshops in Wild Places workshop recently in Tofino, BC. Our group went one day into Tofino where we caught a boat to Meares Island, just off the coast. We wound our way past tree-covered islands until we came to the Meares Island dock. The island supports an old growth forest and is designated as a Tribal Park, an indigenous-led protected area. Led by our guide, we walked in single-file, slowly and reverentially on the roughly hewn boardwalk that winds through the forest. At the end of the walk, stands a magnificent, gigantic 1000 year-old yellow cedar. We let out a collective gasp when we saw it. We felt humbled in the presence of such a being.

I felt awe as well, in my Newfoundland workshop that took place last June at The Doctor's House. We were on the search for icebergs and drove way up the peninsula, past Heart's Delight, Heart's Desire and Heart's Content to Brownsdale, where we hit the jackpot! 12 icebergs floating in the bay! Completely awe-inspiring.

Iceberg floating in Trinity Bay taken with my telephoto lens. It was a big iceberg and quite a ways off.

What exactly is awe? Albert Einstein referred to awe as “The source of all true art and science”. Einstein went on to say, “He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”

An excellent article in Psychology Today, discusses 10 benefits of awe. Turns out that awe is good for us in so many ways! Neil Farber in the Psycholgy Today article, sums up by saying, "Awe invokes creative, curious, mindful, altruistic, flexible, open-minded, physical, psychological and spiritual health and happiness." Sounds like we could use a spoonful of awe every day!

Awe experiences are what psychologists call self-transcendent: they shift our attention away from ourselves, make us feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves, change our perception of time, and even make us more generous toward others.

Morning sun on Cox Bay beach, BC

On the road back to Nanaimo from Tofino, BC

Another website, Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley, suggests another 8 benefits of awe. They also suggest 4 awe-inspiring practices, including an awe narrative, where you're asked to recall and describe a time when you experienced awe and to write about the experience in great detail. Such an exercise can help to relive that moment and so to re-experience awe.

Basalt columns on the water side of the cape at Baer Art Center in Iceland

Basalt columns running the whole height of the cape at the Baer Art Center, Iceland

Other practices come close to the benefits of awe: forest bathing is one, where a person walks through a forest for several hours in a slow, mindful, meditative way sometimes with forest bathing guide or even alone. The effects of awe are also similar to mindfulness, prayer, and meditation. But not quite. There is something about the experience of awe and vastness that makes a soul sing.

Workshops in Wild Places travels to awe-inspiring places. Not only will you connect with the land and create abstract paintings from that experience, but you'll also have all of the benefits of experiencing awe. We will seek awe.

Stars by Sara Teasdale

Alone in the night

On a dark hill

With pines around me

Spicy and still,

And a heaven full of stars

Over my head

White and topaz

And misty red;

Myriads with beating

Hearts of fire

The aeons

Cannot vex or tire;

Up the dome of heaven

Like a great hill

I watch them marching

Stately and still.

And I know that I

Am honored to be

Witness

Of so much majesty.

Liminal Time

The word liminal comes from the Latin, limen meaning threshold. an in-between place, a place of transition, a time of waiting and not knowing. Dawn and dusk are considered liminal places. Crepuscular animals, like foxes and coyotes are most active at this time of day, a time that is considered a magical time in Celtic spirituality and to Indigenous people which is perhaps the origin of their designation as tricksters. As I write this, the northern hemisphere has just passed the vernal equinox, where day and night are of equal length.We are in a liminal space between winter and spring right now, unsure if we will have one more storm or snowfall before spring finally settles in. We're also in a liminal place as we live through this pandemic with the anxiety and discomfort of not knowing. A time of great transition for the entire world, wondering what we've learned from this and what lessons we'll carry forward. Author and Fr...

Lessons that Stone Walls Teach

Dry stone wall in the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland I've just returned from teaching a Workshop in Wild Places class in the Burren in County Clare, Ireland. Writing this post, I'm reminded of another post I wrote after visiting Inishmaan, the middle of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland several years ago. Stone walls crisscrossed the island in tight webs like a fisherman's net. I wrote then that the web of stone walls made me think of the idea of putting limitations on our painting as a way of exploring more deeply and how walls give limits against the limitless. You can read that article here. As our group hiked in the Burren with our guide, Marie McGauran we learned that the walls are stronger because of the holes in them. The wind can pass through. The oldest stone walls, estimated to be 3500 years old are at Skara Brae, a Neolithic site in Orkney. Most walls were built in the 18th and 19th century, marking areas of private ownership and resultin...

Am I Too Old to Change? Embracing Life

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels I'm in the process, at last, of working on the book that came to me in a dream seven years ago. It has circled my head all these years, demanding I get at it. It's called: We're Not Done Yet: Coming to Art Later in Life . It has actually hung in the air a couple of feet behind my head, attached by a string like a helium balloon, like a cartoon cloud, waiting for me to get to it. Some of you will know of it because I posted a request on Facebook in 2019 asking for artists who have come to art later in life to reply to me if they'd like to answer a questionnaire. I received 168 responses plus earlier interviews I did before the put out the questionnaire. There was some overlap, and some didn't respond after they'd offered to. All in all, I received 128 responses. By a huge majority it was women who responded to my questionnaire. By the time we get into our 60's we bring a rich life experience to our work: m...

Janice Mason Steeves

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