Today we were fortunate enough to hear from the artist Clara Duran, as a guest artist in our seminar. Clara was a last minute decision by Jonathan as the planned artist was unfortunately ill, but perhaps this was meant to be. I found the entire session very valuable and wanted to address some of the questions posed to us in the session, whilst they’re still fresh in my mind.

I felt very drawn to Clara’s work and there seemed to be many parallels between my own current artistic exploration and the research Clara is undertaking. I was immediately taken by the idea of Humanity’s relationship with nature and overall, felt that this summed up my own objectives – for both myself and my audience.

I took a brief look at the United Nations – Sustainable Development Goals based on Clara’s work on Goal’s 6 & 15. I found this very interesting and intend to research this further.

The sensory, symbolic and spiritual nature of Clara’s work was inspiring and made me think about it in terms of my relationship with the mountains and outdoors in general. Clara’s connection with yoga, meditation and spirituality is something I can relate to – the practice of yoga has helped me immensely, which brings me to some of the questions posed to us by Clara.

1. Why are you interested in your art practice?
2. What moves you?
3. How did you get here?
4. Why is it relevant to the world?

Whilst these may appear to be rather simple straightforward questions, the answers help to make valuable connections within our art practice and overall objectives.

I’m interested in my art practice because it enables me to combine the mediums I enjoy within an environment that feeds my soul. Nature and the outdoors is largely what moves me and I got where I am in many ways, through experiences of trauma. This led to a quest for healing and being in nature has provided me with invaluable therapy. Why is it relevant to the world? I suppose it provides a visual representation of my own journey, whilst encouraging humanity’s relationship with nature.

In recent weeks, I feel much closer to knowing where I want to get to and how and I am more accepting of my situation in the present moment and most definitely enjoying the process..