Spiritsaid Fiber Art
What is your 6 Senses Environmental Walking Practice?
Most people use their five senses when walking through an urban environment.
But I intensely practice using my 6th.
After decades of spiritual work, I've learned to hear the voices of benevolent spirits and get direction from the energies in my environment.
This generates information that my five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) can't perceive.
Sometimes it's a general sense like investigating an unfamiliar alleyway. Other times it can be as specific as an inner voice that says “Get to the Chancellor St. entrance of the Hyatt Centric hotel in downtown Philly by 6:45 p.m. on September 16th.” (That yielded this treasure trove of beads on the sidewalk).
I believe that before maps, GPS, and cell phones, humans spent intense effort attuning to the energies of their environment. Part of that was a survival impulse. But it also allowed them to work with the environment much more effectively.
My 6 Senses Environmental Walking Practice is an attempt to reclaim some of those innate human abilities and test out how they affect me.
I’m trying to answer the question, “What is it like to intensely and intentionally tune into an urban environment?” What are the benefits of taking out my earbuds, ignoring my cell phone, and listening intently instead of just keeping my head down and rushing home?
I love the joy and surprise of discovering something new on the street corner!
I love the feel of working with energies that have my best interests at heart just as I have theirs.
It's not just picking up litter or leaving the environment cleaner than I found it.
It's taking home something precious I can use to create beautiful art and talk about what it's like to work with our environment instead of against it.
Every day is like a gift waiting to be opened.
My "No New Supplies" Pledge
All materials are second-hand: found, foraged, donated, traded, or purchased in a thrift store or charity shop.
I don’t buy new tools unless I have exhausted all of the above sources, and I absolutely cannot find what I need. (In practice, I end up purchasing about one new item per year)
All methods are eco-friendly: sewing, tying, crocheting, weaving, or binding instead of gluing, stapling, or varnishing with plastic based sealer.
Any non-biodegradable materials come from picking up litter on the street or in a natural environment. Anytime you see acrylic yarn, a canvas with acrylic paint, or anything plastic or glued, rest assured that I found it that way.
There's one exception…every once in awhile, I purchase something small from a local independent retailer or artist (hand-dyed yarn from a disabled artist, a set of hand forged curved needles to support the Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch, UK.) Local stores and makers deserve support. So on the off chance I do buy anything, that's where I source it.
For me, it’s like the doctor's Socratic oath “Do no harm”...except for artists!
What is your "No New Supplies" pledge?
Why do you list the biodegradable content of your art?
I think it's important to understand a work’s entire life cycle. While I use mostly biodegradable materials and 100% eco-friendly construction techniques (no PVA-based adhesives or plastic packaging) I do sometimes work with acrylic, plastic, or other non-biodegradable objects that are foraged or found.
While I hope clients will treasure my work, nothing lasts forever. I want collectors to be aware of how to dispose of my art in an ecologically responsible way. To be honest, I think the percentage of biodegradable materials should be de rigeur, like ingredient lists and caloric breakdowns on food packaging. We want to know what we're eating. I think we should know what we're buying, too.
Who is Sophia?
Her name ("Sophia 2026") is written on the back of this canvas.
I found it on Fitzwilliam St. near the corner of Percy St. in Philadelphia, across from a playground.
Is this her school assignment or daycare project, carelessly discarded on the way home?
However this canvas came to be discarded on the street, I loved using her painting as inspiration to create a new work of art.
I do. Everything can be shipped. Please contact me with your location, and we can discuss the most eco-friendly shipping and packaging options. For some work and some locations, there may be an additional shipping fee.
Do you ship your work?
