Powerful Creative Actions

“When artists give form to revelation, their art can advance, deepen and potentially transform the consciousness of their community.”

~  Alex Gray

This week’s zine focuses on beautiful acts of creativity, such as intergenerational painting between a grandmother and granddaughter, making art in service to global reforestation for our upcoming Mother Tree Art Call, creative practices to honor times and seasons in the natural world such as the recent spring equinox, or art journaling to ignite renewed commitment to not give up hope…

Use the jumplinks below 👇🏽 to Choose Your Own Adventure

Ritual painting in progress by Color of Woman Student, Gwen Umphrey

Community Highlights

The Creative Ties that Bind 💞

featuring Guild Member Mary Ann Mathys and her Granddaughter Chloe

Mary Ann Matthys is an Intentional Creativity Teacher, Color of Woman Teacher 2014, Zoom Host for Musea and Co-Director of the Red Madonna Sisterhood.

She has been painting with her granddaughter Chloe for most of the Full Moons since Chloe was two years old. Chloe’s sweet brushstrokes are part of all of Mary Ann’s Red Madonna Paintings. Chloe describes her process of painting what she feels in the moment rather than seeking a certain outcome. Mary Ann and Chloe have the most lovely time painting together. Chloe is 10 now and has a confidence in her painting that is a real blessing to behold. Mary Ann says of a recent Full Moon painting session…

“Yesterday as we painted I found myself moving from panic at my gorgeous layer changing and bliss at watching Chloe paint her vision with utter confidence. We had so much fun and the finished second layer of Emanation Moon feels just as it is meant to be in this moment.”

MUSEA is an intergenerational community of creatives, and we have witnessed time and again the incredible bonds that form between family members when they get the opportunity to intentionally create together. It is a form of communion, and it is also such a wonderful way for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to teach devotional creativity to the children – those up and coming artists – in their lives. We are celebrating Mary Ann and Chloe and their intergenerational creative journey, certain that Chloe will cherish these memories with her grandma when she is grown!

Invitation and Inspiration for the Mother Tree Global Call For Art!

Art and Activism coming together…

featuring Guild Members Milagros Suriano-Rivera and Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates

Mother Tree art call work-in-progress – a paper clay sculpture by Milagros

My name is Milagros Suriano-Rivera, I am a Color of Woman Teacher, Guild Member, Cocurator and VP of Programming for the Intentional Creativity Foundation the 501(c)3 for Musea Museum. I’m so excited to start work on my Mother Tree project in anticipation of my submission!

Musea Intentional Creativity Museum’s MOTHER TREE Global Call for art in collaboration with TreeSisters International is an invitation to self-identified women everywhere who desire to be a creative voice for the trees to have your earth-based artwork featured in a global Virtual Museum Exhibition.

Being able to use art as activism is so empowering. Using my hands as tools to create a statement and stand for a cause is a feeling like no other. I have never before been much of an activist as I thought it was all about fist up in the air and chaining myself to a building or something like what I have seen in the past. Don’t get me wrong everyone has their way of standing up for what MATTERS to them. Answering Musea Museum’s Global Mother Tree Art Call feels right because I love the trees and now that I know of our connection as beings connected to both Earth and Cosmos how can I not answer this call?

Submissions are open now through April 1, 2022, and all art mediums are welcomed (sent to us as a digital image). Your submission will undergo an official jury process and those chosen will have their artwork curated into a Virtual Art Exhibition with LIVE Online Museum Show and Exhibit Opening April 20, 2022!

This is a 6 minute teaser I created so you can see the beginnings of my project. Because the Mother Tree Art Call is a multimedia art call, I get to use some of my other gifts to create a piece to contribute and help reach MUSEA’s goal of planting 90,000 trees! I hope it inspires you to create something unique and in your own voice!

Join a COMPLIMENTARY, self-paced Mother Tree Spirit Doll workshop with Sumaiyah!

One of the things I am excited about for Mother Tree is that submissions are being accepted for any form of art. It doesn’t have to be a painting… As a mixed media crazy artist, I enjoy the freedom of being able to create something “non-painting” that I can submit and possibly have exhibited. It allows my creative juices to flow and I can create something to submit without restriction, other than following the guidelines for the art they are seeking for the show.

I am also excited about participating because I know that in doing so, I am helping Musea and TreeSisters International in their global reforestation efforts. Mama Earth certainly needs the trees and so do we!

In this spirit, I have created an Intentional Creativity mixed media offering to help you get thinking about a mixed media project that you can submit for Mother Tree. Maybe you’ll submit the Mother Tree Spirit Doll that you create through my offering. Or maybe my offering will give you an idea for something else to create and submit.

Who knows?! I do, however, invite you to get your hands messy and create something beautiful to submit for the art call. Submission deadline is April 1st, so there’s still plenty of time to get to mixing the media!The link to my offering is below. It is totally free — my piece of the Red Thread in this project to help Musea and TreeSisters plant thousands of trees. We only have one Earth and this is something I can do to help ensure that She is around for my kids and grands to enjoy a full life.

~ Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates, Intentional Creativity Teacher, Coach, and Guide

Mother Tree

I am root and soil
I am limb and leaf
Millennia appear as rings on my face
I shelter and feed
I clothe and nurture
I bruise and
I breathe

~ By Jenn Bissett

Member Letter

Honoring the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and Tuning into the Hope of New Birth

by Jessica Richmond, Musea CoCurator and Magazine Lead

Soulfire work-in-progress by Color of Woman student True

“If we don’t feed our young people plates full of hope, what else will be left for them to eat.”
~Michelle Obama

In my part of the world in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is celebrated in March as the sun crosses over the Vernal Equinox marking longer days and more time for sunshine just as Autumn is dawning for the southern hemisphere. I’ve always loved Spring and all that it symbolizes. I personally like to think of it as Mother Nature’s baby shower for the new life bursting onto the planet bringing with it the gifts of joy and hope. 

However, this year it feels difficult to hold on to joy. So much global sadness and loss related to the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, watching sadly as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee many different kinds of horrible situations around the world, all with the backdrop of… what’s next. 

I can also become exhausted from trying to figure out what to do and how to help. While I don’t have many answers, one thing I try to remind myself when I feel this way is that much of the new birth on our planet is reliant upon us not giving up. Let me say that one more time…

New birth on our planet is reliant upon us not. giving. up. ♥

From our own human littles, to the countless billions of newborns in the animal world, to seeds that require planting; this new life is counting on us, just as we are counting on the promise of continuation of life that is within them. At times I can feel a strong temptation pulling at me to become complacent in thinking that life on earth can go on without us, and that many species of the animal, plant, and insect kingdoms might even be better off without having to share this planet with humans, but then I remind myself that whatever side of that argument I’m on for a particular day, the fact does not change that we are here.

We are already here right now, and we’ve been here for centuries impacting the land that we stand on deeply interconnected with all life on this planet. So even when I may not feel very celebratory, I remind myself that I have an obligation to celebrate hope even if I may not be feeling very hopeful because that is the energy from which all life springs forth. Without it, where would we be? The practice of Intentional Creativity is one of the gifts that has brought much hope and joy into my life so, while I may not feel as joyful this year as in Springs of the past, I’ve been connecting with the energy of hope through art journaling and painting. This helps to uplift my heart and maintain my commitment to wanting to be of service in some small way.

Whether you are honoring the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, or the Fall Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere, I encourage you to connect with a creative practice that will support you in connecting with your hope and joy. We have a great complimentary Mother Tree Spirit Doll offering from Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates, as mentioned above in the Community Highlights section, that might be just the right creative medicine to tune into. This supports access to the wisdom of the trees and the earth. Listening to that essence of life that has been here all along that never gives up… 

May this equinox time fill you with that reminder.

Don’t give up.

~Jessica Richmond

Announcements

Visit our Guild-Led Event Calendar below for a list of upcoming Intentional Creativity events you may enjoy! 

What’s On at the Museum!

Submit your artwork to the Mother Tree Open Art Call by April 1!
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Claim your Complimentary Ticket to the Mother Tree Museum Show this April 20!

MUSEA Intentional Creativity Museum is welcoming multimedia art submissions for the Mother Tree Global Call for art in Collaboration with TreeSisters International!

This is a open call to women everywhere who desire to be a creative voice for the trees, and have your earth-based artwork featured in a global Virtual Museum Exhibition. This art call is a collaborative creative project with TreeSisters International inviting women to tell the story of their love and advocacy of our global forests. Through this art call, we are co-creating an investment in global reforestation efforts with 50% of proceeds from entry fees directed to TreeSisters Reforestation Projects and a goal of planting 90,000 trees!

Submissions are open now through April 1, 2022. Artwork will be juried and curated into a Virtual Exhibition with LIVE Online Museum Show and Exhibit Opening April 20, 2022.

The Mother Tree Museum Show and Exhibit Opening will feature curated artwork from the Mother Tree Global Call for art, weaving together a powerful visual story of women’s love and advocacy of our global forests through multimedia art.

This Museum Show and Opening for the Mother Tree Exhibit will take place LIVE online on April 20, 2022, in honor of the upcoming Earth Day. The show will be hosted by MUSEA Curator, Shiloh Sophia, Mother Tree Art Call Jurors, and special guest TreeSister Artist Liaison, Kathleen Brigidina, who will share about TreeSister’s women-led global reforestation work and how artists are involved!

At the show we will share the Mother Tree Exhibit Presentation – a celebration of the artwork and the co-creation of global reforestation, as well as an honoring of the Earth and the Mother Trees that keep our forests alive.

This show is open to the public and will also serve as a fundraiser for TreeSisters, with donation options included as a part of the ticketing process.

If you do not plan to submit to the art call and would like a way to support our goal of raising $5000 to plant over 90,000 trees, you can donate for your ticket. There are $10, $20, $50, and personalized donation options via the Eventbrite Ticket page!

All of our Museum Shows are Complimentary and open to the public! We encourage you to invite your friends and family to the show. Simply copy and share this link on your Social Media, email or text! https://imusea.org/attend-an-event/

CURIOUS ABOUT MEMBERSHIP?

Become a Member today of one of the world’s largest and most well established Art Movements – MUSEA : Intentional Creativity!

“Gather with us. Be a part of our movement. While we can’t yet be together in person, we don’t need to be isolated from one another. Every place a MUSEA Member is, a MUSEA IS, so we are all over the world! Being a member is something to feel good about and connected to as a part of each of our individual stories, as well as our collective story.”

~ Shiloh Sophia, MUSEA Curator

Curator, Shiloh Sophia (center), with Musea Guild and Staff Members at the Vivid 2021 Gathering! 

Have Membership Questions?

Contact Member Coordinators: Chatelle Jeram at chatelle.jeram@musea.org or Marnie Dangerfield at marnie.dangerfield@musea.org.