Inspiration and other Musings

Listening

I recently re-listened to a lovely interview on the OnBeing podcast with John O’Donohue, O'donohue was an Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher. In the show notes, it starts by mentioning that "no conversation they’ve ever done has been more beloved than this one. Interesting that an interview with O'Donohue on the CBC show Tapestry also mentions that it was their most listened to podcast. There's so much to absorb from the beauty of his words and poetry. You can listen to the interview here.

Quotes

“Life is constant invitation to a radical form of simplification.” David Whyte.

“It’s more important to be interested than to be interesting.” John W. Gardner

Creative Finds

I love all things paper, so how cool to come across a paper engineer! Shawn Sheehy describes himself as a paper engineer who creates books that are designed as pop-ups. They're colorful and playful with themes that include plants and animals. He also shares his love of this medium through online workshops. Check out his website here.

And on a trip to Harbourfront, an arts space on the Toronto waterfront, I was introduced to an installation piece by Amanda McCavour. McCavour is a Toronto-based artist who works with stitch to create large-scale embroidered installations. You can check out her work here. And if you're in the Toronto area and the stars line up, she also teaches occasional workshops at the Toronto Botanical Garden.

Two images of art work at the Haliburton School of Art & Design, and an organic chess set
made from small branches and found in a local park.

Inspiration

On a recent trip to Haliburton, Ontarion, I had the opportunity to visit the Haliburton School of Art & Design. Their main gathering space has soaring ceilings made with large exposed beams and a bank of windows providing lots of natural light overlooking the nearby forest trail. Its used for gatherings, concerts and also as an exhibition space. Photos 1 and 2 are works from the current exhibition, part of an inspiring show of faculty work.

On a walk in Sunnybrook Park, a table with a home made chess set made from branches cut into small pieces caught my eye - left for passerby's to enjoy a game in the park. I love the simplicity, organic quality and creativity of this solution to chess pieces (photo 3 above).

And below, I noticed this on one of my urban walks. An old fashioned shoe repair shop (yup, they still exist). I noticed the sign in their window first, then looked up to see the store name.

Creative Work

Some recent projects - journals (with marbled paper, Chiyogami and paste paper) and some paste papers ready to go for another project.