Emanations from the Dendron Series

Authors

  • Kathy Mantas

Keywords:

art and nature, poetry, mindfullness, contemplative practices, photography

Abstract

This visual essay weaves together images and text to create a polyphonous telling and offer a glimpse into an artful contemplative practice that is, for me, both holistic and soulful in nature. Here, I, a learner-teacher and scholartist, engage in acts of wandering (through wonder(ing) and wa(l)king), noticing/gazing (in wonderment), attending (as a caring response and also as an act of listening and attunement), being/becoming/living (in the present moment), and trusting (in artistic and co-creative processes). This peripatetic aesthetic praxis—a way of working on and wa(l)king to my inner life, and moving toward wholeness (an ongoing process)—is informed by a larger in-progress and site-specific photographic exploration entitled, Dendron Series: On Roots, Rhizomes, Barks and Burls. My hope is that this contribution will serve both as an encounter and a provocation.

 

Community Voices: Applications of Holistic Education Worldwide

Author Biography

Kathy Mantas

Kathy Mantas is a scholartist and professor of art education and graduate studies at Nipissing
University, North Bay, Ontario. She taught in diverse public schools and alternative settings for
almost two decades before moving to North Bay to teach at Nipissing University in 2007.
Kathy’s research interests include: arts education; artful/creative forms of inquiry; cocreative/collaborative and spontaneous artmaking processes; creativity in teaching---learning
contexts; creativity and wellness; life-long learning; women’s studies; maternal studies; and
exploring nature’s artistry (roots, rhizomes, barks and burls) through more spontaneous artful
contemplative processes

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Published

2023-11-29

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2023): Contemplative Perspectives and Practices in Holistic Education

Section

Gallery Walk