Co-Creating a new way into being 

This is the first piece created while developing the collaborative online program with Phoebe Patten. It's the beginning of a beautiful creative dialogue.

Since the beginning of 2017, I've been called to work collaboratively. I didn't know what it would look like, but I knew it was going to be an essential part of the next evolution of my work and of myself. 

As the call grew stronger and I finally answered with a big YES in early 2018, ideas for collaborating started falling out of the sky into my lap. I received each one with gratitude and awe, and then reached out to others to begin the collaborative exploration. 

Although I don't know the "what" or "how" (although the 'what' is becoming clearer and clearer!), I said YES and am now moving forward. I know if I can stay aligned with the pieces I *do* know, then something amazing will unfold. My clarity lies here: 

1. I want to collaborate from the heart and to let the process lead. 
2. I want to have a clear intention with each collaborative project and exploration.
3. Something created by 2 or more people circling around a single intention has its own energy, which is not owned/possessed/controlled by any one person. It has its own trajectory and life force; the group contributes towards helping birth this energy into physical form. As such, the group practices deep listening to what wants to be birthed and collaborates in service to that. 

There's much more and I'm still learning, but deep within, I know that Collaboration is the way forward for me. Now, I am focusing my energy on creating the world I want to live in. As I try to step outside of the paradigm of oppression, enslavement and power over, there is much deep work for me to do to release all the parts in me that have been programmed within the the current power structure. The opportunity for work around forgiveness - of self and others - is now and necessary. 

Is any of this important to you? I'm not sure, but I hope this page will be filled with examples of collaborations that brought something beneficial to our communities and world. May it be in the highest good of all beings. 

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Collaborative Art

"Falling in the lap of trust" first layer, Eleni Livitsanos

"Falling in the lap of trust" final piece, after every artist worked on it

The first collaborative call I said yes to was a creative project with a beautiful circle of artists. We are sprinkled across the US (with one in Canada) and have been creating art together since January 2018. During our first cycle, we each painted a piece with a theme in mind, wrote about the theme, and then mailed it forward. Every month a different piece with its own theme would show up in my mailbox, for me to take in, sit with, and respond to - through paint and words. It was a beautiful and intimate experience, getting other people's art, reading their inner reflections, and then adding my own art on top.

As of the end of 2020, we're on our seventh round of this collaborative project. It continues to feed me and bring much joy. 

Collaborating artists:

• Sarah Samuelson (https://solidgroundcreative.com/)
• Joan Gaetz (https://hangingouttodry.ca)
• Tammy Novak (http://fillingthepage.com/)