PRIMORDIAL RESOURCES ~ NATURE CREATIVITY

​Encountering the Earth:
How Ecological Creativity Changes Us and the World

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Hosted by advaya, bestselling author Robert Macfarlane, collaborative theatre maker Lucy Neal, and filmmaker-curator Hannah Close engage in  dialogues about our creative connection with the Earth. They  explore how paying imaginative attention to our other-than-human kin, the living landscapes around and within us, and the web of relations that connect us all, can foster care for the Earth and deepen our sense of belonging to this wild and intelligent planet we call home.    The advaya   course     they offer    is entitled The Wild Imagination: Exploring Creative Ecology.

In a time of widespread alienation from the rest of nature, the ongoing machining of our creativity in service to capital, and the systematic destruction of our biosphere, cultivating and defending our creative relationships with the Earth has never been more critical, or more affirming – when the going gets tough, we turn to art to help us make sense of the world, ourselves, and each other. With that in mind, this conversation  delves into the creative heart of life itself. Topics  covered include the role of art in challenging times, creativity as a lifeforce, rewilding the imagination, and much more.  This offering is    a deep dive into the imagination of life~!

Ecological Creativity Skills:

• How creativity nurtures a reciprocal relationship with the Earth.
• How ecological storytelling emerges from the interplay between inner and outer landscapes.
• How viewing creativity as a lifeform in and of itself can reshape our environmental behaviours and values.
• How creative work can be a source of personal healing as well as have an impact on global issues

Hannah Close   is a writer, photographer and cultural curator working with islands and oceans. She is part of the Dark Mountain Project team and has published creative nonfiction both there and with the Centre for Humans and Nature, and her photography has been published in the Guardian, Telegraph and Times. Hannah is currently making a documentary called Islandness, and also co-convenes sailing residencies for artists. She lives between a wild Hebridean island and the salty southwest coast of the UK with her dog Rune.    Hannah Close >online<

Robert Macfarlane   is internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His bestselling books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe. He has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationally bestselling books of nature-poetry and art, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. His latest book, Is a River Alive? was published May 2025.     
​Robert Macfarlane on >Instagram<

Lucy Neal    is an artist, writer and co-director of Walking Forest, a ten-year public art work inspired by forest ecology and the hidden stories of women activists and Earth-defenders. A theatre-maker at heart, she was co-founder director of the LIFT Festival (1981-2005) and enjoys creating space for stories that act as a catalyst for change. She is author of Playing for Time - Making Art As If the World Mattered. Now in its 2nd edition, the book maps an aesthetics of care responding to an Earth in crisis.       Lucy Neal   >online<

access advaya offerings   >here<

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the creative life

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Creativity is an enigma. As poet and psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés has observed, it is a “shapeshifter,” a “dazzling spirit” that appears in all our lives while eluding our attempts to explain its radiance. C.G. Jung regarded creativity as a vital human instinct; a force akin to nature itself, which drives the unfolding and shaping of every life. Creativity is also a calling, one that makes its claim upon individuals who in turn devote themselves to crafting the stories, objects, and experiences that illuminate and transform our world. The knowledge-making traditions of the arts and the humanities can inform and nourish every type of creative endeavor, including those dedicated to social justice, climate activism, and communal healing.
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"I oftentimes refer to our students and our alums as the new Renaissance people of the twenty-first century. They’re polymaths and shapeshifters who can’t be confined into a single categorization or specialty. Modern Western societies push us to specialize from a very early age, which is incredibly limiting. Our students come to realize that they’ve always had a hard time staying in one lane; they’re ready to allow their inherent multiplicity to flourish in ways that nourish their souls and serve the world around them. It takes courage to go against the prevailing social norms, and this includes the courage to declare an allegiance to one’s creative life."    Mary A. Wood, Ph.D., Chair of M.A. Depth Psychology and Creativity with Emphasis in the Arts and Humanities at Pacifica and author of "The Archetypal Artist."

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