Attention Artistry

Frozen Fountain Water/Weaverville, NC/Photography by Gaye Abbott

Today there were library books on hold for me to pick up on my morning walk through the park. Once home I set the books down on my bed and one was opened to a random page. What had drawn my attention about this particular book when I saw it in the bookstore last week?

The page it opened to felt like perfect guidance during a time I have been struggling with writing something that felt fresh, creative and off the grid of mainstream narrative. The first sentence captured the block I had created for myself with the second sentence following it being the antidote to dismantle it.

“If you are creating with other people in mind, crafting writing/artwork to appease or perform, the work will inevitably be hollow.

By contrast, if you create from a place of deep connection to the muse of your own personal terrain, your work will be something the world has never seen before.”

(Mirrors in the Earth: Reflections on Self Healing From The Living World by Asia Suler)

Frozen Creek Art, Nature Park in Weaverville, NC/Photography by Gaye Abbott, 1/24/25

The same could be said for how we attend to the world around us. We get to choose where our attention is directed and how much time we spend attending. Whether our attention is drawn from innate curiosity, from the “have to” directives of our culture, or our need to somehow “belong”.

It has been at times brutally cold here in this last week, just now warming up enough for the creatures that inhabit our small community, including humans who are shedding some clothing and bringing out dogs to walk and children to explore. More birds are making their presence known and their calls vibrate through the air as the brilliant red cardinal sits on the bare branch before me.

The frozen creek art in the image above took my attention for many moments in time though I almost passed it by without a closer look. Coming closer I marveled at the colors, textures, lines and artistry that a simple freezing of water created and then captured it with a photo.

Each rock, twig, leaf, piece of dirt, flow of water and wind became a participant in this unique art piece – something that has never been seen before. Something that will continue to shift and change with the elements that contribute to its creation and its dismantling.

Do we perceive everything as awake, alive and interconnected?

What a different world it would be if we would choose to live from a more animistic perspective as many Indigenous cultures still hold. A belief system that acknowledges our world as a co-creation among equals – each life form contributing an important piece to the whole tapestry.

To see every life form as artistry unfolding. Even the braising mix on the cutting board……

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Gaye Abbott, Wildly Free Elder, 01/30/25