The Practice of Creativity: Expressions of the Dharma in the Arts and the Natural World
Our series on the Practice of Creativity honors the roles of the imagination and the arts, often drawing on the natural world, to access insight, compassion, and awareness. The workshops, literary readings, courses and events in this series are designed to inspire artists as well as non-artists in a space of creativity, community, and play.
Past Event
Practice of Creativity Workshop: Expressions of the Dharma in the Arts and the Natural World
Melissa Smedley November 15th (2-4 pm PT)
Melissa Smedley is an artist, writer, and educator currently based in Salinas, California. Whether designing public sculpture, inventing performances, or podcasting, her goal is to create art for the situation, to discover and transmit art, in a great variety of forms.
Since 2020, Melissa has served as the “The Art Ranger” at The Department of Homeland Inspiration podcast. She specializes in the discovery of “art” in daily life, as well as riffing off various absurd conditions that may surround us.
Smedley received her undergraduate education at Brown University and continued with her MFA at UCSD in 1993. She has taught in the art departments at California State University, Monterey Bay, UCSD, and SouthWestern College.
Recommended Reading:
“Make Ink: A Foragers Guide to Natural Inkmaking” by Jason Logan
“The Creative Act: A Way of Being” by Rick Rubin
“Radiating Incrementally Outward” by Crystal Gandrud and Nuala Clarke