art + soul
  • Welcome
    • About Susannah
    • The Backstory of art + soul
    • art + soul Testimonials
  • EVENTS
    • Fluent : A Virtual Community
    • Spiritual Imagination for Creatives
  • Spiritual Companioning
  • CREATIVE PROCESS
    • Altars By Susannah
    • Contemporary Icons
    • Past Installations
  • SUPPORTING
  • Connecting
   Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”
― Mary Oliver
What is Spiritual Imagination?

​ancient. wisdom. embodied. expand. relevant. language you can feel. how to be grounded in this life.  Flow. Rhythm. Permission-giving. Questions. I don't know. connection. belonging. so that you may have life and have it abundantly. well-being, wholeness Wisdom so that you might live wisely

roles, behavior, expectations
Beliefs
Dogma that dictates our seeing and being
practice--to what end?
institutionalization: membership, money, community/my people, social access, leader, building, ways things are done
Tradition and wisdom*  comfortable, not risky, no conflict
heirarchy of power, access to naming
identity/belonging
meaning: how the world works, what I am expected to do and be, what is good and what is bad, framework for my life

shame/punishment/God as angry parent
surprise
vulnerability
unpredicatability








Searching for the root stock and the seed corn: truths: the center is both the root stock and the seed.
Spirituality does not change but its context does. How we live it does.
Old stories. Images. Ideas. Words. An inner life of authenticity.
an invitation to [    \ live sensually, vitally, the strength of the flame of the inner life
what feeds us? Grounds us? Sustains us? Where do we receive and give nurture? Who are our guides?
Living fully, curiously, spiritual well-being: self, other, divine



the questions, the context abotu relation/ship
who we are and how we choose to live in the world
expanding meaning-making
re-storyation of language and images that have become as dry bones
sacred texts, words, images, metaphor, embodied practice through creative expression, contemplative pratice, shared curiosity


​We imagine courageous, hospitable space for spiritual deep diving: shared conversations, deep questions, spiritual practices, and explorations in how to articulate and live out our spiritual identity, in community and kinship. This space is is not connected to any one faith or spiritual perspective but invites all seekers and curious ones to gather in not-knowing. 
 




my lens is Christianity
how art and spirit connect



​

​
​Collaborations and collaborators are interfaith, interspritual, spiritual-but-not-religious, creatives, artists, writers, and human beings spanning a multitude of races and ethnicities, pronouns, ages and abilities.


The Fuller Story click here 

Before Bone and Seed, there was art + soul. For nine years, art + soul was a largely in-person, local, exploratory incubator for intersecting spirituality and creativity. We offered classes, workshops focused on creative expression and some retreats and did several interactive public art installations on an eclectic variety of themes that illuminated the human spirit.
Art making was the primary vessel through which we explored. We had an physical space on the third floor of an historic church which was head to toe creative supplies.

In March 2020, the day we had an art show opening scheduled at The Nest, the world shut down. The Nest and in-person events simply shuttered. However,  The first two years of the pandemic surprised us; peopel seeking authentic and creative community in thier isolation.

us by engaging us with a much wider audience participating in its programs. It also gifted us with a clarity of its purpose as expansive and necessary space for asking essential questions and nurturing our deepest stories of spiritual identity and human being.

Bone and Seed has emerged from the wreckage and possibilites from COVID, a rapidly changing landscape of institutions, cultural identity.In the midst of this, what is or center? What holds? What needs to die and what needs to life in our lives?

We are curious about how we are giving voice to, naming and living  the deep stories of soul and being, the essential questions, the sacred in every day. We are sifting through old stories, reimagining them, re-storying them, and shaping new words, images, language, practices.
Bone and Seed speaks many languages of the Spirit:

At its heart, Bone and Seed, holds and tends space to sense everyday sacred.
simply offers space to breathe, listen, reflect, reconnect and give voice to. Workshops, retreats and events are invitations to re-member all of you



The symbols of bone and seed speak to that which is timeless 
How 

We believe that cultivating a vital spiritual life will 

We also believe that words, rituals, ways we gather need to be reimagined. We need to sift through  old stories to find what is of value as we re-story that which no longer does.




We imagine courageous, hospitable space for spiritual deep diving: shared conversations, deep questions, spiritual practices, and explorations in how to articulate and live out our spiritual identity, in community and kinship. This space is is not connected to any one faith or spiritual perspective but invites all seekers and curious ones to gather in not-knowing. 

Creative expression (art making, writing) will continue to be a central language spoken in this space, and, we will be trying out other languages of the heart that help to connect us, nourish our souls and expand the way we see and experience the sacred in the ordinary. 

This will be collaborative space, with workshops and events facilitated by several regional collaborators who deeply understand the intimacy between a vital spiritual life and a creative one.


Connection/relationships
naming: some use prefer the name God. Spirit. Presence, Mystery, Transcendent, others Allah, Brahman, Goddess.

my lens is Christianity
how art and spirit connect




photo credit: Annie Spratt
​artandsoul.wm@gmail.com     
© 2018, Susannah Crolius, Art and Soul
  • Welcome
    • About Susannah
    • The Backstory of art + soul
    • art + soul Testimonials
  • EVENTS
    • Fluent : A Virtual Community
    • Spiritual Imagination for Creatives
  • Spiritual Companioning
  • CREATIVE PROCESS
    • Altars By Susannah
    • Contemporary Icons
    • Past Installations
  • SUPPORTING
  • Connecting