Being absorbed in nature and play with Elishia Jackson
[Series] On Slow Living #13
She was close enough where I could see the movement of her hands and the form that was taking shape between them. There were only a few of us that afternoon on the beach. What we all had in common was an insatiable draw to be at the ocean’s edge. It felt alive. It felt like home. Both the fading light and the oncoming wind stretched the shadows and mist until they met the edge of the rocky bluff. I’d often find myself on this particular beach late in the day. I lived in a little town called Camp Meeker. A small cluster of homes nestled deep in the northern Californian coastal redwoods, right off Bohemian Highway. A little two lane undulating road, that if you turned onto Coleman Valley, then made a right at Joy Road, you could be at the ocean in a half an hour. I felt like a bohemian in those days. Wandering and wild.
Her hair was long. Pulled back. A little messy from the wind and salt and spray. My attention was split between the steady descent of the setting sun and her movements. She was off to my right. Because of her, I didn’t feel alone. She was weaving a large basket from bull kelp. Flora of the sea shallows which could be found all along the shoreline. The debris ran almost in a perforated line upon the sand. The waves saying, we will push you ashore, but just up to this point.
I was young. Maybe twenty. I saw a part of me in this woman. Someone who I wanted to become—a forager, a weaver, a creator of something timeless, raw in both material and beauty. Supple, textured, and large her basket eventually began to take shape. I wonder what she’d use it for. Will it sit on her porch in the shadows of the redwood? Will it collect sea shells or her dreams? The long malleable wax-like whips that are burnt orange, deep brown, with a slight green glow gives them a sheen unlike anything else I’ve seen. They are the garden paradise for the sea lions and otters. For her, the weaver, they’re a story saturated in sand and salt.
Though I wish I could walk in the woods with her, for now our connection is one of correspondence. I know Elishia through her beautiful objects. Unlike that woman on the beach all those years ago whom I wished I’d approached with a greeting, a smile, I did reach out and write to Elishia. Isn’t this how all conversations must begin? I’d fallen in love with her art. I was curious about her pace of living and approach when creating pieces where all the materials are harvested from nature. What is it that resonates so deeply within her? Is it something we share? Her woven vessels immediately transported me back to that evening sitting in the sand. That moment when so much was swirling in my head and heart. What is our life if not a weft of stories interwoven around the warp of time. It is only together that something begins to take shape, a textured container, which can easily be taken back by the tide, undone by the churning waves.
Thanks Elishia
Yours, Erin
What does slow living mean to you?
It means embracing and being present in the activities and moments in life that are literally slow by nature; cooking, mending, making things by hand, feeding and growing my spirituality, meaningful interactions with others, being absorbed in nature and play. We are often taught that life is too busy for such things, when in reality such things are life! Switching over to this mindset is essential to enjoying a slow living lifestyle.
What's one thing (action, mindset, ritual, habit, etc.) that's essential to maintaining it in your day to day life?
I prioritise rest, and view it as essential rather than a luxury. I fully accept that doing this may at times mean sacrificing other so-called essential activities, and work to be at peace with those sacrifices.
How do you ensure that a little bit of wildness and or nature remains close?
As an artist, my work is often inspired by creation and I usually work with natural materials, so nature is always close to my eyes and heart. I look for it everywhere I am. Within the home I have found that keeping indoor plants not only brings nature close, but feeding and tending to them also forces me to slow down and be present.
Elishia Jackson is multidisciplinary artist living and working on Wurundjeri land, Victoria, Australia. A compulsive creator, Elishia advocates using art as a way to live authentically and to connect with our true selves. Commissions welcome.
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