Lisa Levart is an award winning visual artist/photographer whose interests lie at the intersection between fine arts and social engagement. Her subjects are women and how our stories connect us to one another. Lisa’s work blends several mediums, including collage, film, multi media, dance and photography. Her process is collaborative, making space for personal agency, and the radical act of declaring, “See me.” Lisa’s Goddess on Earth ORACLE, with portraits of real women portraying the Divine Feminine, won a 2022 Nautical Book Award (Books for a Better World).
WORKSHOP: Ignite Your Intuition and Step Into the Rivers of Creativity with ORACLE CARDS You don’t have to be steeped in the magical world of tarot and oracle cards to use them to gain personal insight or build community. This workshop will be an introduction on using Oracle cards to help readers get out of their comfort zone and allow hidden connections to flower. We will explore the language of images and symbols, the power of stories and stimulate one’s intuition to gain new perspectives on each readers personal journey. After learning the basic elements of the Goddess on Earth ORACLE deck, we will jump into individual readings…with each other as partners. Even perfect strangers and novice readers will find themselves opening up to new ways of communicating. Interacting with the divination cards and learning to trust your intuitive response is a vibrant exercise that will deepen your personal knowledge and strengthen your connection with others.
See also Lisa’s conference presentation, with Myles Aronowitz and Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk, “The Creation of Women of the Ramapough Lenape Nation.”
River Sisters: Finsevatn (Norway) & Seneca Falls (USA)
LOCUS / Thale Fastvold & Tanja Thorjussen: We will present a performative talk where we introduce our artistic research focusing on ecofeminism and hydrofeminism with our ongoing project “River Sisters” which we started in 2021 and will continue through the Ocean Decade 2020-2030. Our brief talk will be followed by a performance in our series “River Sisters” where we physically connect rivers and bodies of water through gathering and mixing water in a healing process. In this performance we will connect the River Finsevatn of Finse, Norway with the water of Seneca Falls, US.
Our artistic approach is to cross-pollinate ideas and knowledge in a healing way with performance rituals, art in public space, drawing and photography. Our focus is on hydrofeminism and the interconnectedness of all sentient beings of this planet, whether it be animals, waterways, ocean, human or forest communities.
Finse, Norway
To date, the River Sisters performance series has linked the rivers of Akerselva (Oslo 2020), Great Ouse (Kings Lynn UK 2021), Lille Lungegårdsvann (Bergen 2022) and Finsevatn (Finse 2022). Our conference will be their first river connection in the US.
Tanja Thorjussen and Thale Fastvold
Thale Blix Fastvold (b. 1978) is a Norwegian visual artist working primarily with photography, film and performance art. Thematically within the frameworks of eco feminism, inter-species-collaborations and the more-than-human intelligence, her work aims to utilise artistic research as a response to current ecological challenges. She believes collaborations, communication and speculative storytelling is essential to envision new and more sustainable futures. www.thalefastvold.com
Tanja Thorjussen (b. 1970) is an artist living in Oslo (NO). Her artistic medium spans between drawing, sculpture, performance and art in public space. Through speculative research her artistic practice revolves around how ancient art can inform the present. Her current artistic focus is on the mystic and spiritual in nature and bodies of water, hydrofeminism, and the science embedded in indigenous knowledge and ancient mythology.) www.tanjathorjussen.com
LOCUS is Thale and Tanja’s independent gallery space and small publishing house based on Oslo, established in 2006. As a nomadic and fluctuating entity LOCUS produce exhibitions and presents artists in various locations nationally and internationally.
Annie Finch is an award-winning American poet, writer, translator, speaker, teacher, and performer. She is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Spells: New and Selected Poems. Her other works include influential essays, books, and anthologies on poetics, feminism, and women’s earth-based spirituality. She is widely recognized for her mesmerizing poetry performances and mastery of poetic craft. Her poetry has appeared in the New York Times, Poetry Magazine, Paris Review, and the Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, and has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Malayalam, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.
WORKSHOP: “Writing the Rhythm of Water” This workshop invites you into the rolling cadences of the meter of water, the oldest known rhythmical language pattern in English. Entering water’s compassionate channel of words, we will tap into lost parts of ourselves with techniques that have opened a useful path of self-exploration for yogis, artists, healers, and seekers of many traditions as well as writers and poets. Bridging thought and intuition, body and spirit, and the two hemispheres of the brain, the magical Goddess-gift of rhythmical language is a human birthright and a fundamental tool of traditional cultures. Reclaim your own access to this enchanting tool, moving your voice into an ancient healing flow of the world’s heart. No previous experience with rhythmical writing is necessary. Please bring at least nine sheets of paper at least 8 1/2 inches wide, writing utensils including pencil and eraser, a journal or other place for contemplative writing, and an open heart.
Annie Finch, photo by Kate Warren
Panel Presentation: “Opening Hearts with the Meter of Water” Of all the poetic meters in English, the rolling, flowing dactylic rhythm is most closely associated with the qualities of water. Brought down to us from the days of maricultural societies through ancient epic poems with roots in oral poetic tradition, the dactylic rhythm can open our hearts to compassion and healing. Research shows that reading aloud dactylic poems speeds healing from a heart attack. Even in daily life, people tend to speak from their hearts in dactylic meter. This paper will introduce this fascinating rhythm and trace its role in ancient and modern poetry and ceremonial language and discuss the roots of its identity as the quintessential anti-patriarchal meter in English.
“Teachings of Water Spirit ~ A Panel of Elders Honouring Water”
May 6 at 2023 ASWM Conference in Syracuse NY
Sunset over Lake Superior
Three Elders grounded by river and sea, beach, marsh and wetland, woodland and prairie, share their notions of water as spirit. Here, the teachings of the matriarchs they have learned from are entwined within their lives—these three immense elder teachers provide a forthcoming lesson as they come together to share tea and reveal their love of Water through song and story.
Join Miigam’agan, Esgenoôpetitj, Mi’kma’ki, Wabanaki Nation; Marjorie Beaucage, Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, Michif Homelands; and Douglas Cardinal, Ottawa, Ontario, Algonquin Territory, as they share their thoughts and directives for Water, and for the children yet to come.
Miigam’agan
Miigam’agan– Mi’kmaq Elder is a Wabanaki/Mi’kmaw grandmother of the Lobster Clan from Esgenoôpetitj or Burnt Church, NB. She is a mother of three wonderful adults and grandmother to five beautiful grandchildren. Much of her life has been devoted to the revival of Wabanaki culture and the Mi’kmaq language; she dedicates time to promoting an understanding of Indigenous matriarchal systems and the relevance of Mi’kmaq, her ancient language defining matrilineal and matrifocal ways. Miigam’agan shares with learners around the globe, Grandmother Teachings on the stages of life found in human developmental cycles, and the cultural history and ceremonial roles and practices of women and men, as defined by her knowledge of this ancient language and the teachings of her ancestors.
Marjorie Beaucage
Marjorie Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Michif elder, filmmaker, artist, activist and educator. She is a land and water protector, a carrier of stories, and of ceremony. Born in Vassar, Manitoba, to a large Métis family, Marjorie’s life’s work has been about creating social change, working to give people the tools for creating possibilities and right relations. Whether in the classroom, community, campsite or the arts, Marjorie’s goal has been to pass on the stories, knowledge and skills that will make a difference for the future. For Marjorie, story is always medicine. Marjorie is an water protector, a water walker and an elder guide for the Saskatchewan River Water Walk (2021-2024), and she shares her story of why water needs our protections.
Douglas Cardinal
Douglas Cardinal is best known as a world-renowned master architect and an Anishinaabe Lodge Keeper and Pipe Carrier who has deep connections with Indigenous peoples around the globe. Born in 1934 in Calgary (Alberta, Canada), his ancestry encompasses Siksika (Blackfoot) and a Scot’s background mixed with French, German, and Algonquin descent. As Cardinal’s Blackfoot father was considered a pagan by the colonial authorities, his mother was forced to send him to the Catholic boarding school of St. Joseph’s Convent so he could be made into ‘a good catholic.’ Under extreme emotional and physical duress, and out of despair, Douglas found solace and inspiration in the arts. He particularly excelled in music (he completed the Piano -Ontario Conservatory of Music training) and drawing. The influence of his mother ensured Douglas Cardinal a place where his natural talents would be recognized and best served in the field of architecture.
Dr. Margaret Kress, University of New Brunswick, is the Michif scholar facilitating the Elder Panel. Margaret highlights matricultural reclamation found in ecologies, languages, cultural pedagogies and traditional justice. As a Michif scholar, teacher and researcher, she engages with transformative, inclusive and Indigenous knowledge systems, keepers and nations.
We are honored to present the wisdom of Three Elders grounded by river and sea, beach, marsh and wetland, woodland and prairie, who share their notions of water as spirit. Here, the teachings of the matriarchs they have learned from are entwined within their lives—these three immense elder teachers provide a forthcoming lesson as they come together to reveal their love of Water through song and story.
Douglas Cardinal
Douglas Cardinal is best known as a world-renowned master architect and an Anishinaabe Lodge Keeper and Pipe Carrier who has deep connections with Indigenous peoples around the globe. Born in 1934 in Calgary (Alberta, Canada), his ancestry encompasses Siksika (Blackfoot) and a Scot’s background mixed with French, German, and Algonquin descent. As Cardinal’s Blackfoot father was considered a pagan by the colonial authorities, his mother was forced to send him to the Catholic boarding school of St. Joseph’s Convent so he could be made into ‘a good catholic.’ Under extreme emotional and physical duress, and out of despair, Douglas found solace and inspiration in the arts. He particularly excelled in music (he completed the Piano -Ontario Conservatory of Music training) and drawing. The influence of his mother ensured Douglas Cardinal a place where his natural talents would be recognized and best served in the field of architecture.
Cardinal’s initial architectural education at University of British Columbia (UBC) was defined by his critique of the Bauhaus architectural philosophy. While at UBC, Douglas embraced the nature-inspired organic architectural approach of design, and after a year or so of deep reflection, he joined the University of Texas in Austin where he gained access to Steiner and Gaudi’s spiritual connections with architecture. During this study, Cardinal rediscovered his Blackfoot heritage and dedicated himself to the human rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, in a rejection of apartheid in American society. When Douglas graduated with Honours in 1963, he returned to Canada and committed himself to a fight against an apartheid system in Canada. His focus on Indigenous worldviews and the principles of organic architecture heavily influenced his designs throughout the years; and his dedication to elders deepened his understanding of water, matriculture, and community.
The presence of water is essential in Douglas Cardinal’s designs. His flowing architecture evokes the sinuous relationship between the land and the water, always integrating the sacred forces of water whether symbolically, or physically realizing waterfalls, ponds, or recovering wetlands. His work is the physical manifestation of merged philosophies of sustainability and those Indigenous worldviews, the spiritual and the physical, as foundations of Land and Water, Nature and Earth Mother. His dedication to elders across many territories has deepened his understanding of water, matriculture, and community.
Douglas Cardinal currently lives with his family in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, Canada, and continues to work tirelessly as an architect and an activist.
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