Tension At The Edges
Tension At The Edges
A Conversation with Edge-Walker & Artist Perri Lynch Howard
Hello Friends,
As you’ve likely noticed in this month’s episodes, we have moved from the stars to the soil. We are spending the next several episodes exploring edges and ecotones - spaces rife with the very best type of tension.
The tension that inspires growth, expansion and action.
Today, I am talking with artist, edge-walker and friend, Perri Lynch Howard about her experiences in a variety of ecotonal landscapes.
Perri Lynch Howard is an artist dedicated to forging new narratives from the front lines of climate change. Working in the context of extreme environments is an essential aspect of Howard’s practice, driving her curiosity to seek a deeper sense of place, beyond the dichotomy of near and far. Her artwork resides within the emerging genre of New Polar Aesthetics, expressed through painting, drawing, sculpture and sound.
Perri & I met through a leadership course we were both participating in through Emergence Magazine, and then we spent some time together in Canaveral National Seashore while she and Gordon Hempton (another regular guest & field recordist for OMN) were doing a Sound Art Residency.
In this episode, Perri shares three of her field recordings (and the paintings inspired by these landscapes) with us as a way to explore ecotones both within ourselves and outside ourselves.
We will hear the sounds of Vashon Island
The Great Basin Desert
Svalbard
Throughout this episode we discuss:
Non-judgement
Listening for the truth of the moment
The relational words we use when discussing the land and ourselves
Reciprocal relationship in the time of climate crisis
The first rule of field recording AND meditating (!!)
At the end, there is an extended guided meditation experience of the Vashon Island soundscape as an opportunity for you to explore your own relationship with edges.
Just the Meditation; Just For You
Growth & Expansion on Vashon Island {Soundscape from Perri Lynch Howard}
Vashon-Maury Island (named by colonial settlers) is the traditional, unceded land of the sx̌ʷəbabs (“Swift Water People”). They are known today as part of the Puyallup Tribe, who call themselves S’Puyalupubsh - “a people who are generous and welcoming to all people (friends and strangers) who enter our lands.”
You can also WATCH this meditation as a stand-alone practice here:
Coming Up:
*Our June live, virtual meditation class will be on Thursday, June 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET in celebration of the Summer Solstice. Join us!
*all of the content shared in my podcasts, newsletters & meditations is written by me {Meryl Arnett} without the use of AI. If you catch a mistake or typo, I hope it makes you smile knowing a real person is behind every word published 💛