Clare Attwell - Sharing stories of aliveness and local belonging through community art in Victoria, British Columbia with roots in South Africa

Awakening Lands

Clare Attwell skillfully weaves community through the process of creating art. Really, she holds the space and the creative process does the weaving. It’s in between the phases of first collectively envisioning the concept and eventually sharing it with the community that Clare says relationships and community building actually happens. In the creation of things like large scale textile wall hangings, she’s facilitated the exploration of things like complex systems, place-based identity, and spirituality.

Clare is also an outspoken advocate for the role of the community weaver, which for the sake of the common language we’re using on this podcast, we might say they are a kind of landscape leader. She’s seen time and again the invaluable services they provide to their people and place, and the often unfortunate ways that they are overlooked and under-appreciated. We’re trying to do something about that here and Clare is a huge inspiration for that.

Her perspective on community weaving began in the beginning, during her childhood in South Africa where she grew up under apartheid with parents who were dynamic weavers. Her house played host to some of the main characters of that time and place. She grew up listening to conversations about social systems change in a place of profound need for it.

She moved to Canada as a young adult but remains deeply influenced by her early years growing up in South Africa. She is also especially interested in exploring what makes complex systems functional. I think Clare is a systems thinker, but even more so she’s a systems feeler.

She is also a really skilled gardener. Maybe this is partly how she intuitively incorporates an ecological view into her approach.

You can learn more about Clare by checking out her personal website (https://clareattwellartist.wordpress.com/) or follow her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/clareattwellartist). And of course, check out Regenerate Cascadia at https://regeneratecascadia.org/.

If Clare’s story inspired you, check out some recommendations she shared when asked about influential resources, learnings, and networks she has come across over her lifetime.

Useful resources for helping with Community Cultural Development:

• What is Creative Placemaking? - short video
• Cultural Democracy In Practice - toolkit
• Mapping our Common Ground - a community And Green Mapping Resource Guid

Each one of these books have come at critical points in Clare's development, becoming part of her unfolding, self-guided educational pathway. There was no education plan that she knew of that could take her to where these books lead her. She is so grateful to those who shared their wisdom with me through these pages.

Books:

• Small Is Beautiful - EF Schumacher
• Web Of Meaning - Jeremy Lent
• Patterning Instinct - Jeremy Lent
• Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
• Systems View Of Life - Fritjof Capra
• Web Of Life - Fritjof Capra
• Tao Of Physics - Fritjof Capra
• The New Science - Margaret Wheatley
• A.W.E. - Mathew Fox
• Cosmogenesis - Brian Swimme
• The Chalice And The Blade - Riane Eisler
• Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Sacred Instructions - Sherri Mitchell
• Sand Talk - Tyson Yankaporta
• Hospicing Modernity - Vanessa Andriotti
• Myth Of Normal - Gabor Matte
• The Design Pathway For Regenerating Earth - Joe Brewer
• Keeping The Hours: my mother, Evelyn Cresswell wrote this book, with a forward by Desmond Tutu, that told the story of apartheid through the lens of a relatively small underground network of people, including a faith community in Lesotho, known as the Society of The Precious Blood, that helped to shape the new post-apartheid South Africa. Some of the stories that she referenced during the podcast are included in this book.

Courses that helped shape her:

• Riane Eisler, Center For Partnership Studies - Caring Economy
• Fritjof Capra - Capra Course, based on A Systems View Of Life
• Earth Regenerators - various learning journeys
• Permaculture and Social Permaculture (CDP) - Starhawk & Charles Williams
• Design School For Regenerating Earth - various learning journeys

Work & leadership experiences that helped shape her path as a weaver and community artist

• BC Festival of The Arts - Visual Arts project manager
• Assembly of BC Arts Councils - Board and Executive Council
• Province of BC, Cultural Services Branch - Contractor: researched & wrote a Discussion Paper on Community Cultural Development: models for implementation
• Target Theatre (community theatre for seniors) Executive Director
• Artist in Residence and visual arts project manager - Cadboro Bay United
• Freelance community artist
• Textile artist - local and international juried exhibits
• Various local school and community boards and committees
• Earth Regenerators - Bioregional Catalysts, Culture Centre
• Design School For Regenerating Earth - Leadership Council, Cascadia Hub
• Regenerate Cascadia - Co-Founder, Co-Administrator

Formal education

Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada

• Arts Administration

University of Kwa-Zulu, Natal, South Africa

• Partially completed Fine Arts degree
• Bachelor of Arts in English & History of Art

Podcasts are an important source of learning for her, her current batch include:

• Great Simplification - Nate Hagens
• Rebel Wisdom
• Climate Critical - Rachel
• System Update - Glenn Greenwald
• The Real News Network - Chris Hedges
• CBC - Massey Lectures

You can follow along as we continue to weave this story on our Substack at awakeninglands.substack.com.

If you'd like to support Anna and Benji to continue weaving stories through Awakening Lands, you can do that from our Patreon Page at https://www.patreon.com/awakening_lands.

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★