Ivy Reflections: March 2022

I have been deep in research mode with Ivy, sitting with her daily in a variety of ways.

At the end of February, I picked a vine on one of my walks, and was planning to study this vine while waiting for the next steps to come to me. I brought home a spider along with it, and kept catching glimpses of it on my desk until one day it was ready to be set free outside and let me catch it.

In the fall of 2021, I connected with caretakers of the parks in my community. I asked for their support in helping me find places to extract Ivy from in symbiotic ways. Over the winter, I thought we had lost touch.

At the beginning of March 2022, they did an Ivy pull then contacted me, letting me know where it is and to pick it up that day. I was grateful to go collect this bounty and save my energy for creating. I took about a 1/4 of the pile- as someone who has not yet done an invasive species pull, I had no idea how much would be there. Next time I will come more prepared. I sat at the site, and asked all the spiders, and insects to leave the buckets that were full of Ivy. I told them they won't like where I am taking them, and it is best to stay here. Since then, I have not seen any new spiders or bugs at my home.

I soaked the ivy, then over about a week I took the leaves off, setting them aside to dry, de barked it, coiled and dried it. My studio is wherever I am, and right now that is mainly at home and in my immediate community.

Luckily I am blessed with having two showers in my home, so I repurposed one of them into my ivy drying station. Until I have a dedicated studio, I'll be exploring and playing with the energies of the Ivy at my home.

I started a physical journal, which I intend to post in the coming months as it begins to take form and as I become more grounded in this practice.

I have just started playing around with sculptural forms of Ivy, and over the spring I intend to create a large scale (for me) sculpture, in conversation with the Ivy itself. I am excited to see what this manifests as and to share it with all of you.

Kaitlyn Beugh's mission is to assist you in fostering a soulful connection to self and the natural world through creation and intention. She is an interdisciplinary visual artist. Her art practice plays on the ephemeral, and is intuitively channeled and created in a flow state.

She lives, works, and plays on the unceded land of the Coast Salish First Nations. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts with a minor in Social Practice and Community Engagement from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and has a background in social services.

Kaitlyn is a practicing artist and has some of her artwork for sale in the form of original pieces via her website here. Kaitlyn is currently studying herbalism and connecting deeper with the energies of plants and natures cycles.

Let's stay connected. Sign up for my email list here: https://www.kaitlynbeugh.com/

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.