Intentional Creativity© Facilitators and Artists Rosie Mac of Christchurch and Kerry Lee from the San Francisco Bay Area of California are creating an international collaboration with “The Grove of Intention”, a 22.5m mural long featuring seven large scale Klimt inspired gold metallic graphic painted trees on a dark blue background.
“The purpose of this series of symbolic trees called The Grove of Intention, is based on a singular specific inquiry for each tree. The inquiries lead to personal introspection, contemplation, creating conversation and communication, finding commonalities and ultimately building connection and community.” says artist Kerry Lee. The trees and inquiries include:
What is one big wish you have for yourself?
The Peace Tree
What is one wish you have for the world?
The Wellbeing Tree
What nourishes your soul?
The Connection Tree (center tree with three trees on each side of it)
Where in Christchurch is your favourite place to be in conversation?
The Witness Tree
What are you here on earth to share?
The Wisdom Tree
What is something you know for sure?
The Gratitude Tree
What are you grateful for?
The general public in Christchurch will be invited to share their one word answer to each tree’s inquiry via social media which will be painted on the branches of the trees.
"Nothing has given me more hope recently than to observe how simple conversations give birth to actions that can change lives and restore our faith in the future. There is no more powerful way to initiate significant social change than to start a conversation. When a group of people discover that they share a common concern, that's when the process of change begins." says Margaret J. Wheatley, an American writer and management consultant who studies organizational behavior. Her approach includes systems thinking, theories of change, chaos theory, leadership and the learning organization: particularly its capacity to self-organize.
The mural is the second and the largest in the world of a series of Intention Trees interactive experiential public murals created by the Intentional Creativity Guild, whose members are found in seventeen countries globally.
On Saturday, March 16, 2019 a free and open to the public Celebration and Unveiling event will be held to celebrate the installation. Visitors will be invited to write their one-word answers on a temporary paper leaf and add it to the trees for the day. Artists Rosie Mac and Kerry Lee will paint those answers on the branches of the trees. After the celebration citizens and visitors to Christchurch City Center are invited to visit the trees on their own, as family, with friends, as a school outing or with a group. Visitors can write their one word answers on a piece of paper and take a photo with the mural to post on social media with the hashtags #TheGroveOfIntention, #TheIntentionTree, #EnlivenPlacesProgram, #AllRight?Campaign, #IntentionalCreativity, #RosieMacArt, #KerryLeeArt
History of The Intention Tree and Rosie Mac nd Kerry Lee’s Serendipitous Connection
In 2017 the Intentional Creativity Foundation, an international guild of Intentional Creativity Facilitators was invited to create a collaborative interactive art exhibit to create community at Wisdom 2.0 in San Francisco, CA. Intentional Creativity® Founder Shiloh Sophia McCloud considered, how could we create an experience for thousands and thousands of people, that truly had an impact individually as well as collectively and visually to create experiential, coherent connection of the event? The idea of a collaborative work of art, where any and all participants could participate gave rise to “The Witness Tree”, inspired by Gustav Klimt’s Tree of Life.
Yet this goes deeper as well, because there is a quantum reality behind the message. When people approach the tree, in the model we used at this gathering and others, participants are invited to write a single word intention on a leaf. Distilling the intention into one word discovers the essence and empowerment in the intention. Participants write their word, are witnessed in saying it aloud, and then add it to the tree and so it can be read by others. This creates a resonance of connection with each leaf holding special power in creating the whole.
“Our community of Certified Intentional Creativity Facilitators have created many versions and names for this process, now around the world in all kinds of venues. It is so exciting to see public participatory art.”
~ Shiloh Sophia McCloud, Founder of Intentional Creativity
Kerry Lee, The Alchemical Artist, and 2013 graduate of the Intentional Creativity Teacher Training Program assisted Shiloh for the birth of The Witness Tree at Wisdom 2.0 and was deeply inspired.
“After paper each leaf was firmly put into place on the tree, a Guild member, a colorfully dressed artist representing the global Intentional Creativity Guild of teachers, asked the participant one at a time, without the pomp and circumstance of a large crowd, or line of people to state their declaration on “what they were here to cause and create” out loud.
For many participants the inquiry and the witnessing was unexpected. I saw eyes grow large, big gulps of air swallowed, and slow smiles emerge as the participant recognized a part of declaring was giving their voice to their wish, idea or dream. Some were quick and ready, and some wanted to come back later after thinking about it. Some were there searching for exactly what they are here on earth to cause and create, and some were focused, sure and on a mission. For many, tears welled in their eyes and courage had to be summoned before being able to speak their truths out loud. All felt something had shifted after being witnessed, and many told a story to go with their part. Hugs and gratitude came easily.
We encouraged each participant to remember that if we each held our own piece, simply what they had written on their leaf, all the meaningful declarations would amount to something much greater. Especially as action followed in the coming hours, days, weeks and months. Many came back to “visit” or share their leaves with others as the event progressed”
~ Kerry Lee, from her blog post
From there Kerry Lee was selected to be one of eight artists for the new “Artists Alley” in a redeveloping section of the Napa Valley, California. She painted the first mural in a bigger than life a 4x6 meter version. The inquiry for this public artwork is “How do you help improve the world?” One-word answers were submitted via social media and then painted on to the branches of the tree. During the April 2018 Street Festival and Unveiling event participants wrote their names on paper leaves, again adding them to the tree and being witnessed.
Kerry Lee has gone on to create “The Intention Tree” with the inquiry of “How do you help the world?” on a traffic signal box for a city beautification program in Benicia, CA, “The Vine of Intention” mural asking “How do you feast it forward?” (aka pay it forward in service) at a lifestyle network channel Feast It Forward in Napa.com, CA, the “Grains of Intention” mural asking “What nourishes your soul?” at One House Bakery in Benicia, CA and “You are the Dream Weavers” mural in the newly renovated library at Benicia High School where the inquiries changes as the environment around the students and the world shifts. Students will write their one-word answers and add them to brightly colored dream catchers on the wall. Kerry Lee is also working with the school’s art students to paint brightly colored feathers throughout the library.
Additional versions of this interactive experiential public artwork known as “The Witness Tree” were used at a Center for Spiritual Living convention and art gallery grand openings. “The Wellness Tree” was created for a Health and Wellness Expo, as a “Sun Spiral” for a Body Mind Spirit Festival. Other forms of the same concept have been used as “The Promise Tree” at wedding ceremonies and as “Seeds of Hope” for a community grief ritual after the California Fires of 2018.
Rosie Mac, Certified Intentional Creativity Facilitator and Artist from Christchurch, New Zealand witnessed her friend in California create five murals in less than a year and thought Christchurch would benefit from an Intention Tree mural. A synchronistic encounter in 2013 on Facebook with newly graduated Intentional Creativity Teacher Denise Daffara of Australia, and subsequent introduction to Kerry Lee, exposed Rosie Mac to Intentional Creativity®.
Kerry Lee had won a “President’s Club” award corporate trip to Christchurch for 2014 for being a top producer for a telecommunications company. This is where she and Denise wanted to teach Intentional Creativity workshops and they were looking for a venue. Rosie picked up the thread and approached The Drawing Room. Owner Paul Wyke and his staff were enthusiastic about the possibility of having international teachers bring something new to their creative space, and once Kerry Lee's trip was confirmed, they rolled out the "red carpet" with the two “Meet Your Inspirational Muse” workshops that sold out within hours. And Paul gave them an open invitation to come back and teach any time.
With much conversation while Kerry Lee and her daughter Rosie were staying in Rosie’s home, Rosie Mac discovered what the missing piece in her own artwork was. This method of art had heart, and she was completely captivated by its mystery and magic. It was about listening to one’s own imagination and intuition instead of the inner critic voice. Rosie described it as being an aha moment when the light went on!
In mid 2018 Rosie Mac asked Kerry Lee if she would consider coming back to Christchurch to paint with her. Kerry Lee said “YES!”, but I didn't take it seriously. Rosie had been healing from a major head injury for the past two and a half years and her Intentional Creativity work hadn’t been able to take the forefront for her. However, she was “healed enough”.
Rosie went to a “Meet The Councilor” event to ask how she could make the mural happen. Christchurch City Councilor Vicki Buck was enthusiast about the concept and photos Rosie showed her of Kerry Lee’s Intention Tree mural in Napa. Vicki then put Rosie in contact with The Enliven Places Program team, who then put her in contact with Christchurch Central Business Association Manager, Paul Lonsdale.
In December 2018, funding for the mural was approved by Council, and sponsorship for Kerry Lee’s travel was secured with SPARK. Rosie has also secured sponsorship from Resene Paints NZ Ltd, for the paint and accessories required to complete the mural. And they were off to create The Grove of Intention for residents and visitors of Christchurch!
“Rosie Mac and I are very excited to bring this beautiful, meaningful interactive experiential mural to the residents and visitors at Christchurch where the seven trees can provide insightful moments for many years to come. Our dreams are to have these murals throughout the world!” ~Kerry Lee, The Alchemical Artist
Learn more about Rosie Mac and Kerry Lee’s chance meeting, the “red thread connection” and Meet Your Muse of Inspiration workshops here.
What is Intentional Creativity©?
Everything within us, past, present, and future lives in story. When we create around our story, we gain clarity. When we create with intention, we activate both sides of the brain. When we activate our brain, we gain greater access to our own information, how to articulate it and how to move it from the stuck places.
Creating with intention is simply working with mindfulness in whatever we set our hands to, whether it is cooking a soup, planting a garden, writing a business plan or painting a painting. We are more present because we choose to be and the results are different than if we are not paying attention. Intentional Creativity is an approach to creating that yields greater access to who we are now and who we are becoming, and what is possible for us and our unfolding future.
Intentional Creativity does not necessarily refer only to painting or writing, rather it expands on a philosophy of being, living, and falling in love with our lives, one another, and creation itself. Intentional Creativity is practiced in homes, hospitals, social work settings, foster care, cancer recovery, homeless shelters, classrooms, circles and in the form of interactive public art. It is also used in ceremonies like wakes, births or weddings.
“Intentional Creativity is a method that is accessible to all to discover or rediscover your true self, not the you that is buried under cultural conditioning, other people’s opinions and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a child that became your beliefs about you are. It’s a returning to your own bright navigational North Star and inner guidance.”
~ Kerry Lee, The Alchemical Artist
Intentional Creativity Facilitator & Artist
“Intentional Creativity is a magical way of navigating both the internal and external journey of life, an expansion of the world view where possibility abounds."
~ Rosie Mac, Artist & Certified Intentional Creativity Facilitator
“Intentional creativity is a path to accessing the within – the language of the heart.”
~ Shiloh Sophia
Artist & one of the Founders of the Intentional Creativity Foundation
