Episode 12: Fine Art, Meditation, and Creativity
A Conversation with Mare Martin
In this episode of Doing Differently, Marcel has a conversation with his mother, Mare Martin. Mare is a fine artist and her art is influenced by her experiences with nature and gardening. Marcel and Mare discuss Mare's art, creativity in healing, and the role of meditation in the creative process. Mare shares her experiences with a daily Yoga practice of 12 years and how the practice has supported her personally and professionally as an artist. Mare also happens to be Marcel's mother! You can view Mare's art at www.maremartin.com and on Instagram at @maremartin4444.
If you are an artist interested in how yoga and meditation mentoring with Marcel can enhance your art practice, visit his Yoga for Practitioners web site.
Here are some highlights from the conversation with Mare that will help you understand the connection between creativity and Yoga:
A big part of the practice Marcel designed for Mare was to help her with her work, her creativity, and with her reception.
As described, there are three stages in her meditation:
1- Attention is on what she chooses to place it on (working on a piece)
2- There's a two way flow of info- she is able to see more and more of the object and create a deeper connection with it
3- This becomes immersive. Mare's conditioning and patterning start playing a background role, and object becomes the most prominent thing.
Meditation is more of a state of action and quality of being than the traditional thought of sitting and reflecting with eyes closed.
Mare's daily Yoga practice not only influences her as an artist, but it also guides her perception in her everyday life. Dealing with world issues has become more manageable after her practice. It puts her in a better state of mind.
She has found that if she is connected to the creativity, this is a healing in itself. It's invigorating and encouraging to be there. It makes you more whole and helps your clarity and well being.
Be sure to listen to Episode 11: A Journey of Alignment: Identifying and Coming from Your Alignment if you haven't already. In this episode, Marcel speaks with Stacey Loop about how she found alignment in her personal and professional life using The Core Resonance process.
Mare Martin (Mary Martin Allbritton) is a visual artist based in Louisiana. She received her BFA from the University of Louisiana and did extended study on a graduate fellowship from the Cardiff College of Art in Cardiff, Wales. In addition to her visual art, she has also designed and maintained gardens. She has also taught art classes with a focus on nature study. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in Louisiana, New Mexico, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, and Morocco. You can find her work at maremartin.com or on Instagram at @maremartin444.
Doing Differently- Episode Twelve - Transcript
Please excuse any typos. This script was generated by an AI program.
Marcel: Today on doing differently, I have. My mom, , who is also my best friend and was also my first teacher, and I'm excited to talk about yoga because she has had a daily yoga practice for over 12 years, and she'll share more, about her interest and some things about her path and her work as an, as an artist.
She is a a fine artist but also someone who has always had a very deep close relationship with nature and plants. Grew up on the farm and went on to practice. and study very deeply different ways of forming and cultivation, plants, herbs, vegetables,
I'm excited to talk with her. , thank you, mom.
Mare: Thank you son. My son, my wonderful
Marcel: son. Oh, well, my mom's name is Mayor. Mayor Martin, I just wanted to start out asking if you might share with our listeners a little bit about your life and what you're interested in, what you do.
Mare: Well, I have really two main interests. The first is being an artist, being. Painter, printmaker. Draftsman. And the second interest is being a gardener. I am basically a vegetable gardener because I like to extend that love into cooking and into my wellbeing.
Marcel: from my observation Transformation and spirituality has always been very important to you could you share a little bit about your path before the yoga?
Mare: Well, the creative act. The source, those two words sort of put me in a position of the movement, the motives, the movement that I want , to be involved in. . And acting in. So in that sense the source would mean that I would be moving toward a spiritual connection, which is the same as gardening and,
Creating the. So I guess I, I would like to call myself a seeker. I've been a seeker all my life seeking for higher places to go to, to be higher, meaning places with, with more essence. And I think of it as evolving evolution of my own personality, my own soul is also important to me.
Marcel: , The creative act and the source. Would you say more about the creative
Mare: well, I can, I can talk from my experience about the source because. in my art the subject matter that I choose usually for the most part has to be close, has to be within my, either my visual reach or my physical reach.
I, I like to work from the actual object to get to know the object Trying , to offer myself as an appreciation. I think to appreciate the object will give you a a pathway to, to more, more knowledge about it. So The word creation meaning first cause.
So presence in the presence of , the creative, , , the creation is important to me. It's, a reason for me to, to act, to go there and, It's hard to put into words, but even in my experiences to put into words, but I think I can do it through the visualization , through painting and, drawing and, the other art mediums that I use.
Marcel: When I ask you about healing transformation, spirituality, , you framed it as this, the creative act and the source. And I know you and I have had conversations over the years about yoga and meditation. and what is happening in meditation because when I designed your practice, it was designed to help you with your health and your wellbeing.
And your wellness, but also with aging. But a big part of the practice was to help you with your work in terms of your connection with creativity and reception. , and I know that like traditionally in yoga as a classical body of knowledge, meditation is something that happens.
Over time, you have a certain quality of attention, you've cultivated a certain quality of attention and. You take that quality of attention and you place it somewhere that's most appropriate for you as a person for your being. And the whole idea is that you've cultivated your, your earth suit or your container in a way where with the appropriate placement of the quality of attention.
There are three stages. There's. , your attention is mostly just on what you're choosing to place it on. For example, in your case, working on a piece, that's the first stage. Your mind is not thinking about lots of other things. It's, it's on that object, it's on that interaction that. Creative act. And then the second is that there's, there's a two-way flow of information or there's like a kind of you are in relationship to the object.
It's, not just information and it's even more than communication. It's something that's happening. And the idea is that you are able to see more and more of the object. And the third part of the stage is that that becomes so immers. That your conditioning and your patterning , are playing kind of a background role.
And the thing that's most prominent is the actual object itself and its presence. So I think that kind of description of meditation in yoga as a tool and , your sharing of that orientation towards the source and the creative. , they line up nicely. I was wondering if you could speak to, this use of meditation .
Well, I don't do the, the usual kind of sit and meditate process, but I find that when I'm working that I lose all sense of time. I lose a connection with my physical body, , the things that are going on in my body.
I can go for hours in that state. So I know that this is a form of meditation and it's very beneficial to opening up to the creative. , I like to use the word intuition because that's the place I want to get to go past my my normal reactions to things, , to get into a state where I can receive new things I'm sure the yoga , has been beneficial in my sustaining of this, energy, this openness to , the intuitive
Yeah. To the source. Two things you said really were pronounced for me. One was how. The, meditation it's not like a seated meditation , meditation.
Basically, it becomes a behavior, an action. So the way I was describing it, how there's, there's that quality of attention focused in one place, and then there's a two-way movement between you and the object or connection or interaction. and then there's like less of yourself, there's more presence of the object.
So that's actually an experience and you're wanting that to happen more and more over time. So the whole idea is that when you expose yourself to the appropriate objects for yourself, , you started taking on the qualities of that. It's a connection between when you are doing the more supportive work for yourself.
You're happy because you're in alignment with what nourish you, with what connection you have. To me meditation is actually far more of a state of. A quality of behavior, a quality of being than it is where it's often traditionally thought of where you're sitting and reflecting with your eyes closed.
You also mentioned intuition, which I found it very interesting in my training in yoga. , it was explained to me. . There's intuition that people inherently have where you trust your gut or you kind of just feel into yourself. But intuition can also be trained as a, quality. It can be cultivated, just like meditation can be cultivated.
Like what is it that's intuiting? It is you. So the more you understand yourself, and the more intimate you can connect and be with yourself, the greater the power of your intuition is going to.
Mare: Very well said. Yeah. Under understand what you're saying . Yeah. It's the, intuition thing is such a, a common word to use when you connected to the, the artistic action.
But it's, it's so important. It's a stage, it's an opening that, like Marcel said, you can. You can get into with practice. Like , you do a yoga practice, you, get yourself ready and then, then you just open up. It's simple, but it, it's not, it's not simple to do, but simple to say.
Marcel: How has doing practices of movement and breathing
Influenced , your act or your, work or your behavior as a, as an artist? .
Mare: Well, I can say that it not only influences me as an artist, but just in everyday affairs and dealing with world issues. I made a point several years ago that I wouldn't look at the news.
I wouldn't do anything. Outside of myself until after my practice. So I know this is very beneficial because I'm in a better state of mind for one thing. Hmm. And I have the support of yoga the yoga starts me off on my day in the best possible way.
Marcel: What do you mean when you say you have the support of yoga? .
Mare: Well, , it's a spiritual connection. It's a connection to my God, to, to saying every morning, this is my practice. I acknowledge a higher being, a higher source.
And I listen and I, I am asked to be more aware. So in that, it, it's a prayer. It's not an asking prayer so much as , a submittal to, wisdom, to higher wisdom. Asking, for for help or for instruction
Marcel: Yeah. The way you describe it , it sounds to me like you're saying the yoga helps support , what you've already , developed in your life and cultivated in terms of yourself , and your own, spiritual development, your own. Personal development too, like it's there to support your connection and to support you and your connection to source for spirit.
It's not asking that you use the yoga in a way differently than is meaningful in your own context
Mare: yeah. I said that it wasn't an asking, but actually it's an asking for an opening is what it is. Hmm. Not so much for a particular thing, but just that I'll be open.
Mm. And and it works.. The yoga convinces me. How does it convince you? Well, I guess I could say it gives me clarity and encouragement. To, to continue to do the things that I'm doing to be okay with things, not to worry too much.
It helps a lot with worrying. Physically, it, it's obvious in my body that it's working
Marcel: I've always been so grateful , in that the yoga is such a huge part of my life, I, was able to find an amazing teacher and, and study with him over the past 15 years, one-on-one and, and, to go to India and to find this, lineage .
I feel so blessed. I felt even more blessed to be able to share with you what I am doing with my life. , my focus on the healing and the way I'm helping people as a yoga therapist, but also coming from these principles of healing and It was such a gift to be able to have you experientially know that.
I mean, you, get it, you know what I'm doing because you have your own practice. What, what's that experience like for you
Mare: today? When I was doing my yoga the insight I had this morning was that there are the, there the opposites, the, the spiritual and the in the material.
And I was thinking that. every time I do some of the exercises where I touch , my fingers together and then I breathe at the same time that these two actions are actually spiritual and, and material actions touching one realm and then the other. Hmm. So I got in into really, really feeling that very deeply.
And sometimes when I'll have a thought like that, Then it will make my practice a little bit deeper. And I don't know whether it's part of the practice, part of the, the philosophy to explain it like that. But, but it's, it's what I feel and it makes me very, very Happy or connected more with my breath, the conscious consciousness of my breath than than ever before.
Marcel: Yeah. When I hear you describe that, it makes me think of how, one of the ways I. Experience, what you're describing is that there's a movement from the gross to the subtle and the gross is much more accessible, but the subtle is much more powerful.
And part of what happens when we have a yoga practice is we're practicing moving over time. From growth to subtle. Sometimes when we're doing a given practice, something happens given where we are that day and where our attention is and we're, we move into some subtle place, and that can be like just a gift of an experience. But over time, there is an intention with yoga when you have a daily practice with the tools and the techniques of the attention and the breathing and the movement and the meditation. to be moving towards a subtle, because it's, it's so powerful.
You can you get into that space of feeling. , I know in addition to being an artist, , you're a gardener and a gardener in terms of really focusing on growing food that you, that you eat. , you're in relationship to all these plants and you, know a lot about them.
You, you spend a lot of time around them, , and you've, you've planted them many, many times. And you, you often in your artwork draw them, but you also , you cook with them. You, you grow them and they nourish you. And I'm interested in , that act for you and how that's connected to your work as an artist.
Mare: I see it as a, a circle, sort of an uru Boris type of circle where it starts and then it, it, it ends and starts again. So it all connects to The regeneration of the earth in, that kind of cycle? I think I'm healthy because of the way I eat and the fact that. if I want to to go out and pick something and, and bring it into the kitchen and cook it within a, an hour or less, that, has a lot to do with, with my health. and it's like, I'm, I'm just recycling everything over and over and over the plants into the art, the, the plants into the, into the cooking, the nourishment into my body.
So it's a, it's a cycle and I, I feel that that that's very beneficial. , , it's like, there's not too many stops. There's a lot of flow in my life because of. . I feel very fortunate that I've, I, I grew up on a farm and had an education , of growing things rather early and then , continued this all my life
Mostly for myself, but some for other people as a business. So I've continued this tradition and I think it's a payback for me that I've chosen the right way to live in order to, to create the way I do. ,
Marcel: Could you share a bit about where you are right now with your, work as an artist and , about , What kind of space you're in and what you're working on?
Mare: Well, now I think I'm in the best place that I've ever been as far as , connecting to, the creative, , to have the inspiration.
I don't think I'm waning at this point. I think I'm just coming to some kind of a, a fruition of making things easier for me to create. I'm very pleased , with what I'm doing right now. I'm very happy
Marcel: The format of what we're doing is a podcast. It's an audio recording, and yet you are a visual artist. So how would you, how would you orally describe your work?
Mare: Okay. I'm not a conceptual artist meaning that most of the ideas that I have don't, start at the very beginning with an idea , that comes from my brain.
I have , an object. And then from the object, then I ask for An inspiration or a knowing from that object. And
I want to know more about the object. So I, most of the objects, everything that I paint really , is a plant or a stone or a sometimes an animal form. .
My connection is with the earth and also through gardening. My interest are with the cosmic, with what's happening to the. And the plant world. So it expands and expands and expands outward. And then I have to take , these inputs of, of ideas and hone them down into a piece, an art piece.
And so my, my object vocabulary is huge, it's very easy to work from nature but you have to hone it down to particulars in order to be able to, know it. So , I'm very happy that I have this wide range of objects to select from.
Marcel: And by the way, because this is a oral podcast, I will mention where you can go and see mayor Martins artwork.
It's at mayor martin.com in a r. M a r t i n.
So , if you are interested in addition to hearing about mayor's artwork, also seeing it it's at mayor martin.com, so it's m a r e m a r t i n.com.
So I'm interested in your experience with having had a yoga practice over more than a decade . Throughout your life, , you've always been interested in personal development and spiritual development, and I'm interested in your take on the connection between creativity and healing and the two and, how they're related.
The role of one and the other. When you think about healing and creativity,
Mare: do you mean specific healing specific things in my body that, that the yoga has healed? No,
Marcel: no, no. I mean, the process of. like, oftentimes the biggest, most important profound impacts of yoga are not in the physical body. They're in the quality of attention and are being able to see more clearly and be more present, be more patient listen better move slower. You know, it's like, like my teacher Chase says, you know, yoga is not about putting your, your foot behind your.
Like it's about keeping your foot out of your mouth. Right? So that kind of thing, like, like healing is obviously important to you, development as a human being. And I'm interested in is there, how do you see, this is a loaded question cuz you're a professional artist. So creativity is not just a personal interest, it's something that's part of your profession.
But I'm interested in the connection between creativity and.
What healing means to you and what creativity means to you and how they relate or connect to one another?
Mare: Well, I think if you If you are connected to the creative this is, this is a healing thing in itself because , it's invigorating. It's, encouraging for you to be a creative person. So in that sense, it's a healing thing. It, makes you more whole.
So if you have the creativity and the healing possibilities like yoga gives you in the same. In the same place. Well, , it helps you to be more creative.
Marcel: The reason I asked the question about creativity and healing mom is because I have observed over the 15 years I've been working with people as a yoga therapist and a yoga mentor and a yoga teacher, that there is a fundamental role that creativity plays in.
and one of the reasons why it's so important because in the process of healing, there is something about creatively taking what's happening inside of you and expressing it in an external form, and then seeing that form and interpreting it. Because when things are inside of us, we're so close to. . It's so hard often to understand.
Creativity I have learned is. Pretty fundamental to healing in some form, whatever form of creative expression where you're taking the dynamics of what's happening inside of you energetically, emotionally, or whatever, and expressing it in some way, and then witnessing that and having that, then that witnessing come back and affect you.
So what's your sense of that?
Mare: I, I can see. in your day-to-day thoughts that when you have creative thoughts that these are . Healing because the, creative is the new. And so Sometimes we, like you talked about patterns, a pattern is the opposite of of creativity. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So in that way, if you can find ways to be creative, I think that would help with your healing. To, to find things consciously that are creative, to look out for them, to, , like you said, to feel 'em in the body to, acknowledge , , the role of, the creative thought in your everyday thinking.
Marcel: Yeah. This is, this is nice the way this conversation is affecting me, because I've often talked about patterning in. When we get stressed , one of the challenges of that is that stress is patterning one of the problems with being stressed or anxious or like worrying is that you are in patterning.
You are not in an act of observing what is happening and then responding to it. You're in an act of, Repeating, some entrenched kind of patterning . Because like basically stress is when we don't have capacity and if we don't have capacity, we go to patterning.
And I love what you said about. Framing creativity in the same way, like I've never heard that, but it makes it resounds deeply for me. You, can't really be creative if you are in a state of patterning as opposed to awareness or connection or receptivity. .
Mare: Yeah. Well, as an artist, I'm always, always looking outward for a new thought or a new idea.
To find that creative ability in your life , , that can give you a another way to live.
Marcel: Yeah. I love the way you said that
I think there's creativity and there's art and fine art and music, musicians, but creativity is a fundamental right. Yeah. Human salve. It's a fundamental, nourishing thing that we, we do
Mare: is. . It's good medicine.
Marcel: It is, it is. Can you share with our listeners where they would go to, to see some of your art?
Mare: You can go to mary martin.com.
That's m a r e m A R t I n.com. And also I have an Instagram account, Mary Martin So hope that you will check me out. Thank you.
Marcel: Mom, thank you so much for having this conversation with me. It's been so fun. Well, is it
Mare: already over