Kristin Boettger MA CCC RCAT is an artist, Registered Art Therapist and Canadian Certified Counsellor living in Calgary, Alberta. Over the years she has combined her studies in both fine art and art therapy to build a creative practice that is deeply informed by her interests in feminism, ecopsychology and self-transformation.
REVELATION: {LEVI} 2018; Mixed media on paper; 50" X 38"
HORSE MEDICINE is the title of my most recent series of drawings, inspired by my creative retreat on an Alberta ranch over the winter of 2017/18. These drawings and paintings are the product of my ongoing investigation of Horse as both a spiritual symbol and a daily companion. Over this past winter, my daily rituals with horses soon propelled me to explore the wider spiritual significance of their presence in my life, and I’ve found this creative investigation to be immensely rich and inspiring.
Through these artworks, I’m exploring what horse has to teach us through it's strong and sensitive nature. Horses are deeply intuitive and capable of great endurance. They are a grounding presence, connected to the earth, while also often associated with the spiritual realm. As deeply relational animals, horses survive and thrive when connected heartfully to those around them. As such, horses embody powerful lessons that I believe we need to embody now more than ever: how to honour our sensitivities, cultivate our strengths, and travel our paths remembering that our true nature is to be wild and free.
Beyond this series with horses, all my work is inspired by the natural world and my experience with it, whether it be animals, forests, rivers, or my own home and garden. My creative practice is rooted in the natural world and deeply informed by my interests in feminism, ecopsychology and self-transformation.
My forest drawings have evolved over the years from initial charcoal sketches to more complex and patterned drawings and paintings. Forests, especially aspen groves, continue to captivate and inspire me. When I'm with them, it feels like they call me to draw. This powerful felt experience I have in the forest, combined with the endless textures, smells and shadows of these communities of trees, continues to fuel my desire to translate it onto paper.
I love flowers.. always have. Whether studying cut flower arrangements in my childhood home, wandering public gardens or hiking amidst alpine wildflowers, there is nothing that stirs my creative impulse more than to capture the magical world of florals.
