Born: Hastings, 1963.
Arts Foundation  - Hastings College
B.A. Fine Art (Painting) – West Surrey College of Art and Design.
Cert. Ed. – Brighton University
CELTA – St Giles College, Brighton.

As a child I was very fortunate to be taken out on long country walks every Sunday with my Grandfather. He knew the whole landscape around Hastings like the back of his hand, and I learnt the names of the flowers, trees, birds and other creatures along with practicalities like where to get fresh water to drink, how to make a fire. Looking back this was the best education I could have asked for as a child.
As my interests grew and the world of art and music opened up to my curious self I became fascinated by other cultures and the symbols and imagery they used. In particular the native People of North America became a source of great inspiration. The modern world seemed frankly absurd and disgusting to me, whereas their whole approach, way of life and way of being was rooted in their deep understanding of the connectedness of all life, in this world and beyond. In my early twenties I was fortunate enough to meet members of the Oglala Sioux, and what I learnt and experienced with the elders filled me with a shared wonder and joy t the beauty of what the refer to as “The Great mystery” – the entirety of creation, unfathomable, vast beyond our perception, and yet accessible through humility and stillness.

These words from Black Elk speak far more eloquently than mine:

“…And then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and around about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the centre grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.”

Laurie Piper 2023.