The seamless integration of strategy, Spirit, and creativity
By Lisa Graustein
Friend of Earth Quaker Action Team
Writing from Neponset Band of the Massachusetts/Boston
Last month, people from across the country – elders, youth, Vanguard customers, and people of faith – gathered in nonviolent direct action at the global headquarters of Vanguard in Pennsylvania. We were there to say that we need Vanguard to start taking meaningful action on climate change and environmental justice. This was the biggest climate change protest ever at a Vanguard office, and it happened just a few days before Vanguard’s new CEO, Salim Ramji, began his role.
When I got an email from EQAT volunteer, Kaytee, asking if I could make a vase for that action at Vanguard’s headquarters, I had an immediate “YES!” response throughout my body and spirit. A long-time supporter of EQAT, the invitation to bring my art into that support felt like a gift. One of the many things I admire about EQAT is the seamless integration of strategy, Spirit, and creativity. Our actions for change must embody the vision we are working for; in fighting for the survival of creation, we must bring our creativity to the work.
While it would have been simple to throw a vase and send it along, I wanted the piece to be more than an object. I wanted the vase to have the same preparation that I know EQAT actions have – that beautiful blending of thoughtfulness and spiritual care. So, I prayed over my sketch pad as I drew out different ideas. Making pottery, for me, is always a process that is equal parts what I think is going to happen and then what unfolds as my hands work with the clay. It is a practice of preparation and then letting go of the “mind-over” orientation and just moving with the underlying ideas and what happens when clay, water, and my hands come together.
Photo by Lisa Graustein
The vase has an unglazed band with a fern impression around its neck. When the clay was damp, I also pressed four live ferns into the body of the vase in a circular/spiral pattern up the sides. I chose ferns as an ancient plant that continues to thrive and survive in many places. Ferns can grow up in cracks in barren places, creating the environment for other life. I see the work of EQAT being the work of ferns – creating life and the space for future life in the tight spots, drawing on deep wells of wisdom to creatively and adaptively do this way-making work.
I put handles on the vase, knowing that sometimes when we are speaking truth to power, our bodies can hold in the tension of the moment with heat, sweat, and jitters. I wanted there to be handles so the vase would be easy to hold, easy to pass, and give the holder a space to be in strong, supportive connection with what was held within the vase. Where the handles attach to the body, there are butterflies, representing transformation and the reminder that new potentials are possible even in – or sometimes because of – the mush of life that was.
Inside the rim of the vase, I pressed a scallop shell from the Pacific Ocean. This was a shell my mother collected from her home town on the California coast/Me-Wuk/Coast Miwok homelands. I made this piece about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. The waters of the world connect all of us.
Photo by Ray Bailey
I then added some symbols from my Celtic ancestors. The work of climate justice is inextricably tied to racial justice, the two being parts of the same work to end domination and return to right relationship. For me as a white person, part of my spiritual journey with uprooting white supremacy has been to reconnect with my ancestral practices and wisdom from before my people were white, from before we were colonizers, from when we lived on our homelands in good relationship with creation.
Inside the vase, at the bottom, are two stamps: the Celtic triskle and quarterny knot. The triskle, three connected spirals, represents the past/present/future, the three primary energy centers of the body, and the triple aspect of many Celtic deities. The quarterny knot, a woven knot of four parts, represents the interconnection of the four elements and cardinal directions. The two together hold space for the seven directions (north, east, south, west, below/Earth, above/sky, and within) that form the basis of Celtic spiritual and cosmic understanding. Together, they embody tenalack, our connection to the natural world and the ways in which we hear creation sing, as well as duthchas, the fundamental interconnection of the land, earth, air, water, fire, and Spirit. Pottery, by its very nature, is the integration of earth, water, air, and fire to create a physical manifestation of vision.
When the vase was still wet, the Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism had a day-long virtual retreat, with Friends from across the U.S. and Canada/Turtle Island. I brought the vase to the screen and the whole group prayed over it, sealing in prayers of protection for the EQAT participants, for the Vanguard staff that engage with it, and for the possibility of transformation for all of us and this world.
Photo by Rachael Warriner
So, last month, 300 people came together to hold Meeting for Worship in the entrance to Vanguard’s headquarters and call on Vanguard to invest for a livable future. Some brought soil from the land where they’re resisting dangerous gas pipelines that are Vanguard investments and added that soil to the vase.
Then, a small group of people went back to Vanguard and attempted to deliver the vase with that soil, as a reminder of the impact of Vanguard’s actions. They also brought a card, signed by 200 Vanguard customers, that welcomed Vanguard’s new CEO, Salim Ramji, and asked him to lead the asset manager in a better direction.
Photo by Rachael Warriner
More and more people see that Vanguard has a responsibility to take action – so that we can all have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a safe climate in which to thrive and care for the next generation. Every living being on the planet deserves this, no matter who we are or where we live.
Top photo by Rachael Warriner
