We are, so many of us, lost in the wide world;
perhaps the trees can help us to dream our way home...
(Deborah Templeton, The Dreaming of Trees)
perhaps the trees can help us to dream our way home...
(Deborah Templeton, The Dreaming of Trees)
El Ensueño de los Árboles (2017) was an immersive theatre experience, designed for forest or woodland locations, that engaged audiences in a deep ecological contemplation.
With Mexican theatre director, Nicolás Núñez, and a small international team, Templeton travelled to the jungle village of Armila in the remote indigenous region of Guna Yala, Panama. There, the team worked intimately with the location, in particular making (non-invasive) contact with the trees, and observing the Guna relationship with the forest. This extraordinary opportunity to learn from an indigenous community, living traditionally in one of the world’s richest biomes, enabled the co-creation of a deeply experiential and contemplative theatre work addressing themes of interdependence and ecology.
The Dreaming of Trees (2018). An English version of Templeton's text was subsequently rewritten as an audio installation, with music and sound by Julio d'Escriván, and published as a fine limited edition book by Leonora Press.
The Way Through the Woods: Art-Nature-Wellbeing (2019). This day-long event brought together artists, researchers and others to explore the rich potential of arts and mindfulness in woodland settings. It was a collaboration between Deborah Templeton for the University of Huddersfield's Mindfulness and Performance Research Project, and Grant Lowe of the National Trust at Hardcastle Crags. Highlights included a keynote address by author Jay Griffiths and a live multimedia performance of The Dreaming of Trees by Templeton, composer Monty Adkins and video artist Zoe MacLean.
one thus gone (2019) is a contemplative woodland trail at Hardcastle Crags in West Yorkshire comprising eight small poems by Templeton on a trail co-designed with Grant Lowe, then of the National Trust. The poems are published along with mindfulness prompts in the chapbook one thus gone: Contemplations for Woodland Walking (2020) with illustrations by painter John Britton. A new extended edition is forthcoming in 2023.
Mindfulness Audio Trail on the Love Exploring app (2021). The one thus gone poems also feature on Love Exploring's mindfulness audio trail along with full audio guidelines for contemplative practice in parks and woodlands; all set in music by Monty Adkins. This work was developed for Love Exploring by Templeton and Grant Lowe, and is now located in parks and nature reserves across England.
With Mexican theatre director, Nicolás Núñez, and a small international team, Templeton travelled to the jungle village of Armila in the remote indigenous region of Guna Yala, Panama. There, the team worked intimately with the location, in particular making (non-invasive) contact with the trees, and observing the Guna relationship with the forest. This extraordinary opportunity to learn from an indigenous community, living traditionally in one of the world’s richest biomes, enabled the co-creation of a deeply experiential and contemplative theatre work addressing themes of interdependence and ecology.
The Dreaming of Trees (2018). An English version of Templeton's text was subsequently rewritten as an audio installation, with music and sound by Julio d'Escriván, and published as a fine limited edition book by Leonora Press.
The Way Through the Woods: Art-Nature-Wellbeing (2019). This day-long event brought together artists, researchers and others to explore the rich potential of arts and mindfulness in woodland settings. It was a collaboration between Deborah Templeton for the University of Huddersfield's Mindfulness and Performance Research Project, and Grant Lowe of the National Trust at Hardcastle Crags. Highlights included a keynote address by author Jay Griffiths and a live multimedia performance of The Dreaming of Trees by Templeton, composer Monty Adkins and video artist Zoe MacLean.
one thus gone (2019) is a contemplative woodland trail at Hardcastle Crags in West Yorkshire comprising eight small poems by Templeton on a trail co-designed with Grant Lowe, then of the National Trust. The poems are published along with mindfulness prompts in the chapbook one thus gone: Contemplations for Woodland Walking (2020) with illustrations by painter John Britton. A new extended edition is forthcoming in 2023.
Mindfulness Audio Trail on the Love Exploring app (2021). The one thus gone poems also feature on Love Exploring's mindfulness audio trail along with full audio guidelines for contemplative practice in parks and woodlands; all set in music by Monty Adkins. This work was developed for Love Exploring by Templeton and Grant Lowe, and is now located in parks and nature reserves across England.
