Stepping into the Shoes of Flora MacDonald

In training to become an art therapist, I have the pleasure of going to a school that encourages an experiential exploration of art in all its forms. Recently, we were asked to present on an artist, and reflect on the value of the function of art in their lives and its relation to art therapy. To really understand the artist's point of view, our instructor suggested we "step into their shoes" and create as they do. After meeting Flora MacDonald a few years back on a trip to Scotland, and falling in love with her storytelling and art, I knew exactly whose shoes I wanted to step into. ​

I began by immersing myself in her most recent book, "Uist and Global Dyes." ​

A Review of "Uist and Global Dyes"

Flora MacDonald’s “Uist and Global Dyes” is an absolute treasure. In this book, her sense of delight and enthusiasm for engaging with the natural world, and all its creative possibilities, is simply infectious. This is much more than an earth-based dye book. It’s an exploration and exhibition of the multifaceted life of natural materials. At its essence, this book invites you into a love affair with the land.

Interspersed amongst delightful poems and tales, Flora shares her enthusiasm and fully accessible explorations on how to work with natural materials to create eco dyes, ink, paper, prints… and delicious meals.

Flora presents a holistic perspective of plants - as natural dyes, medicine, their practical uses and life cycles. She contextualizes their role in the arts, community, local stories, and economy, as well as their place in history.

This book captures Flora’s grounded wisdom as a Gàidhlig tradition bearer, in relationship with her homelands in the Hebrides, and how an enthusiasm for the natural world can be brought into an urban context. Underpinning the revelations in this book is a hum of experimentation and play - where Flora tries everything, without recipe (or Google) and records her results.​

This book is a gift from Flora to any reader. Embedded in its core is a reclamation and sharing of Gaelic cultural traditions. Her enthusiasm and respect she offers the land is powerfully evident, her co-conspirator in the conjuring of beautiful creations.

To order the book, you can email Flora directly at floraidh1@gmail.com.

Stepping into Flora's Shoes

Flora holds a holistic knowledge of the multitude of uses for a single plant, and pairs this with an attitude of experimentation and play. So, in the spirit of Flora, I spent three days working and playing with elderberry as she would do…. and it really helped me see the themes in her creativity and channel her infectious enthusiasm.

Tis the season for elderberry, so I set about foraging in the land around me. I made homemade elderberry syrup and learned its medicinal uses. I experimented with it as a natural dye... ...and recorded (and wore) my results.

Distilling it, I made ink, and created paintings. A response poem to the process even came out! Of course, it was inked in elderberry.

Thanks to Flora, I have some medicine to ward off the coughs of the coming winter, a formerly tired white sweater of mine is now a lovely shade of lilac, and I have grown my understanding of the land and the arts as healing.