Katrina Sheena Smyth
Katrina is a bardic artist-researcher, ordained Bean Feasa (Priestess) of the Sacred Land, and a certified spiritual life coach.
CREATIVITY IS LIFE FORCE
꩜꩜꩜
ART-MAKING IS IN RESPONDING INTENTIONALLY WITH LIFE
Katrina's artistic work is rooted in Druidic philosophy and practice, where self-expression becomes a merging with Imbas (an Irish word that embodies poetic inspiration), as a ritualistic act of creative flow that embraces intuitive moments of expanding with nature and space. Their work is inspired by Irish Myth, with particular interest in the role of the sovereignty Goddesses of Éire and their connection with the land - and honours oral traditions of sacred storytelling and song.
Katrina obtained a Ph.D. in 2023 that studied the importance of meditative art-based research methods, in nurturing processes for collaborative learning with material, both inside and outside of academic spaces. Katrina is a current member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (Bardic Grade) and a studio member with Flax Arts Studios, Belfast.
Grounded in esoteric and meditation practice, Katrina engages methods for making that traverses moments of chance and uncertainty as ways of co-creatively making with language, image, sound and performance. Here, a process of making becomes a flowing dance or a fleeting song, a performance or performative act, as part of a collaboration of energies, of experimental, intuitive and expansive moments of play. Such an approach resonates more-than-representational methodologies, navigating alternative ways of positioning themselves within systems of oppression.