Storytelling, Community Building, and Creating Connection Along the Red Thread

For Centuries, artists have intuitively sensed that art is a medicine that can profoundly contribute to the healing of individuals, groups, and the collective. The healing power of art lies in its ability to serve as a vehicle for self-expression, stress management, self-discovery, meditative focus, a sense of purpose, and as a powerful form of visual storytelling.

Artists have maintained an ancient throughline of holding the Zeitgeist of any given culture throughout the history of recorded civilization. From cave paintings to scrolls, to masks, to canvases, to printed paper, and every other resourcefully found medium, artists have been driven to discover ways to communicate their own visual stories, as well as those of their families, groups, and societies. Therefore, it stands to reason that storytelling is quintessential to the human experience and that Art, at its essence, is a form of visual storytelling.

MUSEA’s permanent art collection and accompanying teachings are steeped in a matriarchal lineage spanning more than three generations that have understood the value of locating, knowing, and expressing your story. It is a lineage that has maintained the conviction of supporting the expression of story in its most holistic form: all of the good, the bad, and the ugly in a manner that generates healing for the individual, which then spreads out to uplift the communities they belong to. This knowledge continues through the Intentional Creativity artwork and teachings of Curator Shiloh Sophia, as well as through MUSEA Guild Members and students.

In her desire to hold and bring healing to our often disconnected sense of community in this modern world, one of the aspects of Shiloh Sophia’s work has evolved into the composting of intercultural myths related to the same theme that has been shaped into the Legend of the Red Thread. This legend states that there is an invisible red thread connecting those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or origin, and it is offered to the intentional Creativity community, including through Museum membership, so that all of us are becoming part of one another’s stories. It is a kind of mycelial network connecting us together, and our shared stories are the nodes of connection.

Either microscopically or macroscopically, the impact of our interconnections can be very profound. In this way, the Legend of the Red Thread folds in the power of storytelling and interconnection to become part of the alchemical recipe that transforms Art into Medicine. That storytelling through creativity can bring healing to ourselves, families, social groups, and communities is an ancient and potent medicine indeed.

One of the many ways in which MUSEA Intentional Creativity Museum holds a sense of community is through our regular membership circle offerings, various complimentary Intentional Creativity workshops, monthly #CreativeConversations, group Art Exhibits, and our annual VIVID Intentional Creativity Community Gathering held each November.

As the year is moving towards completion, we want to remind our members and subscribers that all we create and offer includes the desire to weave our stories together with yours, and build a true sense of belonging and community between and among us. We create an abundance of beautiful content with the desire that there be ‘something for everybody’, and as a way to continue to tell our stories emergently!

If there are months when you are not able to engage in any of our offerings, writings, or museum events, the Cocurators’ Team invites you to resist the seductive power of the fear of missing out and would like to reassure you that you are still connected, part of the story, and held along our Red Thread. Think of our Museum’s offerings as a feast table of love, always full and ready to receive and nourish you when you desire!

Sending our sincere and deeply felt appreciation along the red thread for your support of the Museum,

~ Jessica Richmond, Magazine Lead, MUSEA CoCurators