Earthen Vision

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Earthen Vision

Accompanied coaching journeys for professional development & strategic decision-making, designed for for creative, eco-conscious leaders and innovators.

Strategic sessions available online and in-person on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, for organizations and professionals using creative, land-based approaches.

- Sarah West, MPA, BA(Hons), DKATI
Consultant & Environmental Arts Therapist

06/05/2026

Bear grease - what can’t ya do with it?

06/04/2026

What the heck do you do with bear grease? Remember that scene in Forest Gump where Bubba rhymes off all the endless shrimp possibilities?

That.

05/27/2026

The most surprising thing about making this drum is watching it’s personality emerge. I created it mostly from scratch, jn a ceremonial way, full of prayers and a very specific intention. Like how I’ve heard Elders speak about their drums.

And…. It worked.

It’s showing up in dreams, it wants to be seen and handled , and road trip. Which is a surprise to me.

I’ve made a load of sacred creations over the years, and I rarely ever show anyone. They’re for me, and not others’s eyes, let alone the internet.

But this drum… is stoked to be out and about.

In art therapy, we’d call this an “infused creation.” Which is what all sacred, ritual creations are, that people have been making since the dawn of time to connect with themselves, their community and the Divine.

05/24/2026

“what do you want to take with you into this next phase?”

THIS energy, please and thank you.

Latest edition of my new favourite art therapy prompt. Response in collage.

05/21/2026

The dreamiest of skills layering. Stood witness to the death and processing of this sheep. Rawhide made by my hand, waters gathered from a beloved creek, hide soaked in waters infused with plants grown by my hand, drum hoop finished with beeswax/bear fat made by my hand, drum laced by my hand…

And the icing on the cake….

Greased with bear fat from a local bear I’ve been working with these last years, fat perfectly rendered after ages of tweaking.

Infused with all the prayers.

Our hands truly do remember how to do such things, with time and intention and care.

05/09/2026

Hallo! If you’ve landed here, you likely fit the bill of the artsy, earthy, outdoorsy, homesteady, ancestral skills type. Or some combo of that. And you’d be in good company, because I am too.

I love walking alongside folks to learn (remember!) how we can connect with the earth, and gain a felt sense of our indigeneity, our inner and outer worlds, no matter who and where we are, using embodied and eco arts methods.

I wear dual hats - I’ve been in management working for provincial, local and First Nations governments for a long, looooong time. And I have the tweed blazers and worn leather pumps to show for it.

AND I’m an environmental arts therapist (yes - that’s a thing and yes - that’s me, a real therapist).

I’m an artist, writer, outdoorswoman and deep into ancestral skills, which has evolved into hide tanning and getting into hunting. What a learning journey that’s been!

This page is mostly to share visuals of the process. You can find ways to work with me on my website (coaching, trainings) and deeper musings on Substack.

🪨🪨🪨 My way of being and approach has been shaped by a few core things:
🌿 the lands I was born on and, subsequently, woven myself into
🌿 being brought “under wing” in my twenties by Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Elders and teachers
🌿 Intense and comprehensive decades long deep dives into what indigeneity looks and feels like for my ancestors in Scotland, Ireland and England

Happy you’re here, alongside! Let’s get our hands dirty.

04/28/2026

Large scale, gestural art: one of the most powerful, full bodied mode for creative expression and exploration.

Gestural art soothes our nervous system, rewires neural pathways, and is a shining light on the inner recesses of our unconscious, enabling us to quickly, efficiently and effectively tap into the wisdom of our bodies.

My latest one took 3 months. Of just sitting with it. And reaaaaaaaaallllly not liking what came out. Gestural line, full body tracing, pulling out imagery that I saw, filling it in, moving my body in response to it… the works.

Still hated it.

Till one evening I impulsively took my hunting knife to it, and sliced the sh*t out of it. Cut it to pieces and cut it off my wall.

Then SHE emerged, and I am in love and the process complete.

Just like that.

*special thanks to .art for being co-conspirator and expert body tracer

04/24/2026

First rawhide and I’m in love! 11 month ewe lamb, I was there when her life was ended. Saw her skinned, gutted and quartered. Disgusting matted hide in the freezer for a year and a half. Whoopsed with a soft hide and too sharp flesher.

The farmers joked about how LOUD she was in life, and now she will become a drum and canvas.

Goodness, working an ancestral craft from start to finish is the ultimate dream, the ultimate circle.

We can remember what wisdom our ancestors held, it’s not lost, we can unlock it when our hands remember from crafting with the natural world.

11/10/2025

Taking a break from the socials! If you need to be in touch, or have questions about my creative, land based coaching, please do get a hold of me at [email protected] (l*nk to info as always in b*o) 😉

I’ll be off until the end of November, possibly until the Winter Solstice 🌿

See y’all on the other side!

11/07/2025

Lineage…. How do you know what you know? Who taught you? What was their experience? What has been their level of dedication, of apprenticeship, of service?

In a world increasingly flooded with computer generated content and self proclaimed healing coaches, discretion is key when we choose what and who to learn from.

When I talk about and engage the natural world, it is grounded on a lineage of being brought “under wing” these past 17
years by Anishinaabe, Cree and Haudenosaunee Elders, lawyers, educators, politicians and civil servants.

They were the first to - kindly - point out that I come from a lineage that is both the colonized and the colonizer.

This was long before the current popularization of lip service being paid to “decolonization” we’ve seen in recent years.

My Scottish, Irish and English ancestors have long been severed from their indigeneity. But there’s something in us that wants to remember our ancestral ways.

And sometimes, just being in the presence of someone embodying such things is the nudge our bodies and psyches need to begin to remember.

The Anishinaabe, Cree and Haudenosaunee peoples I’ve worked with have demonstrated to me what true indigeneity looks and feels like in the body and in our lifestyles and communities, in relation with the natural world.

For this uncommon, long-standing gift, I am so grateful.

*photo is of an ancient old growth cedar on Vancouver Island

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Powell River, BC

Website

http://www.earthenvision.com/

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