Ahimsa is the highest duty.

Even if we cannot practice it in full, we must try to understand its spirit and refrain as far as is humanly possible from violence.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Over the past decade I have continually tried to refine my creative process to align with the values inherent in my Buddhist practice. In its essence, this practice involves ahimsa, aspiring disciplined and refined efforts in non-harming, a perpetual reverence for life. While ahimsa is at the heart of Buddhist philosophy, it is not specific to Buddhist philosophy. It is also inherent in many religious philosophies including Hinduism and Christianity, but most definitely and specifically, Jainism.

How one commits to ahimsa is influenced by how one defines and perceives “self” and “other.”  When one comes to experience all life as interconnected, there ceases to be “an other” and an attitude of non-harming for all life becomes intuitive and imperative.

As an artist, this commitment to ahimsa completely reoriented my creative process. My training in traditional bookbinding was rooted in traditional materials, which included leather, vellum, animal based adhesives as well as chemicals that are unhealthy to breathe, and not particularly safe for the global water supply. Following completion of The Nest of Patience in 2009, I confronted a crisis of self-questioning and doubt; I vowed to invest in creative processes that utilize compassionate and safe materials. I committed to using only materials that were cruelty-free and would not harm the planet’s air, earth, water or creatures. I am still in a space of discovery.

I am a practicing vegetarian (intermittently over 20 years), but in the past six years have invested in strong vegan leanings in my creative work and daily life. I no longer use materials such as vellum or leather in my work, but rather rely entirely on paper, cloth/textiles, and recycled materials. I invest in organic natural dyes and colorants (rather than synthetic/aniline dyes). My current work is cruelty-free as much as it can be.

The house in which I live is designed on principles of sustainability, and I am restoring the land on which it stands in accordance with these same principles. I have overhauled my consumer habits such that my food, clothes, household goods and other resources come primarily from origins that are organic, cruelty-free, and Fair Trade, from companies that have sustainable practices and give back. I grow organic, remove invasive species from woods and prairie, and cultivate native species and encourage pollinator habitats. I draw on the power of the sun. I live more simply, ever-aspiring to reduce my carbon footprint and increase my carbon handprint. By engaging in practices of sustainability, regenerative agriculture, material renunciation and carbon offset practices, I am carbon neutral as of 2021.

While my website presents my traditional creative work, I feel my greatest creative work is quiet and hidden in my daily attempts to integrate and live ahimsa at every moment of life.

I offer this statement as an apology to all the beings that were harmed in my past creative work, as a pledge to be a steward to the planet and all beings, and to inspire you to consider what ahimsa might look like in your own life.

kab | Vernon County, Wisconsin.
February 2020.
Revised 2022.