Finding the balance

Nature is the touchstone for artist and yoga teacher

County artist Kelly Cade sees nature as an inherent part of her existence. “For me, there is not a separation between the internal ecology and the external ecology. When I think about Ayurveda, which is the sister science to yoga, the principle is that we are a microcosm of the universe. The way I perceive and experience the world is that we’re not separate from nature, so I’m interested in how we experience that and how we explore that,” she says. Kelly has been interested in art for as long as she can remember. “Since I was a child, I was drawing or creating or collaging something. I’m very visually oriented. That’s my language and the lens I look through.” She obtained a fine arts degree from OCAD, focusing on drawing and painting. After college, she travelled to England to learn about film editing and came back to Canada to follow that in her early career. But she also kept up her work as a freelance artist, even while raising her family. “I always found a way in to a project with other people, and there were opportunities that came along to show my work and be part of a gallery, a part of the community, so it was very organic,” she says.

Kelly’s art has always been an exploration of how she connects with the natural world, how she experiences it, and how the strictures of society can interpose a barrier to the enjoyment of nature. In her latest work, she uses photographic images to create an abstract landscape that she perforates with a geometric pattern and then layers over an iridescent background. “This is something I really had fun with. It changes as the light changes, so I felt they really pulled away from the image itself. It’s the idea that you’re either looking at this or looking at that—is it the image behind or is it the image on the surface? It’s a little bit of separation where we’re distracted by shiny objects. The world is designed to distract us, keep us busy and there’s this constant pull outside of ourselves and our connection to nature.” Kelly says that as a visual artist, her work is a way of reflecting how she experiences the world and what is happening around her. “For me, it’s never about the work that I make, but it’s the visceral response somebody brings to it. It’s the questions, the curiosity. I think art opens the door to a conversation. It’s not just finished when you make it, it’s the beginning of something, a point of entry.”

Kelly’s approach to art is in some ways mirrored in her yoga practice. She started yoga in her early twenties, and became fascinated with it. “Yoga has always been grounding. It’s this irrefutable wisdom that you experience when you are in embodied practice, and that has been such a gift for me,” she says. She took most of her yoga training in Toronto, and studied yoga therapy for four years with a teacher in Seattle, Washington. “The tendency is to think of yoga as just another form of exercise, but that’s such a minimal component of what it has to offer. Yoga is the physical, the energetic, the mind, the emotional, the spiritual, all of that. It’s all part of the practice of yoga, but it doesn’t have to be present all of the time.” Kelly says that yoga is for every body, and tailors her classes to meet every individual’s need. The one common thing is the importance of proper breathing. “Breath actually moves the body, and it facilitates the movement, and it can bring integrity and stability, so it’s a big component in how I teach. Having said that, it’s not about a big breath at all, it’s about meeting people where they are and then just moving step by step. It’s about adaptability and balance in our system, and about stability and range of motion. One thing that really excites me about yoga is agency—you’re actually being given the tools for self-care, and as you get to know yourself you can make choices, and it’s a really powerful thing to choose for yourself how you relate to the world.”

The pandemic has heightened Kelly’s appreciation for nature. “From the get-go I felt I really needed to make some clear choices. I really needed to inhabit this experience and make choices that were appropriate and healthy. There was so much going on, not just the pandemic, but the state of the world and I really felt that I needed to be awake and really present. There’s so much instability in the world and so much challenge, and nature is just there—it is grounding, it is present, it is regenerating. There isn’t a moment in the day when I don’t feel so appreciative. Whether it’s in art or in yoga, I’m trying to get to a place where you can examine the energy and feel the pulse and explore a little bit. To get to know yourself. I think that taking the time to actually inhabit and explore your space and check-in with your energy and state of mind is incredibly beneficial.”

To see Kelly’s artwork, please visit kellycadeart.com. For information about yoga therapy, please go to viniyogaconnection.com