After attending a Work That Reconnects event, Diane Szymaszek created a series of images, one for each stage of the spiral, as a gift of thanksgiving to Joanna Macy.

Click on each image to enlarge.

Gratitude grounds us to face the destruction that is taking place in our world. This painting represents the first part of the Spiral, “Coming From Gratitude.”

Gratitude by Diane Szymaszek

The second part of the Spiral is “Honoring Our Pain For The World.” This painting shows the destruction of the forests and the pollution of our waters. It expresses our anger, sadness, fear, and emptiness that we feel with all that is being done to our beautiful planet.

Honoring Pain by Diane Szymaszek

The third part of the Spiral, “Seeing with New Eyes,” shows our connectedness to the earth and all that is. It also connects us to those who have gone before us, our ancestors, and to those who will come after us, the “future beings.”

Seeing with New Eyes by Diane Szymaszek

The last part of the Spiral is “Going Forth.” This includes all we can do to make the world a better place–actions we can take to slow down the destruction of the world. It includes learning how the present system works and creating structural alternatives and most importantly going forth requires a change of consciousness.

Going Forth by Diane Szymaszek

Diane Szymaszek is a retired art teacher. She attended her first workshop with Joanna in 2011 as a retirement gift to herself. This was a day long workshop during the Institute of Noetic Science conference in San Francisco. The following year she went to Vancouver Island for a nine day intensive and has participated in Joanna’s workshops at Rowe in Massachusetts. 

“The Work That Reconnects has inspired me to do artwork with a message. These four mandalas are taken directly from the Spiral of the WTR and includes words by Joanna.The style is a combination of acrylic painting and collage.”