Earlier this summer we hosted Illustrator, Poet, and Artist fellow, Nasimeh B.E. at Getaway Eastern Catskills so she could escape the city and reconnect to nature and her creativity. Here’s what she had to share about her experience.
I am a mixed, Iranian American artist born and raised in the South. Though I live in NYC now, my upbringing – which consisted of many cultures, layered and constantly mingling – informs everything I create. Much of what I make lies at intersections: illustration and writing, mindfulness and mental health, comics and poetry. For a long time, I was wary of this – just as I was uncertain of my mixed-ness. One of the great gifts of my life has been coming to terms with both of these things, and forming both art and an identity that feels richly layered and strong. I often say that I am a bridge – and I very much feel that to be true.
Nature is so important to me. Anytime my head feels busy or overwhelmed, one of my greatest medicines is to get into nature; to submerse myself in green. As a person who has chosen to live in big, bustling cities for much of my life, nature has been a constant, necessary respite from the wild ride of such places. And often, if I am working through a creative block or challenge, I find that a walk in nature – away from my phone, away from any pressure, listening to music or the sounds around me – is a vital way to move that energy. Trees are so healing!
My Getaway was fantastic. In addition to the beauty of the natural world, it was an opportunity to reconnect with one of my dearest friends, who I had not seen in a while. This is the juice of life after all – both stillness and connection, both being in solitude and being with others. My Getaway offered me the best of all of that, and it was a wonderful reset after a pretty hectic couple of months, having just moved into a new house and set up my new life in New York.
I’d love to share that my friend Levi, who died some years ago, would often say to us: remember to look up. He said that when we were all in Northern California, among the redwoods; and I think of this a lot when I am feeling low. Somehow, looking up – especially at a canopy, at trees – helps so much.
You can follow Nasimeh on her Instagram and her website.
In need of your own creative escape? Book your Getaway today.