M.C. Richards: Living The Creative Life

M. C. Richards is a 20th-century Renaissance woman, a passionate thinker, multi-talented artist and wise elder. Here, she talks about community, creativity and centering, and how these qualities have become undervalued in our society: "We have not been educated to social imagination or compassion or to artistic creativity; we have been educated to conformity and competitiveness." A teacher, poet, painter, writer and potter, Richards has never lacked imagination, which she defines as "singing to a wide invisible audience." Her wisdom flows from an intensity, an honesty and a tenderness we don't often find in this world. She is awake to the most important issues of our time: the need for true community, the value of continuous learning and the truth of seeing spirit in all realms. Richards will open your spirit-hungry heart and inspire you to rally the thinker and artist in you to work together with the continuous creation of life.

Richards is the author of Centering (Wesleyan University Press 1989), Imagine Inventing Yellow (Station Hill 1991), and Opening Our Moral Eye: Essays, Talks & Poems Embracing Creativity (Lindisfarne Press 1996).

New Dimensions seeks out the most innovative and creative people on the planet and engages them in spontaneous, deep dialogues. Its mission is to deliver life-affirming, socially and spiritually relevant information, practical knowledge and perennial wisdom through the voices and visions of those who are asking new questions and are looking at the world in positive and inspiring ways. It is through the exchange of ideas and information that we can be empowered and enabled to meet the future with greater energy and clarity.