Epiosde 12: The Sacred Hoop
In this episode of the Therapeutic Landscapes podcast, Rebecca Burns speaks with Kate Walters, artist and writer, whose paintings, drawings and writing explore the relationship between inner and outer landscapes, and the ways in which they unfurl into each other.
The conversation begins with Kate’s current thinking around the sacred hoop, an image that has emerged through her painting practice and become increasingly charged in relation to the fragile interconnectedness of the natural world. In the work, a young girl holds a hoop filled with seeds, nodes, cells and possible worlds, becoming a threshold figure who carries both vulnerability and deep knowing.
Kate speaks about how dreams have guided her life and creative practice, from major decisions such as moving to Cornwall, to the images, animals, gestures and figures that continue to appear in her paintings. Dreaming, for Kate, is not separate from making; it is part of the same field of attention, where the unconscious, the body, the natural world and the image meet.
The episode also explores Kate’s relationship with shamanic practice, psychoanalytic work, animal knowing, and the importance of noticing. She describes painting as a process of following a scent, trusting what appears through marks, colour, gesture and the non-dominant hand. Her studio practice becomes a way of entering an altered, receptive state, where images can arrive before they are fully understood.
Kate shares her experiences of thin places: Iona, Shetland, the Outer Hebrides, Assisi and the wild landscapes of Italian national parks. These are places where dreams become stronger, perception sharpens, and the boundary between the inner and outer world seems to soften. Kate speaks of encounters with otters, eagles, wild boar, butterflies, bees, saints, silence and wilderness, and of the way these places can nourish both the artist and the soul.
This is a conversation about creativity as a form of deep listening.
Listening to dreams.
Listening to animals.
Listening to the body.
Listening to the more-than-human world.
Listening to what appears in paint before the mind can explain it.
This episode is about art, ecology, dreaming, spirit, and the sacred responsibility of paying attention to the living world while the hoop is still in our hands.
Bio
Kate studied Fine Art in London, Brighton and Falmouth. She’s based in Trewarveneth Studios, Cornwall.
She trained in classical shamanism between 2000-2006. She teaches creative-shamanic workshops in Cornwall.
Kate has had two books of paintings and writing published by Guillemot Press; these grew out of residencies in Iona and Shetland. Walking in Italian National Parks has also been a fond source of inspiration.
Juried exhibitions include: Jerwood Drawing (now Trinity Buoy Wharf )in 2003, 2008 and 2023/4, and 2025; R.A. Summer Show and RWA Autumn exhibitions; Discerning Eye amongst many others.
Links
Find out more about Kate’s work:
Website: www.katewalters.co.uk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/katewaltersartist
Courses and Workshops: www.katewalters.co.uk/shamanic-work-and-art-courses