For Carolynn Poole of Igneoux Studios, there’s a sacred aspect to her art. She works in stained-glass, photography, murals, and jewelry. And she creates custom art for her customers. Poole seeks inspiration in nature, a source that she considers sacred. Using a process called “earthing,” or grounding, she walks barefoot in the grass to calm and focus her mind as she creates art reflecting who she is and how she wants to fit into her world.
Poole says, “Earthing is the practice of connecting with the earth with bare feet, skin to earth contact,” For me, I can speculate that it has something to do with sensory engagement, which for me can be very regulating. I was recently diagnosed with autism. It put a lot of pieces together for me and lent a lot of contexts to a lot of my life. I’ve always relied a lot on sensory stimulation to regulate my nervous system. And there is also this difficult to describe spiritual component.”
“I’ve been an artist of one kind or another for as long as I can remember,” Poole says. “I was always the kid in her room coloring or making friendship bracelets, that kind of a thing. I think part of it was quieting of the mind. I have a very, very busy mind, and it helps me to have something to do with my hands and focus my energy into one thing. “
Diagnosed as autistic and bipolar, Poole finds her peace through her artwork. Although she works in many art forms and mediums, stained-glass has become her favorite.
“For stained-glass, a lot of the things I did growing up kind of lent to the process,” Poole says. “I was already drawing from a young age, so I had the design thing down. And then I taught myself to solder in the fall of 2021 because I had some gemstones I wanted to turn into jewelry, and I didn’t yet feel up to silversmithing. Once I had soldering down, that’s a pretty big component to a certain method of stained-glass making.”
Poole had discovered her new passion. Through stained-glass, she’s found self-expression, not only in more marketable animal figures, flowers, and other designs, but also as a means of expressing her views on social justice—including her identifying with Kalamazoo’s LBGTQ+ community.
Poole will have her art on exhibit at the Blueberry Festival in South Haven on August 12th and 13th and at the Kalamazoo Expo Center on September 30th.
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