Ilene

ILENE GUDELSKY

Ilene is an artist, equine transformational learning facilitator and cultivator of healthy soil, plants and water. Her path of awakening has unfolded from a lifetime spent inhabiting the ways of creativity and nature, in endless renewal.

That quality of aliveness and rebirth, present in the ever unfolding now, has informed her perspective that life is art. Whether the act is creating a painting, writing a song or engaging in the dance of relationship; there is a breathtaking daring in launching oneself into the mystery, vulnerability and loveliness of it all.

“I have loved the world through my pencils, paintbrushes and colors; guitar and pen; and the wise, generous heart of the horse. The world has loved me in return; gifting me with beauty, abundance and wisdom. I breathe it in and whisper it back out; carefully listening, observing, sensing and feeling what wants to emerge. It is this cord of reciprocity that interests me and informs my work as a facilitator and co-creator”

Ilene grew up in the suburbs of Maryland as wild lands and farms were fast disappearing into the jaws of development. Yet her formative years were abundantly enriched and populated by lush deciduous forests, birds, small mammals; creek bottoms full of tadpoles, crayfish, turtles, and insects; sassafras, honeysuckle, clover and buttercups. The Atlantic ocean was one of her first teachers in the importance of presence while learning to navigate her waters lest she get lost in the their power. The ocean’s offerings of otherworldly creatures and the marvelous structures of shells, fish and crabs fed her spirit and body. Early on she discovered the transformative and unifying power of the arts. That the safety, joy and connected-ness of these experiences stood in stark contrast to the unrest and disconnection of the human world was not lost on her.

As a young child she was keenly aware of the tension in her family, the culture and the present legacy of past injustice. The televised Vietnam war, campus unrest, the civil rights movement, riots and assassinations, music and flower children were all part of the ecosystem. Here she developed her sense of the need for social justice, liberation, safety and joy for all beings. A passion was ignited that continues to fuel her work as a facilitator.

Ilene has made, exhibited and performed her art since she was a teenager. She has also been a student of the horse from earliest memory. She works with groups and individuals in service of greater capacity for connection to self, other, community, and place through the wisdom of the natural world. She currently lives and works on her 22 acre farm in northern California.