What is The Golden Dome?
The Golden Dome School is an educational and curatorial platform dedicated to studying intersections of art, metaphysics, and ecology.
The Golden Dome School honors ideals of responsiveness, communal learning, and evolving artistic disciplines that foster community building, ecological awareness and non-hierarchy. The Golden Dome School was founded by artist and intuitive Eliza Swann in 2013, and has collaborated with over 200 artists, mystics, and scientists to produce exhibitions, performances, classes, publications, and artist residencies year round.
The Golden Dome School’s practices seek to destabilize the authority of conventional structures of knowledge and power through an engagement with mysticism and the formation of heart centered communities of learning. We believe that magic has a large role to play in restoring health to people and planet, and that animism* can act as an antidote to capitalism. We encourage a questioning attitude and support intellectual, spiritual, and creative freedom in our work.
Each artist residency is rooted in the study of a Tarot card and The Golden Dome School is currently working its way through the Major Arcana. The next session will revolve around the “Hermit” card. The transformational power of Tarot symbolism can unlock enormous reserves of creativity and acts as a springboard for further artistic inquiry during our residency sessions.
The Golden Dome School does not discriminate on the basis of creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, or physical ability.
*Animism is the belief that all objects, spaces, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence and consciousness.
Guiding Principles of the Golden Dome School (these will continue to evolve):
1. The observance non-hierarchy and non-competition. We are committed to honoring interdependence and valuing all life (human and non-human) in our work.
2. We encourage the creation of new art forms by anyone.
3. All of our work is dedicated to the extreme present, and to creating more presence.
4. Change is constant. The Golden Dome School is a dynamic cooperative experiment where everyday life is guided by the intelligence of nature. We are committed to changing as the frequency of our times change, and as the face of our planet changes.
5. We are committed to taking inspired action towards our vision of a better world. We place strong emphasis on social and ecological responsibility in our work. We believe that our work is love in action.
6. We are dedicated to creating safe and inclusionary spaces for the cultivation of self-empowerment, self-discovery, and creativity.
7. We believe that we belong in a relational Universe, and strive to practice deep listening to the voices of each member of our community. Community voices include, but are not limited to: the voices of people, the voices of wind, water, earth, stars, seasons, insects, animals, and bodies of water.
We wish to thank the Reclaiming Collective, adrienne marie brown’s “Emergent Strategy”, the Art/Life Institute, the Deep Listening Institute, Deep Ecology, Findhorn, Black Mountain College, and the Work that Reconnects for the inspiration to organize.
The Golden Dome School is organizing all of this without institutional funding. We are in need of help and donations to keep this work going. Please click HERE for volunteer and donation procedures.
Who is The Golden Dome?
“A spiritual organization with a hierarchical structure can convey only the consciousness of estrangement, regardless of what teachings or deep inspirations are at its root. The structure itself reinforces the idea that some people are inherently more worthy than others.” -Starhawk
The Golden Dome School was founded by Eliza Swann in 2013, as she contemplated the disastrous effects of capitalism on the Earth and its inhabitants, and wondered what art and spiritual practice could do to help. The Golden Dome School has evolved into a non-hierarchical community of artists working together to realize a dream of using art as an inclusive and ecologically aware tool for expanding consciousness. Here are some of the roles we are currently playing:
Director: Eliza Swann
Board: Lacey Prpic Hedtke, Grace Kredell, Saewon Oh, Yumi Sakugawa, Christian Toscano
Program Organizers: Edgar Fabian Frias, Ryan Ingersol, Grace Kredell, Brendan Landis, Mireya Lucio, Patrick Mansfield, Saewon Oh, John Sanchez, Laura Stinger
Visiting Faculty: Chiron Armand, Liz Armstrong, Robert Beier, Genevieve Belleveau, Lily Benson, Ayden Bremner, Mandana Boushee, Maja D’Aoust, Jovencio De La Paz, Diva Dompe, Edgar Fabian Frias, Dr. Neal Goldsmith, Asher Hartman, Frank Haines, Ryan Ingersol, Sarah Johnson, Grace Kredell, Marcella Kroll, Brendan Landis, Tanya Love, Mireya Lucio, Guadalupe Maravilla, Matthewdavid’s Mindflight, Machine, Patrick Mansfield, Sarah Manuwal, Mollie McKinley, Zeljko Mcmullen, Linda Montano, Jasmine Moorhead, Cory Nakasue, Saewon Oh, Ron Regé Jr., Yunuen Rhi, Yumi Sakugawa, Stacy Jo Scott, Penny Slinger, Laura Berlin Stinger, Lavender Suarez, Eliza Swann, Christian Toscano, Laurie Weeks, Laura Zuspan
Participating Artists: Grace Amber, Joana Ayala, Adolfo Ibanez Ayerve, Lily Benson, Sarah Bisceglie, Mackenzie Budd, Richmond Burton, Mae Chesney, Annie Connole, Dominique Dawson, Anais Delsol, Von DeWitt, Nick Dinnerstein, Stephanie Dowda, Bekah Fly, Agnieszka Forfa, Angel Garcia, Gabriella Garcia, Wade Gasque, Julie Gemuend, Sarah Gottesdiener, Allison Halter, Jay Hamade, Lacey Hedtke, Lenora Jayne, Candace Kita, Kathryn Knowlton, Grace Kredell, Melissa Krodman, Kwonyin, Molly Larkey, Gracelee Lawrence, Alison Beth Levy, Merkel, Mireya Lucio, Kat Hunt, Jillayne Hunter, Sarah Manuwal, Patrick Mansfield, Catherine Menard, Lindsay Minnich, Dylan Mira, Natalia Molina, Maria Molteni, Kendall Riley Morgan, Claire Morton, Cory Nakasue, Nire, Samantha Noseworthy, Loren Nosen, Diana Paez, Joshua Patterson, Adrian Pijoan, Samantha Rehark, Philip Rodin, Glenda Romualdo, Estella Sanchez, Lauren Stroh, Corkey Sinks, Kb Thomason, Emilia Turner, Monica Uszerowicz, Tracy Van Oosten, Brooke Underwood, Amber Wallin, Sophie White, Yejin Yoo, Lauryn Youden, Jennifer Zackin, JC Zepeda
Participating Organizations: Art In Odd Places, Coaxial, The Craft Mystery Cult, The Edgar Cayce Association for Research and Enlightenment, Foundation For Contemporary Art, Heinzfeller Nileisist, Krowswork Gallery, Maiden LA, Museum As Retail Space, Otherwild, Perfect Wave, The Women’s Center For Creative Work
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