“Silence just might be on the verge of extinction,” says acoustic ecologist Gordon Hampton, who believes that even the most remote corners of the globe are impacted by noise pollution. Sanctuaries of Silence is an immersive listening journey into Olympic National Park, one of the quietest places in North America. You can experience it here: Sanctuaries of Silence – Emergence Magazine
“You are creating a place where the eyes can rest,” said Janice Mason Steeves, Canadian Artist and founder of Art in Wild Places Workshops. In May, 2025, I joined a small group of women from various walks of life to participate in an art retreat hosted by Janice.
We were being invited to find the silence in our art work. Working with acrylic paint and a simple rubber palette, the invitation was to create big quiet shapes in our artwork. Janice has written about the importance of silence in art in her blog post The Importance of Silence in Art. She writes: “In the workshops I teach, I find that one of the most common problems with paintings is that they shout. Most have too much going on: too many small shapes, too much texture, extremes of colour, too many lines, too much, too much. One thing I say most often as I walk around the classroom working with students individually, is ‘make bigger shapes’. But not only bigger shapes. Quiet shapes. Where can your eye go and rest in the painting?”
“Big quiet shapes in a painting can be the foil against which small areas of bright colour or beautiful texture or line can truly sing. They can’t be heard if every single part of the painting is shouting,” she added.
Silence is also important when we are working with horses in the context of equine-assisted learning or equine-assisted psychotherapy. When we meet the herd – whether in the barn or in the field – the invitation is to do so in silence. Being in silence invites us to be fully present without distraction, in the moment and perhaps even, in our bodies. We notice the sounds around us – the bird song, the sound of the wind in the trees or even the rhythmic sound of horses eating. For some it can be uncomfortable to take a break from our words and our need to fill space. We pick up our phones and scroll mindlessly to fill the void. For others, being in silence can also be calming.
What kind of person are you? What is your relationship with silence? When was the last time you paused and listened to the birds around you? When was the last time you listened to your heart?
