Brooke Smiley is an artist who guides land and body learning. Brooke is a Somatic Movement Educator (SME) from Body Mind Centering® working in the BMC® practitioner training, and therapist in Somatic Experiencing® (SE), practicing from both Western and Indigenous perspectives. Her passion for working with the earth comes from being born into a family of builders. She holds a California General Contractor’s License, and specializes in Superadobe, as a graduate and long term apprentice of California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (CalEarth). She has experience building earth domes for the Tarahumara women in Guachochi, Mexico, the Havasupai in Arizona, sculptural play gardens outside the Hayward Gallery in London, and the “Hollywood Dome” featured on HGTV. She is awarded as a United States Dance Scholar from the California State Senate, California Legislature, and United States Congress.
Brooke will spend her residency developing an EARTH.SPEAKS project with/for/by the community. EARTH.SPEAKS is a series of land-based public art projects aimed at healing through community creation of earth markers, a sustainable practice of structure building. This work centers Indigenous identity through reconnecting with our bodies, one another, and the land. Brooke will guide the community in building two earth markers, to uplift awareness of Indigenous history, present day visibility, and messages of the land.