Moon and Thunder is a heart-centered program guided by Kim Soles, owner of Indigo Nature Arts. Kim merges interactive well-being practices with the arts. She provides opportunities for adolescents to embrace their unique spirit, as she recognizes and motivates the need for developing - balance within our technology-based world. Practice at a young age helps the growing child empower as they navigate the changes and bumpy issues they might face in the middle grades and high school years.
Kim established Indigo Nature Arts in 2011. Her focus was to create opportunities for children to spend more time in nature. Indigo Nature Arts is a summer day-camp program. Other programs followed and included weekend, after-school, and home-school classes in art and photography. With a background in the arts, Kim combines her studies of nature, which shapes the programs she offers. Indigo Nature Arts incorporates child-led play, woodland hiking, fine arts, handwork, and nature exploration. Programs support the idea of staying present as the children tap into their passions, along with gaining strength of body, mind, and spirit.
Kim’s work with children spans over twenty years. Her passion is sharing her diverse artistic knowledge and encouraging children to engage in the use of all of their divine senses. Kim’s employment at The Wissahickon Environmental Center led to administrative and environmental education experiences before she had launched art and nature programming. She has offered programming at various educational centers: Awbury Arboretum – the Francis Cope House, The Waldorf School of Philadelphia, and photography classes at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania. Indigo Nature Arts summer day-camp program is in its eleventh year.
Kim combined her nature arts programming with her studies of the Yoga Calm for Children Wellness Program (a certified program designed for children established by Lynea and Jim Gillen) by using the five principles of Yoga Calm. Her goal is to guide children in physical and emotional wellness practices. “The expansion and infiltration of technology, along with an erratic political climate and overuse of social media, I recognize and sense the tremendous need for children to engage in self-care."
In 2004, Kim had the vision to form a community-inspired, therapeutic healing arts space. Mt. Airy Healing Art’s Space – MAHAS was founded. She proposed a time-sharing system to alternative therapists from the Philadelphia area. MAHAS offered child play therapy, music therapy, body psychotherapy, private yoga, as well as provided workshops on the benefits of medicinal herbs, acupuncture and more. While maintaining and supporting MAHAS, she researched and experienced alternative healing methods which reinforced her beliefs. In 2006, Kim handed the established business over to a group of practicing therapists. Sustaining her living as a designer, and after becoming a single parent, she sold original designs to Anthropologie, a Philadelphia-based retailer. Kim’s vision of MAHAS prospered and continues to thrive today as - Mt. Airy Psychotherapy & Wellness, located a few doors from where it began.
Kim's photography can be viewed at www.kimsolesartphotography.com and on Instagram at solescreates. Check out summer camp at www.indigonaturearts.com.
Kim has been portraying nature through diverse mediums of art for over forty years. Art/nature photography is her first love and remains a steady expression of her connection to the natural world. Spending time planting in the garden, cooking, sharing her love for nature, photography, and the arts with children, and enjoying time with her twenty-four year old daughter are some of her joys.