Donna Matthews is a musician and creative artist. In the 1990’s she played lead guitar in Elastica and lo-fi, DIY band Klang, and in subsequent years devised and facilitated creative workshops for people in recovery from addiction. She is currently in her final year of a practice-based PhD in Music at the university of Glasgow. Interested in issues such as poetic intuition, inspiration, and gift, her work explores how the intuitive state might be conveyed through aesthetic form, whilst also exploring improvisation as a means of 'undoing form' to experience the inspired state.

In this episode, Donna shares about her winding journey through music, addiction and fusing her deeply felt spiritual practice with her artistic discipline.  Donna discusses the role of improvisation, speaking in tongues and what Lewis Hyde terms as the Gifted State or that posture of heart which readies the creative artist to receive inspiration and experience wonder.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy a full, unedited version of this conversation at http://www.patreon.com./makersandmystics

Here is a link to the Lewis Hyde interview mentioned in this episode.

Send us a text

Support the show

• Support the show & join the Makers & Mystics Creative Collective:
  https://www.patreon.com/makersandmystics
• Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.