This week we welcome back Ian McCartor, Founder and Executive Director of the Ash Rose Foundation, for a first-ever behind the scenes exploration of the Ash Rose Project. 

This episode marks the kickoff of Lisa’s own Ash Rose Project, a sacred 30-day grief journey that culminates in the creation of a memorial portrait made using her mother’s ashes. Together, Lisa and Ian invite listeners into the intimate beginnings of this process, offering a rare glimpse into how art, ritual, reflection, and community can become powerful vehicles for healing.

Ian shares the philosophy behind the Ash Rose Project and its intentionally intimate, one-person/family-at-a-time approach. He invites Lisa to share about her mother who was an artist, teacher, gardener, and joy-bringer whose legacy lives on through water lilies, garden blooms, birds, heart rocks, and the magic of everyday beauty. From Monet’s garden to Maine summers, from chemo-chair sketches to planting a thousand flower bulbs, this conversation explores how love continues, transforms, and becomes something new as time passes.

If you’ve ever wondered what it might look like to honor grief creatively, to stay in relationship with someone who has died, or to witness healing rather than rush it, this episode is for you. 

If you're interested in getting involved with the Ash Rose Foundation, or would like to honor your loved and continue your healing grief journey by partaking in your own 30-day Ash Rose Project, please visit theashrose.org. 

We'll be back next week to review the questions and discuss the experience of Week 1 of the Project!

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Special thanks to:

Podcast Editor Jacqueline van Bierk of Pink Star Music

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