Offering HeART and SoulCollage® workshops to inspire your creative spirit |
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Conversation, Community and Creativity |
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Greetings!
One of my sisters called me the other day and asked, "What have you been doing up there in Oregon besides breaking dishes?" It took me a moment to realize she was talking about the Kintsugi breaking and mending ceremony photos I've been posting on Facebook and Instagram. I laughed and said, "Well, not much; mostly just breaking dishes." The conversation made me wish she could have been at the recent Kintsugi retreat to experience the magic that happens when you combine heart-opening conversation, community, and creativity. The time-out-of-time that the 25 of us spent together a couple of weeks ago at the retreat sharing our grief and turning it into art was transformative. One participant said this about the experience:
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The Kintsugi retreat was life-changing for me. It felt so good to share what I have been carrying in my heart and I realized I don't have to suffer alone; all of us are grieving...You created a beautiful ceremonial space and a safe environment for sharing. Thank you for helping me every step of the way with gluing my bowl back together and for providing so many wonderful materials for building my nature altar. Keep offering this workshop! It is so needed in our world right now..." C.B.
Grief needs to be shared and witnessed. Art needs to be shared and witness. Love needs to be shared and witnessed. And the Kintsugi retreat is all about love: love for one another, love for our planetary home, and love and compassion for ourselves as we navigate the uncertain and sometimes terrifying waters of our time. The Kintsugi ceremony offers a loving balm for our broken hearts as we come together for strength and vulnerability.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you know who might be interested in hearing about the October Kintsugi retreat. You can download the flyer below and post it at your favorite coffee shop or bookstore. Thank you!
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Kintsugi Breaking and Mending Retreat
in the heart of the red cedar forest
Friday evening October 14th through Sunday afternoon October 16th, 2022
Come join us as we engage in the ceremonial art of Kintsugi to explore the brokenness that lives in ourselves and in our Mother Earth, and find the beauty and gratitude that resides there.
Many of us are living with broken hearts. We accumulate grief and carry it with us, often unseen and unexpressed. But grief can be a storehouse of power, a way to reconnect with what and how we love, and honor what came before. Grief can help us find the beauty in our brokenness, while opening us to loving more and being of greater service to the world.
Our broken and mended bowls become a gentle, visual reminder to embrace imperfection and look for beauty in brokenness. Learn more here
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Art and SoulCollage® Gatherings at the Down to Earth Studio
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SoulCollage® Summer Solstice Gathering
GG's Down to Earth Studio and Patio
Tuesday, June 21st. 3:00 to 6:00 pm. FREE Workshop.
This gathering is FULL. Contact GG to get on waiting list.
Come join me to celebrate the longest day of the year! We will gather in ceremony and creativity to honor the turning of the season.
Those new to SoulCollage® can come one hour early for an overview. Newcomer Fee for introductory overview is $65
Future SoulCollage gatherings at the Down to Earth Studio: Friday September 16th, Friday October 21st, Friday November 18th. Sliding fee scale: $20-$35
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Shrines for Hope and Healing
GG's Down to Earth Studio
Saturday, September 10, 2022. 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
No charge for the workshop and instruction; $25.00 material fee.
Shrines are ways of showing in tangible form what might be happening in our hearts and spirits. We will gather and put these mysteries into visual expression by creating our own personal shrines for hope and healing. Your shrine can be dedicated to the environment, diversity of all species, return of the great feminine, your higher power, your spiritual practice, or to simply heal your broken heart...whatever moves you.
No cost for the workshop instruction; this is my love offering (a $25.00 material fee will cover materials and supplies). Participants may want to bring additional totems, talismans and charms for their personal shrines. Register with GG here.
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When Women Were Birds Art Show
Thank you for all the kind comments about my art show at the Elsinore Gallery, 444 Ferry St. SE, Salem, OR. The show will stay up through the end of July.
I call this show "When Women Were Birds," borrowed from the title of a favorite book by one of my favorite authors, Terry Tempest Williams. Here is an excerpt from the book:
"Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated."
The gallery is open 9-6 Monday - Friday and 10-5 on Saturdays.
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GG's Art in an Upcoming Anthology
Crisis edited by Stephanie Raffelock.
Here is a description of the book: Art keeps good alive in the worst of times. In the face of ugliness, pain, and death, it’s art that has the power to open us all to a healing imagining of new possibility; it’s art that whispers to the collective that even in the ashes of loss, life always grows again. That’s why right now, in this tumultuous time of war and pandemic, we need poets more than we need politicians.
Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis will be published in June. You can preorder a copy here or at your favorite local bookstore. |
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"Being Held in Deep Grief and Unbearable Beauty" art print for sale.
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"Beyond the Veil" art print for sale.
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Gift Certificates for GG's Down to Earth Studio for SoulCollage(r) baby showers, birthday parties, products, classes, or art doula services. Contact GG.
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from my creative heart to yours, |
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The Art Doula is here for You!
Come and explore, discover, and birth your unique creativity.
Are you a tentative artist, or maybe a wanna-be? Do you feel the call to create something but don't know where to start? Have you heard yourself say the words “I’m not a creative person?” Or, maybe you think of yourself as only a painter, or only a crafter...
Let’s debunk those myths! I am an Art Doula, here to help you explore, discover, and birth more of your unique creativity. I'd so love to work with you to help your creative life blossom. Zoom or in-person doula services available. Contact me for a free 30-minute preliminary consult. More information on my website here.
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P.S. Current Resources
These are places and people I'm listening to or working with these days for growth and learning:
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