Creative Workshops and Gatherings

This is a space for us to gather for an afternoon of flow, reflection, and creative kinship.

Bring along a past, ongoing or future creative project or artwork or idea to introduce yourself with. A sculpture, a tapestry, a poem, a song, a performance, a dance, a video. Something you'd like to share with others, something meaningful to you, or something you have questions about. It does not have to be completed- it can even be a small collection of inspirations you've been pondering over.

We’ll spend time creating together while having conversations about any questions or thoughts we might have about our intentions, inspirations, aspirations, anxieties, challenges, celebrations and struggles in relation to our creative identities and journeys.

This is not a workshop or art therapy, just a community space for people who value creating.

All forms of making and all levels are welcome — just come as you are. Bring your journal or any materials that support your practice. Art supplies will be provided.

“Grief has never been private, it has always been communal.
Subconsciously, we are awaiting the presence of others, before we can feel safe enough to drop to our knees on the holy ground of sorrow. For the most part, grief is not a problem to be solved, not a condition to be medicated, but a deep encounter with an essential experience of being human. Grief becomes problematic when the conditions needed to help us work with grief are absent.” - Francis Weller

Our primary association with grief is the loss of a loved one but there are so many kinds of losses that don't have formal ceremonies that are important to honour. Unprocessed grief can accumulate in weight, dulling our senses and capacity for aliveness.

This is a safe, supportive space for all shapes, sizes and textures of grief- for the loss of our loved ones, for the childhood we did not get to have, for the parts of ourselves that have been rejected and exiled, for friendships and relationships with ambiguous endings, for homes and communities we are distanced from and miss, for the suffering of the world and our fellow beings.

This inclusive grief circle is also an advocacy for compassionate and attentive grief work, for reshaping our understanding of and relationship with grief. It is a holding space, a container, a time and a deep permission to acknowledge our emotions, our connections, the ways we have been touched and transformed, and our humanity.

We will make art in response to the Grief Deck, share and witness each other’s stories and journeys, and co-create a group nature mandala together.

Please bring a jar and 8-10 similar natural objects (8 flowers or 8 sticks or 8 stones).

Please also note:

• This workshop introduces Art Therapy as a practice, but is not intended to replace individual or group therapy, which involves a deeper exploration of our histories, intentional collaboration and the building of a therapeutic relationship. This workshop is also not intended for emergency crisis support or intervention.
• If you are comfortable with me taking photos of you and/or your artwork for learning and supervision purposes, and to offer others a sense of what the workshop is like, please let me know at the start of the session. Your participation would be greatly appreciated!
• If you are experiencing financial hardship, please reach out. I am happy to make arrangements, and no one will be turned away. Contact me at greenhouse.arttherapy@gmail.com

This workshop is an invitation to experience creativity as collaboration and dialogue - between word and image, self and other, emotional and material. It's an exploration into how meaning can travel and transform when it moves through different hands, hearts and mediums.

Bring a short poem, song, or passage that inspires or moves you deeply. It can be written by you or by someone else. At the start of the session, we will collate these texts and redistribute them randomly. You'll receive someone else's chosen words, a surprise window into another person's world. You will be guided to sense into what the words evoke for you, and to use that as a prompt for reflective collage making.

Through cutting, layering, arranging, you may choose to incorporate text directly or simply let its rhythm, imagery or tone guide your process. At the end, we will find out whose text we responded to, pair up for a short conversation, and then open up the sharing to the group.