First Harvest 2020

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First Harvest 2020

As we continue through this journey of liminal space in the pandemic, we find it so important to pause and mark the ways the wheel of the year is still turning. Inspired by Lughnasa and Lammas, we decided to spend some intentional time this past weekend journaling and collaging our first harvest. We invite you to take an arts break. It’s so important to shift gears and consciously look at what’s going well. What are our current assets and how have we been growing through the challenges? It’s not too late to join us!

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And Breathe....Self Care in Liminal Space

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And Breathe....Self Care in Liminal Space

So let’s talk about self care, shall we? Let’s go beyond what might immediately come to mind or how Instagram illustrated self care last year. What does self care really mean in 2020, and why is it so important?

We are in an altered reality. We are in the space between. We are in the liminal. We have let go of “normal” and there is a place we are hoping to get to, but no one knows when that will be, or how it will really look. What we know for sure, is that it won’t look like our old normal. And so … we are in the in-between. The threshold between what was … and what will be.

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Art in the Time of COVID-19

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Art in the Time of COVID-19

Last night, as I was preparing to go to sleep, I worried of what I might dream about. We had decided to give ourselves a “COVID Break” that day and we walked 3 miles, worked in the yard, did foot baths and watched an epic film on the power of knowing and telling our story, as well as the power of dreaming. It was the movie ‘Australia'. This blog is not about that movie, but it got me thinking about the pandemic from a different angle. How are we telling the story of this time through the arts? How will we tell it later? What are we dreaming of right now? What parts of ourselves must we sing back to us if we lose them along the way in all of this?

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Expressive Arts in a Business Setting

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Expressive Arts in a Business Setting

Imagine a ballroom full of tables, people seated in crescent rounds facing a projector and screen. They are in business attire, taking notes on tiny hotel notepads with tiny hotel pens. They sit listening to speaker after speaker and the occasional video. How do you feel when conjuring that image? Now, I love myself some work conferences. I think they can be great ways to inspire and share about new visions and collaborate with others. I also know that the environment described above can begin to numb me out after awhile. Now imagine the same room with everyone on their feet, small groups working together, balancing on different feet, jumping up and down, laughing and pondering whether it would be okay to completely drape themselves over the table and chairs or use the paper in their folders to make “keys on a piano”. How does that image make you feel? A bit different, no?

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Connecting with Your Ancestors Through the Expressive Arts

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Connecting with Your Ancestors Through the Expressive Arts

We are in this special window of time during the year’s cycle where things are slowing down, we can feel the daylight shortening, and Summer is growing ever smaller in our rear view mirror. It’s a wonderful opportunity to savor the stillness and slowing down that Autumn can bring.

This time of year is also a wonderful opportunity to honor your ancestors; one of my favorite things to do! In light of the magical window of early Autumn and in gratitude for those who have come before us, I wanted to share a simple creative ritual to help anchor further into the season.

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Women's Work, Women's Artistry

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Women's Work, Women's Artistry

Some of my oldest memories are moments of making, of “women’s work”, of learning how to sew, cross-stitch, knit, and french knot from my mother, Nana T and Nana M. I remember it being a special thing I did with the women in my family. Even then, I knew I was learning skills that had been passed down from generation to generation and to hold the work with a kind of reverence. I remember heads bowed over a project, crowns almost touching as I learned whatever skill was being offered.

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Calling in the Image Companion

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Calling in the Image Companion

This initial blog post has been edited and adjusted to reflect my current status in my exploration of my image companion. The title of the blog post was originally, “Calling in the Gypsy” and portions of the original blog are below followed by my current personal inquiry on the subject.

My birthday was this past week and in the Violet household, birthdays are like the new year. We review the prior year, set intentions and usually pick an essence or quality that we want to be inspired by for the upcoming year. It can be anything from a color, to an herb, to a quality or even a genre of music. The sky is the limit! We then work with that essence through the arts, ritual and personal practice. In Expressive Arts, we would also call that engaging with an “image”. The image reaches beyond the visual and allows it to encompass just about anything that moves your heart.

This year, I have been called to work the the Gypsy.

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Enfleshing Self Love

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Enfleshing Self Love

I love being a facilitator of the arts. Whether I'm teaching dance in a studio setting, working therapeutically with one of my students at Monarch, or facilitating an expressive arts group for adults...it's always an experience that astounds me, leaves me curious, awakens gratitude, and leaves enough room for the spice of mystery to show up. 

What I don't get to share about as often is the secondary healing that I get to experience for myself as a result of being witness, observer, space holder, process shaper and sometimes "co-explorer" of the creative process.

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