Offering HeART and SoulCollage® workshops to inspire your creative spirit |
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Bring me your shattered vessels and I will turn them into Kintsugi treasures!
It seems I have become the golden joinery fix it lady -- the creatrix of Kintsugi. Bowls and platters have found their way to me for loving repair, each with a story to tell. Everything in the mending and painting process has become a metaphor, and each vessel has offered me a valuable life lesson. Here are some of their stories.
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Little Frog Who Lost His Way
"The frog bowl sat on our family coffee table for as long as I can remember," Sherry, the bowl's owner, said. "When a picture fell from the wall and shattered it, I was heartbroken."
And boy was this little guy shattered -- into soooo many little pieces (you can tell by all of the gold lines; each one is a broken piece). It took weeks for us to get it back together, piece by piece, working, giving up, walking away for days at a time, then coming back and trying again. The lesson? -- Don't give up. Your brokenness can mend in time if you stay open and willing.
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One Lonely Man
"The platter was made by a man named Dan," Glenda, a resident of Capitol Manor here in Salem, Oregon, said. "Dan was not a well person, and he stayed home alone most of the time. I think making ceramics was his way of staying connected to the world."
I've never seen a glaze like the one on this platter -- pink with crystal-like starbursts. It reminds me of spring. We never know how, when, or where the art we create might inspire someone. Thirty years later, this bowl made by a lonely man, once again graces a shelf in Glenda's small apartment.
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To Aunt Barbara With Love
"My niece, Emily, sent me this handmade bowl for Christmas one year and it arrived broken," said Barb, a friend an fellow artist. "I kept it thinking I might fix it one day, and then I found you."
I love the unexpected asymmetrical and abstract beauty of this finished piece. In one direction it looks like a mountain. Turned another way it's a kite flying over the ocean toward freedom. It says, "Open up and let the Must guide you in new directions."
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Missing Pieces Create More Beauty
"Do you want to take this broken vase and make it into Kintsugi?" Cynthia, my friend and fellow artist, asked. "I'm not sure all the pieces are there; some may be missing."
Just one piece was missing, and I love this vase all the more for it. Sometimes when we are broken things don't go back together quite the way they were before. Blessed be.
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She Lay Broken for 30 Years!
"This was my Grandmother's handblown glass bowl," Barb said. "My Grandfather was a jeweler and they had only the very finest things around the house. I have held on to the broken pieces for over thirty years. I love it and I just couldn't bear to throw it away. Now I know why."
Everything has a story to tell. This piece spoke to me of love, strength, fragility and endurance. Here she is, well over one hundred years from the time she was originally handblown by a craftsman somewhere in Europe. Love endures.
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The Grand Matriarch of Them All
This 20" round beauty came first, about five years ago. Lisa, my friend and Wild Hearts Women's Circle sister, gave her to me. "I dropped it while I was moving," Lisa said. "Maybe you can do something creative with it?" I had just learned about Kintsugi, so the timing was perfect.
The Grandmother Kintsugi bowl taught me to follow my heart; it knows the way. Now, this beloved beauty sits at the center of my altar and bears witness to all the breaking and mending ceremonies held at the Down to Earth Studio
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Writing Update - My First Published Essay! |
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Speaking of stories to tell, I just got my first essay published in Isele Magazine. Yay!!
The essay is titled, "Small Things Die Every Day," and it's based on a chapter from the book I'm writing (a collection of short stories) about the 13 vision quests I've experienced over the last 20 years.
I hope you'll read my first published essay, and I'd love to hear from you if you do : )
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Art and SoulCollage® Offerings |
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SoulCollage® Gathering*
Tabula Rasa
Friday, September 3, 2021 at 1:00 to 4:00 pm
GG’s Down to Earth Studio
Sliding scale fee $20 – $30
In-Person at GG’s Down to Earth Studio (with Covid protocols as required by OHA)
At this tabula rasa (blank slate) SoulCollage(r) gathering. We will come together without any theme or agenda and let the Muse take us by the hand.
Our time together will include a light ceremony to open our minds, hearts and hands for whoever/whatever wants to show up and guide us. We will create SoulCollage(r) cards, then read our cards to discover insights and mysteries of the soul. Beginners welcome. Contact GG to schedule a one-hour SoulCollage(r) introductory session.
Email GG to Register for September SoulCollage®
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Pet Bereavement Kintsugi
Sunday, August 22, 2021
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Cellar DOG Wine Shop, Portland, OR
Workshop fee: $105 (includes bowl, all supplies and a glass of wine!)
Come experience this beautiful ceremony. Break and mend your Kintsugi bowl, paint the fault lines in gold, and honor your departed beloved pet. Find the place in you where grief, gratitude, and beauty coexist.
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Kintsugi Ceremony
Sunday, September 12, 2021
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Private Home in Medford, OR
Workshop fee: Sliding scale: $85 - $125
Come experience this beautiful ceremony. Break and mend your Kintsugi bowl, paint the fault lines in gold, and honor what is broken in this life. Find the place in you where grief, gratitude, and beauty coexist.
Register (or send questions) by emailing GG here
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Accordion Nature Shrines
Friday, October 29, 2021 at 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
In-Person at Currents Gallery, McMinnville, Oregon (with Covid protocols as required by OHA)
Workshop fee: $85.00, Materials fee to instructor: $25.00
Come and create an homage to nature! In this workshop we will use collage, paint and assemblage to create personal shrines of hope and healing. Shrines are a beautiful way of showing what’s in our hearts, what we love and appreciate. Students will create a 4-piece standing shine, adding paper, paint, stenciling, personal writings, ephemera, natural elements from nature, beads, etc. A small supply list will be provided at registration, but GG brings most of the required supplies.
Register with Currents Gallery here.
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Happy Midsummer My Dears!
We are halfway through summer in all its joy and glory. Here is an excerpt from a favorite Shakespeare poem simply titled "Sonnet 18."
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date...
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From my creative heart to yours, |
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