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artist's way guided intent (november)
November 7, 2007
artist's way: session 7
by gl. at 2:46 pm
yesterday was a very emotional creative cluster, as members created day of the dead altars for people they had lost. i asked each participant to bring in a photo or object of someone they had lost, which they could interpret as broadly as they felt comfortable with: the person could be lost through death, distance, misunderstanding, or time.
using anything they could find in the studio, they each built small altars who or what they had lost. these weren't shrines: there was no gluing and nobody took anything home, though i did take pictures i'll develop for them. there's an element of discovery and play to this activity, since they can wander around the studio looking in places they don't usually get a chance to see and using our huge range of materials and objects. (one woman got a bottle of lotion from the bathroom!). after they were ready, i turned down the lights while they wrote a prayer for the person and shared it with the rest of the group. many of them chose their grandmothers & mothers, but one person chose "san francisco" as something she'd lost.
this cluster is really doing well: i found out at checkin that the group had a whole conversation w/o me over email this week! this pleases me in part because the after-artist's-way transition will be smoother for them since they're already in contact with each other. one of the participants was on her way to stay in a fire lookout station, but instead of skipping today entirely she came long enough for the checkin process: "no, i have to hear everyone's checkin!," she said. we all stood on the porch and waved goodbye to her as she left at the break.
center (connection & strength): i believe words have power: each of these stones is etched with a strong word: strength, joy, peace, play, breathe, passion. one small poetry bead, chosen for this activity, simply says "live."
music: cowboy junkies' the trinity session because boy, is it sad.
posted by gl. | November 7, 2007 2:46 PM | categories: artist's way