art classes

Kintsugi Breaking and Mending – Where Grief, Gratitude and Beauty Coexist

GG’s Down to Earth Studio, Salem, OR
(Check back for upcoming dates in 2021)

Come join us on the land for this unique ceremony where we will use and honor the arts of Kintsugi and SoulCollage(r) as metaphors to explore the brokenness that lives in ourselves and in our Mother Earth, to acknowledge and honor our grief and find the beauty and gratitude that resides there. As we begin to emerge from the liminal space of The Great Pause, we will say goodbye to what was and set our hopes and prayers on what will be.

Kintsugi (“golden joinery”) is an ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. As a philosophy, Kintsugi treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. It encompasses a philosophy of living, of finding beauty within the imperfections of life and peacefully accepting  the natural cycles of growth and decay.

Many of us are living with broken hearts, especially after the unprecedented tragedies that have occurred over the last months. 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 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 service in the world.

Come share in a hands-on ceremonial art processes, reflective solo time, writing, deep listening and storytelling to honor the place in you where grief, gratitude and beauty coexist, and to find your way back to  faith and resilience.

Shrines for Hope and Healing

GG’s Down to Earth Studio, Salem, OR
(Check back for upcoming dates in 2021)

Shrines are a beautiful way of showing what is happening in our hearts, souls and spirits. We will gather and transform our LOVE 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 ancestors, your higher power, your spiritual practice, or to simply heal your broken heart…whatever moves you.

Come and create in the abundance of plentiful materials available in the Down to Earth Studio, from small Altoid-tin shrines to larger wood-framed shrines. Bring your own icons, talismans, or charms, and an idea for what you want to create, and I will help you bring your imaginative ideas to life. Or, come as a blank slate and we will explore your theme together.