Last weekend's El Cielo workshop (Full Moon/Fool Moon) was a lunar event extraordinary. Because I had read the lunar calendar wrong, it was actually a dark/new moon event, but turned out to be the Lunar New Year, the most revered Asian holiday of the year. We combined our own investigations of spontaneity and accident in dyeing and painting, rusting and painting with a red-decked rituals for this celestial new year. So, here's your next opportunity to join this adventure:

Calling All Archetypes

At El Cielo Studio, Pipe Creek, Texas

With fiber artist Susie Monday

April 7-8, 2007

Each of us depends on a cast of inner characters to get our work done: the organizer, the dreamer, the judge, the caretaker, the scout, the wild woman, the fool, and the wise one. (I'm sure you can think of others!). Whether we call these inner guides, inner selves or archetypes, their multiple voices help, hinder and guide our creative work.

During this renewing Art Journaling and Art Quilt workshop, participants will explore these inner aspects as characters, as well as their relationship to the archetypes of legend and myth. With personal imagery developed through journaling, each person will transform his or her insights into a small art quilt. Participants will explore their inner teams with a series of interesting and revealing art journal exercises adapted from diverse readings including Caroline Myss’s Sacred Contracts, Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With the Wolves, as well as other writers. Then, using the information and images that were developed in the journaling exercises, each person will design and create a journal quilt or artist’s altar art quilt honoring one of their inner archetypes, angels or voices. Quilt design techniques include working with fusible webbing, machine and hand quilting and embellishment with printing and stitching.

Those present will share meals (bring a sack lunch for Saturday, Saturday supper and Sunday brunch are included in the fee), vistas from the deck and hikes or bike rides down the country roads or into the cedar as the weather permits, as well as participate in a variety of fun and meaningful exercises using simple materials. Accommodations are available at my home and studio for a modest fee ($15 to $30 depending on the room). For the commute, count on an hour drive from midtown, or 30 minutes (16 miles to Timbercreek turnoff) from the intersection of Hwy. 16 (Bandera Rd.) and Loop 1604. Then 3.5 miles on the paved road to the studio.

Supply List: A shoebox full of fabrics of your choice, scissors, embroidery threads and beads, journal and favorite writing materials, a poem that speaks to your inner self (selves). Any snacks, toys or treasures you wish to share. You are welcome to bring a portable sewing machine, but you can also share the studio resources.