Anne. D - Art & Self-Expression - Classes, Workshops, & Retreats

Aside from making art, another great passion of mine is to share - and sometimes teach - what I have experienced and learned over many years of creative explorations. Put very simply, I love to inspire others and be inspired by them...

Overview

What I would like to Create & Offer

Classes, Workshops, and Retreats

Teaching Philosophy & Methods

OVERVIEW

One of my greatest desires is to gather people who feel passionate about art and creative self-expression around what I call: 'creative improv ateliers'.

I imagine ateliers as the physical - and metaphorical - place where we practice art and other activities relating to the exploration of a multitude of themes and aspects that are related to the development of our creative expression.

What I would like to Create & Offer

I see 2 possible and distinct avenues for these explorations:

One where we get together to play and inspire each other in our creative endeavors. It is a rich exchange of knowledge and ideas as well as the simple fun and pure pleasure of making and sharing art. However, even more than "just playing together", I am interested in building co-creative partnerships to work on specific projects that we feel passionate about. The areas covered can be as wide and wild as our imaginations will allow, as long as we share the same basic values. Mixing disciplines is one of my very favorite things to do in life, so all that is required to spark these projects is the desire to work together with a curious and creative spirit: A desire to push boundaries, take risks and go crazy! A desire to have fun and feel really good about what we do, on many levels - the personal and the collective.

The other avenue is a setting during which I offer some guidance, coaching, and teaching coming from my experience and knowledge as an artist: This can happen in groups during classes, workshops, and retreats; or one on one, during a private session or a series of coaching sessions.

In both instances, there are two important themes that I would like to play with: immediacy and improvisation.

Immediacy: the quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement.

Improvisation: create and perform (music, drama, or verse) spontaneously or without preparation. Produce or make (something) from whatever is available.

Classes, Workshops, and Retreats: An Overview

During a class, a workshop, or a retreat, you get to choose what you want to learn and explore by setting your intentions ahead of time. I will help you determine what seems to be the most appropriate for you, then during the atelier, we will follow the flow of your own desires in the moment. This very much looks like "creative improvisation".

All ateliers emphasize the process of creating as a way to "reach new levels of self-awareness and self-empowerment while reconnecting with our playfulness, sensuality, and emotional sensitivity". (see My Vision)

When we make our creative process more conscious, we can use it as a metaphor and inspiration in other areas of our daily-lives. This may include: Learning how to use our spontaneity and imagination to create more fun and variety in our life; How to remove the potential blocks that are holding us back and preventing change; How we can expand by consciously changing our perception of reality and duality; and many, many more aspects...

In most ateliers you will also learn a certain amount of specific tips & art techniques, but not as an end in themselves: more as a way to feel more ease, expand your horizons, and as another excuse to have fun doing art.

We design your atelier according to your heart's desires, and I am here to assist you every step along the way. When we deem it appropriate, I may become your playmate for a time, but my primary role is to show you how you can design your own tools to reach your highest potential at every stage of your creative process, no matter what you encounter.

In the end, an atelier is meant to be a fun and creative adventure that will gently take you back into the flow of your own power - with ease, joy, and playfulness.

As you will see under the Class & Activity descriptions, you may select ateliers from a wide variety of themes & subjects. But all ateliers follow a common philosophy:

Teaching Philosophy & Methods

I am always looking for fun and playful methods of teaching that are both inspiring and as all-encompassing as possible. I have gathered many throughout my quite varied experience as a student, and by taking many workshops, and reading many, many books. I continually add to this vast library of ideas, making new discoveries, creating my own combinations, and adapting them to the moment in a kind of "creative improv". And this is also what we will do together: explore and create a library of ideas and methods that will help you to enter the flow of the creative process, no matter what mood you are in.

In my own life, I practice many forms of art, and I am always looking for new ones to explore. But the ones that have been particularly significant to teach me about "process" are painting & architecture. They have become a way to learn about myself and my life literally and metaphorically, allowing me to develop spiritually in ways which are, in my eyes, not only very practical and grounded to the earth but also gentle and self-loving.

My method of teaching is primarily one of exploration and inquiry, where nothing is taken for granted. Habitual routines are left behind in favor of newness, refreshing spontaneity and diversity. This way I am putting emphasis on practice as well as learning to uncover our heart’s desires and follow them.

I believe that our true heart's desires are the most desirable and powerful influence not only in creating art, but also in creating our own life. However, I also like to take the mind into consideration: Because the "lower-mind" - or monkey mind as some teacher call it - often blocks our imagination and stands in the way towards more fun, play and pure creativity. The "higher-mind" on the other hand, is clear and full with our highest visions.

One of the best ways to access the heart is through a sense of playfulness, lightness of being, inspiration and beauty. One of the best ways to use the mind is to make it work for us, not against us as a judge and critique. The mind may be useful if we train it to ask the right questions at the right time: when we feel stuck, I find that this form of inquiry can often help us move forward in the process of creativity. So another tool we will learn is how to teach ourselves to ask the "right" questions: the questions that help us move forward and beyond the concerns that imprison us in a loop of self-judgment and fear of moving forward.

From a bigger perspective, I am looking to give us an experience of dynamic integration and exploration by engaging in a dance of opposites and complements. We will learn about different levels of contrasts by playing with different ideas, methods, media, tools, techniques and colors.

I also like to ask the question: What is harmonious and beautiful to you? Not conceptually, but for real: What do you like? What do you dislike? We will learn to freely express and play with these feelings without judgment.

When I teach, the emphasis is on learning how to access inspiration everywhere and anywhere, no matter what stage your are at along the creative process: all classes are an opportunity to learn and develop your own personal ways of finding the muse. I find that without it, all desire to create either quickly stops, or becomes exclusively result oriented. And in my experience, this applies to all areas of life and manifestation.

Setting an intention for a class or a session is useful and perhaps necessary, even if it is a loose one. But I found that setting an intention for a "specific production of a piece of art" is not necessarily the most heart-opening route if it is driven by the mind. I believe that “pure” inspiration has to come first. Artists of all times have learned from experience that they cannot predict when “the muse” will come, in what form it will come, and when it will depart. The muse is elusive to the mind, and as such, it can change forms very rapidly. This may even be a positive "defense mechanism" from the creative side of the brain so as to not get stuck in the rut of a concept that will make us feel suffocated. This is the reason that I use many methods and ideas to get us to access inspiration and stay in that flow throughout our process.

The creative process itself becomes the focus of the play. And the play is often generated through improvisation. The final product will happen, but not as a goal in and of itself. So obtaining a "good" result is not our primary intention. However, I also very much acknowledge our deep desire to "produce something": it is, after all, a very human desire; a symbol of our ability to manifest. Therefore, I also give us the opportunity to complete a project. Then, we will take time to revel in the result and celebrate as it is also an essential part of the creative process. This final step is all too often skipped because, at a certain time in life, many of us were led to believe that it is "pretentious" or "egotistical" to like - let alone love - what we create. Yet it is also a time when we absorb other benefits from our art, when other levels of healing and joy happen.

Please refer to the left-hand menu for more details about each modality.

You may go under My Passion and My Vision under About Anne to gain a fuller perspective on what I want to offer.

Thank you!

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