The Power of Group

An artmaking space is a portable sanctuary. Each artist working is alone with her image and the message it brings, as well as being in communion with others in the space. The witness of others and our ability to struggle alongside them, deepens our engagement in the process. Safety grows as we learn to travel back and forth between speaking with our images and attending to mundane tasks, like washing our brushes. ~

Pat B. Allen from Art is a Spiritual Path

Groups have always been hard for me. You?

There's communication issues, fighting for attention, group think, power struggles, withholding of the truth and masking. It's exhausting. Growing up I hated being in groups and created endless ways to get out of them. But here I am, years later, completely committed to groups more than ever.

So, why the change of heart? Why love these groups?

1) The studio is set up so you feel complete permission to follow your impulses without needing to explain, impress, or justify. This group is a full bodied yes to what wants to reveal itself, alongside others who are taking the same risk.

No need to edit yourself here!

2) The painting becomes a mirror and as a result, you often meet yourself in unexpected ways. You might meet your playfulness, your fear of mistakes, your longing for control, or your desire to disappear and all of it gets to have a voice, a space and a place to process. All of our parts get attention.

3) The meaning is found in the actual moment-to-moment doing, the here and now. So it feels alive, fresh and true to your lived experience. We find safety in the present moment.

4) There is a rare sense of community as we practice being held, witnessed, seen and accepted without expectation to be someone or something else. No need to mask.

5) The risk you take with bold, black paint on the blank page? That same courage begins to show up in conversations, relationships, and the choices you make beyond the studio. With practice, it builds confidence that spills into the studio and eventually into life. 

Let's create together!