Investigate new artistic mediums through play and experimentation
These workshops use one arts discipline to give form to another. For instance, we might explore a dialogue between painting and moving, or we might start by playing with clay and then see what kind of poem is emerging. The goal of each workshop is paradoxically not about “expressing” but about becoming receptive to what comes to you as you consider the art you have created thus there is no pressure to “be creative” or “be artistic.” Skilled artists have reported finding this freedom a great way to challenge their working process. Those who might be intimidated by working in a medium that is new to them report that they too find a freedom to experiment and “feel their way into” an unfamiliar medium and emerge with insight and self-confidence.
NEW WORKSHOP SERIES
Fresh Perspectives on the Pandemic Experience: Four Arts-based workshops to invite resiliency and resources to improve wellness
As I have personally confronted new challenges emerging from my responses to life in this pandemic era, I have found that turning to art has helped me find and rediscover resources that help me reframe negatives into positivity and resilience. I invited some friends to share some of these arts-based practices with me. The areas that interested me are:
· Exploring and accepting the true nature of a perceived obstacle
· Reframing polarizing thought
· Enlivening my capacity to touch
· Cultivating a balance among all of my dimensions of wellness
· Nurturing my capacities for compassion
· Entertaining borders, limits, and ways of being formed
Initially I had planned to offer these workshops on Zoom as an income-producing venture but I am instead finding that sharing these sessions as a co-learner rather than an “expert” or a “teacher” has been more satisfying for me.
Our focus is on the experience of the materials. The process of making is playful, experimental, reflective and invested in the experience itself rather than the outcome of the process. Where possible we work with materials we already have at hand. Our reflections are a time to share our human experience with others, to be heard and to be seen.
If you would like to join us on the following Sundays at 2:30-4:00 EST please send me an email and I will include you in a mid-week mailing that details the materials you will want to collect. You will also have a chance to download an optional reading related to the upcoming reflective practice. To reiterate, this is not an art class but rather a time to use the art-making process to gain new perspectives on our experience of challenges this pandemic presents.
November 29th: Enlivening Touch
December 6th: Cultivating Balance
December 13th: Entertaining Borders
What’s Connie’s background and interest in this work?
I am a dancer by training, an optimal performance coach, and I have a PhD in Expressive Arts which is a field that uses what we call “intermodal” processing—attending to image, word, action, sound, and sensation to be present to what we are experiencing. I do not self-identify as a visual artist. In my early training I readily admit to being intimidated by the invitation to put paint on a canvas, or sculpt with clay, or create with media that took me outside my comfort zone. I have come to value my status as a novice because it leaves me free from the controlling habits I find creep into my choices when I work in my stronger domain in dance. In this spirit I invite you to play at the edges of your own experiences and discover what emerges.
These four meditations visit struggles I have identified as ones that I believe can nourish our resilience especially in this time of decenteredness. Accepting things as they truly are, noticing that possibilities that exist between opposites, exploring the ways our environment can be a source of connection, and discovering new relationships in balance and support will be resources to build resilience, refresh our suppleness and help us move into fully realized dimensions of wellness.
How much are the sessions?
The sessions are free. Whenever possible, materials that are likely to be at hand are used. Substitutions are fine! A list of recommended materials is sent early in the week so that if participants would like to acquire some recommended materials they have time to do so.
How do I register?
Contact Connie via email at cschrade@unca.edu
How can I NOT share the experience I, along with 18 high school contemporary dance majors, recently had with Connie Schrader in a very interactive 2-hour class of “serious play”? Connie’s love of, and exceptional skill in facilitating the creative process with these students was remarkable. There was structure and there was freedom. There was concentration and there was fun. There was instruction and there were many forms of interpretation of the instruction. We colored and painted, moved and laughed, observed each other’s work and we marveled at what came out of us. It was such an excellent 2 hours of discovery: sensing and shaping, and giving form to what was just waiting for …” an invitation to the dance”.
The music, the artwork, the physical interpretations, and the teamwork was so full of life and so honest, as Connie expertly coached and coaxed them further into their brave work. It was such an exhilarating and rewarding class for all.
Who is this kind of “work” best suited for…? Only…. Everyone!!!
Self-expression, under the guidance of one who deeply respects and gives themselves to the mystery of this artful/soulful expressiveness, is a very much needed response and remedy for the stress and pressures of modern day living.
Trish Casey, Professor, Contemporary Dance Studies, UNCSA
Connie`s workshops were full of surprises and material that could be used for many ages and levels of movement and visual artists. The visualizations allowed me to create and solidify some choreography concepts that were in my "dreams". Can hardly wait to do some more with her.
— Susan Collard, choreographer, painter, dancer.