Squam Art Workshops
For information about my 3-day Voice and Story retreats, go here. The following is information about 3-hour sessions I'm teaching in 2010 for Squam Art Workshops.
Registration for Squam Art Workshops opens Monday, February 1st, and I am thrilled to be teaching at three sessions this year. My experience last fall was pure magic, and I can hardly wait to be back. My classes are broken up on the site by session, but I thought I'd list them all here in one place. Some classes I'm offering multiple times and at more than one session, to allow more people to get in. Some will vary slightly to fit each session's students. I would love to meet you at Squam Lake in New Hampshire or in North Carolina's Outer Banks, so take a look to see which classes might be calling to you:
Spring 2010
Wed, June 2nd – Sun, June 6th
Storyweaving
Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, storytelling is an important part of our lives and our work. As artists, we need to communicate who we are and the story of our work to the world. Connecting to our own history and selves as "the origin" of our work, as Julia Cameron said, means we never have to worry about being original. In this class we will use simple exercises to explore ourselves as the origin of our work, to excavate our stories and learn to tell them in a way that is compelling and inspiring.
Enjoy vivid sharing in a cozy cabin, and independent writing time that you can spend indoors, out on a dock, or in a quiet place you uncover as you walk through scenic woods.
You will learn to craft any kind of piece: written or audio story, blog post, even a description of your work in an online shop, in a way that is memorable and engaging. You will complete this class with a renewed appreciation for the stories of others, and a new level of confidence regarding the stories that are yours alone to tell. No previous experience is required.
Story Catching
There is a way in which stories bring us together. A way in which we sometimes find our own voice in a chorus. If you are on a journey of finding your voice or telling your story, in this class you will find out why you don't have to go it alone. You will learn how to have story catchers and how to be a story catcher.
This class alternates inspiring storytelling and instruction with journal exercises (a chance to slip outside by the water) and engaging group discussion in a comfortable living room setting.
You will learn about access points to courage and cycles of belief. You will find that your stories are a gift and a generous offering. You will discover how to walk the journey hand-in-hand.
Fall 2010
Wed, September 15th – Sun, September 19th
The Care and Keeping of Creative Souls
Doing creative work is a distinctive kind of journey. Creativity has its own cycles and seasons, its own storms to weather and sunny days to celebrate. This class introduces you to ways of caring for yourself (and your friends) along the journey that are both practical and profound. It will give you tools for navigating the terrain of a creative life.
Well-cared-for artists are prolific artists.
Come join us and learn how to get unblocked and untangled, how to keep yourself healthy and balanced all along the way.
Story Catching
There is a way in which stories bring us together. A way in which we sometimes find our own voice in a chorus. If you are on a journey of finding your voice or telling your story, in this class you will find out why you don't have to go it alone. You will learn how to have story catchers and how to be a story catcher.
This class alternates inspiring storytelling and instruction with journal exercises (a chance to slip outside by the water) and engaging group discussion in a comfortable living room setting.
You will learn about access points to courage and cycles of belief. You will find that your stories are a gift and a generous offering. You will discover how to walk the journey hand-in-hand.
Squam by the Sea 2010
Wed, October 20th – Sun, October 24th
The Care and Keeping of Creative Souls
Doing creative work is a distinctive kind of journey. Creativity has its own cycles and seasons, its own storms to weather and sunny days to celebrate. This class introduces you to ways of caring for yourself (and your friends) along the journey that are both practical and profound. It will give you tools for navigating the terrain of a creative life.
Well-cared-for artists are prolific artists.
Come join us and learn how to get unblocked and untangled, how to keep yourself healthy and balanced all along the way.
Finding Your Voice
There is no better setting in which to find, open and release your voice than near the ocean's edge. The water whispers and roars as if inviting you to do the same.
In this class, we will learn how writing can be a direct line to the parts of ourselves we haven't been listening to. We'll tackle the mystery of why we silence and censor ourselves, and dance our way into a new reality in which we can have our voice and use it in a way that honors connection and compassion. In a way that lets us more fully and freely inhabit ourselves. Whether we whisper, or whether we roar.
Telling Your Story
As the waves, the sea and the shore beckon you, take a journey back to yourelf. In this class we will use simple exercises to reconnect to ourselves through story. We will discover how to explore our stories and history as sources of creativity, excavate those stories and share them in a way that is compelling and inspiring.
Learn to craft any kind of piece, written or spoken, in a way that is memorable and engaging. Renew your appreciation for the stories of others, and awaken a new confidence in the stories that are yours alone to tell. No previous experience required.
Friday, January 29, 2010 at 7:35AM | Share Article | 7 Comments | Permalink | in Squam Art Workshops, Writing, events
Reader Comments (7)
My registration for the Fall session is sitting impatiently on my kitchen table, waiting for Monday morning. Your classes are my top choices and you're the teacher I want to have most of all:) Can't wait to meet you this September!
Liz-- Thanks for registering for my classes! I can't wait to be with you there.
I'M THERE! see you in June!
Ooh, just called my girlfriend in VA and talked to her about coming together! I would love to meet you, Jen and take classes with you. Now to see how to wrangle the finances of it. Fingers crossed and calculator at the ready.
WOO HOO!
Ohhh how I would love to do this!
So, I finally came across your website and find myself nervous and a bit anxious about going to Squam when I've never been to the East Coast or taken such a leap all by myself without knowing a single soul. I'm a mama who lives in the Pacific Northwest on a quest of healing who, at one time, loved to write and act and play with melted crayons. I just finished reading some of your stuff and know that I am in the right place making the right decision and simply cannot wait until I carve out the time to attend Squam in the Fall. I don't think many of us, or maybe it's just me, really pay attention to our creative self and how important it is to replenish it for ourselves, our families, our world. What is it about our 30's that makes us become more self-aware and confident and brave? I sincerely hope my 40's are more of it and that with each decade my beauty within and understanding of the universe grows and grows. I look forward to meeting with and sharing some really, really precious time together.
Have a lovely summer until then.