Thursday night I heard Laura Cater-Woods speak to the Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Arts Alliance. Friday and Saturday was in her workshop Tempting the Muse at the studio of Fiber on a Whim. Today I am floating a little closer to the ground, close enough to try and post something about this experience.
Tempting the Muse was like intensive therapy. Laura’s piece "Peeling the Onion" would be perfect to grace the cover of a marketing brochure for this workshop. She peeled us. Along the way, we cried, we discovered, we created and we celebrated.
I don't know if all of her workshops are like this. Most of the participants in our group knew one another, we were connected, and we knew we could trust one another. By the end of the workshop, the entire group shared an intimacy and connection that will continue beyond this weekend. I have written and rewritten this post many times trying to capture the magic of the weekend. Yet no matter how hard I try, it eludes me. In our cohesive group, it was personal and raw. Perhaps it is just too personal to share. It was magic.
The experience was life changing for me and I suspect it will have significant impact on the work I produce. It already has. My morning journal was filled with more images and less words the past few days. My senses are more tuned in to the world around me. I feel peeled and exposed. This peeled feeling is nice. It is raw, it is vulnerable, it is scary, but it is real.
2 comments:
I felt very much the same way when I took my workshops with David Walker. I took 2 with him. The first altered my perspective & attitude so much, that I became workshop chair for our guild, just so I could bring him back again. I haven't met Laura, but love her work. I think I'll pass your comments along to our group.
wow!
I'm hoping to go to a week long retreat with Laura in Kalamazoo at the end of summer. I had narrowed it down to 2 teachers but your post has helped me make my decision. thanks
Maggie
Post a Comment