Threads of Spirit

How does the experience of using one’s hands to create integrate with and inform our spiritual path? Bring existing work and an interest in learning something new. We will explore how making can provide space for creativity and affirmation. Co-led by a beader/seamstress and a knitter/cross-stitcher. We plan to create a space in which people…

Workshop Description

How does the experience of using one’s hands to create integrate with and inform our spiritual path? Bring existing work and an interest in learning something new. We will explore how making can provide space for creativity and affirmation. Co-led by a beader/seamstress and a knitter/cross-stitcher.

We plan to create a space in which people can bring their art/handwork projects in progress and share or learn a new skill (sewing, beading, others). Our particular skills are in beading, sewing, jewelry making, knitting, zentangle, and cross stitch, but we are open to other forms people want to share, such as spinning, weaving, drawing or carving. The forms we practice have long traditions, some going back long before recorded history, but they continue to grow and change as new makers bring their own creative energy to the work.

We will usually open in worship and move into worship sharing around a particular set of queries or short reading that provides the jumping-off point for talking about a variety of topics. We are open to the leadings of the group as they emerge, but some possible topics to explore are:
–How can our handwork serve as spiritual practice? What is the connection between our work and the Divine?
–How does our handwork help us focus beyond the Now?
–How does our work relate to our identities in empowering or unhelpful ways?
–What is the relationship between art, craft, and design? How do we approach our work with humility and self respect?
–What is the impact of handmade art in an increasingly digital world?
–How do order and chaos fit into our approach to our work?
–Is the work itself the reward or is it the time the work affords us to think and be present?

Then there will be time just to sit and work together in communion. We have missed the old crafting workshops and would like to create that kind of setting once again. This kind of format will make it easy for people to drop in and for parents who need extra time to settle
or pick up their children to slip in or out. Age isn’t a factor in learning or practicing most handwork, so incorporating teens and older adults will be easy. We also want to add opportunities for group projects, either at one time, or across the week.

We will make a bin of communal art/craft supplies available for those who would like to try out a new technique, and we are available to teach our forms to others outside of worship sharing time. We will also make a small set of challenges available for those who would like to jumpstart their creative juices.

Leader Experience

Judy has had experience with Grand Silence in School of the Spirit and contemplative retreats, in which participants work on their own projects in the same space, but in silence, and found it a moving way to be together. Judy has co-led a workshop in the distant past but sees this as quite a different possibility. Jess has co-led a high school class on beading and has been a Gathering participant since childhood, which provides a lot of perspective on how workshops succeed (and a few that have failed!). Both have experience in working on spiritual nurture, which should be helpful for a workshop that needs more facilitation than directed leadership. We have also worked together as recording and assistant recording clerk and enjoyed each other’s contributions to the process.