It has been four years since I held a three day workshop in the studio. It took me a long time to get comfortable with the idea again. I had to be ready. This winter I found I was.
I was ready to share spirit because that is what gathering is. There is something about being in the room together. A sense of belonging, sharing knowledge, a camaraderie that lights up the place. I wanted some of that deep togetherness that comes with everyone working individually on their art in the same room.
Each person in their own little relationship with their rug; watching the relationship emerge from trepidation and uncertainty and more towards harmony.
I had four of these kinds of workshops a year. I knew the inspiration that comes with them was powerful and I wanted to breathe that in. I wanted to watch others breathe it in. When I posted the workshop it filled right away. I prepared and planned. And I waited.
When they came together, I was amazed at the talent and the knowledge in the room. There we were with each other, each of us creating our individual unique rug and we all had so much that was uniquely our own to offer it. Being with them inspires me to hook. It makes me reach into my own pocket of inspiration and spread it around to them so they leave with hope and ideas and the desire to make rug after rug.
My time with this group reassures me that we all have it in us. We do. We have everything we need already to be creative. There was so much life and professional experience in this group of people that they could transfer to art.
There were also things that they needed to shed, so they could give themselves to their mats. We all have things we need to shed so that we can present to art. It is a passionate affair this rug making. To get good at it, you have to go all in. You have to lose yourself in the mat and forget about the boundaries and the rules. You have to surrender.
We are all makers. We wake up and make the day, we make our beds, we make supper, we make the garden. We know how to make. So much of being an artist is knowing how to show up and make. So much is about being faithful to yourself. So much is about surrendering to you passion.
Listening to the call to make and responding with your great gift of time. Showing up with your hands ready to work and your mind ready to roam.
This faith in ourselves eventually turns into having faith in the mat, that the next strip you pull will be the right one and the one after that will be ok too. Every time we make a decision in the rug it leads to another decision. Like life, they build on each other, each one needing the step before it.
You have to believe that the mistakes you make are just mistakes.You can pull out a strip, you can begin again, you can start over. Fearless in your pursuit towards the finish, because after all, it is only a rug. Precious to you perhaps in the moment, but there is always the next one. You are not making one rug, you are making many.
In three days I get to watch the rugs bloom, and with that I get to watch the people who come to the workshop open up to possibility. They bloom too. And that inspires me to teach. I like watching people find their own stories and bring them to life. I like seeing people do what they love. Watching people do what they love is like watching a dance. They move with freedom and joy.
So my days in the studio teaching are rewarding because there is nothing better than seeing people come into their own, finding a place in themselves where they belong. A home within a home. This is a gift they have given themselves for showing up.
