Dec 2, 2024, 1:30–3:00 pm
Free through Sacred Reciprocity
People's Place
775 Broadway, Kingston
When: Mondays from 1:30 pm – 3 pm on September 9, 2024, September 16, 2024, September 30, 2024, October 7, 2024, October 21, 2024, November 4, 2024, November 18, 2024, December 2, 2024, December 9, 2024, December 16, 2024, December 30, 2024, and January 6, 2025.
In this 12-week series of classes you will apply the time-proven tools of Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way to unblock and access creativity.
Actively work the principles, tools and exercises to access creativity in all parts of your life.
The Artist’s Way classes are held in a safe, exuberant and supportive atmosphere where creativity is a spiritual practice, and a sense of community is created. You don’t have to call yourself an artist to be here. In this mostly experiential and lecture-based workshop, you will learn and actively work with the principles, tools and exercises that have helped millions access creativity in all parts of their lives.
Tasks include the daily, private writing of morning pages, weekly solo artist dates, and twice-a-week on-you-own artist walks. All you need for this class is a pen and a notebook. Please consider committing to coming to all classes since each week build upon previous sessions.
Come ready to fill up your creative well and to disassemble creative blocks.
About this event
Classes will start with a weekly check-in to see how morning pages, artist dates, walks and the noticing of synchronicities went.
The essential topic for each class meeting follows the chapters in the book.
Week One relates to recovering a sense of safety. We will explore the concept of the shadow artist. This is the person who is behind the scenes, supporting others’ creativity who does not permit themselves to actually be creative. We will examine core negative beliefs and how to unravel these.
Week Two focuses on recovering a sense of identity. This week we identify the “crazy-makers” and other blocks in our lives.
Week Three encompasses recovering a sense of power. This includes transcending perceived self-limiting behaviors, recognizing anger, joy and synchronicity.
Week Four presents the idea of recovering a sense of integrity in self-expression and in relation to others. This week we will undergo the activity of experiencing reality with reduced media input.
Week Five involves recovering a sense of possibility, accepting inspiration from all sources and overcoming a mentality of creative “poverty”.
Week 6 focuses on recovering a sense of abundance. This week we confront a common creativity blocker: money. This week we track our use of money.
Week 7 delves into recovering a sense of connection. We explore the attitudes we bring to our creative endeavors. This week we cover the concepts of perfectionism, risk-taking and jealousy.
Week 8 explores recovering a sense of strength. We take action, making the link between creativity and productivity. In this week we look at perceived creative losses being actual creative gains.
Week 9 is about recovering a sense of compassion for the creative self. In this week we discuss tools for protecting, encouraging and managing “baby steps” and massive creative leaps. We will cover “creative U-Turns” – times when something came up and diverted us from a creative endeavor.
Week 10 presents the recovery of a sense of self-protection in creative matters. This week we notice what patterns in behavior are blocking us. We observe what in our lives is toxic to our creativity. We look at periods of creative “drought” and the concepts of fame and competition as blocks.
Week 11 delves into recovering a sense of autonomy. This week we explore the ideas of creative “success” and of doing “bad work”. This week we investigate being creative on our own terms, from our inner self in contrast to what is received from the external.
Week 12 contends with recovering a sense of faith. In this final week we explore creative sabotage from the self and from external sources. We also study the idea of the creative “night being darkest before dawn” and recap all the tools we learned during the last twelve weeks.
Cecilia Deferrari has facilitated courses and workshops at venues including the NY Open Center, Omega Institute, Kripalu Center for Yoga, Rowe Camp and Conference Center, SUNY Ulster and Ulster BOCES.
In addition to facilitating The Artist’s Way, Cecilia is a Reiki Master and Teacher, a NY and MA certified Spanish-language Court Interpreter, a Creativity Consultant, a writer, and an avid student of plants and herbs. Her motto is that information catalyzes transformation.
Her academic background includes a BA from NYU in Art History and Religious Studies, and an MPS from SUNY New Paltz in Humanistic/Multicultural/Social Justice Educational Studies. Currently, Cecilia is mid-way through an MA in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing at SUNY New Paltz.