The Unfolding Tapestry: A Year Long Series
Her name was Ms. Siglin. She had the second room on the right before you reached second grade hall. Her room was dark and cold, a cross between a dungeon and an aquarium. In her class, I yearned for something—not quite a blanket to keep me warm, but something…
She was retro, a hippie. She wore a short cut and had a not quite deep, but definitely raspy voice. She loved to wear overalls with paint splattered in random places. She presented as nice, but yet she scared me—something about her was eerie. I was intimidated by her, her class, and each given assignment. “Today we are going to draw the planets,” she’d say. “Today, we are going to explore drawing your family members.” She’d demonstrate on the chalkboard and leave us to our work. She’d begin circling the room, weaving through the aisles like a cat seeking the weakest prey. “Please don’t stop at me, please don’t stop at me,” I’d anxiously whisper. Of course, my fear attracted her. She would stop at my desk, look down, and stare without saying a word. And yet, she said it all. Her eyes, the way she held my paper, it was the form of communication I understood best, “you tried, but you will never be an artist.”
Each week I left her dungeon-aquarium hopeless. It was yet another reminder of how my life would never have any color, zest or appeal. That feeling, that yearning for something lingered.
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It’s tIME TO Acknowledge the Artist Within You
It’s been two decades since I saw the eyes of Ms. Siglin. I have since cut through and reassembled the feelings and perspective I took from her class. I know today that we are all artists, creators in our own right. Whether we can paint like Horace Pippin or compose like Mozart, matters not. Those forms, the physical elements of artistry, are a form—not the form. Your life is art. Our lives, our experiences, our relationships, our highs and lows—they are our threads, the materials we have been given. What we do with them, how we choose to mix the colors, the love, the fears, the trauma, the pain—is up to us. In this form of art, you are both the art and the artist, the potter and the clay, the spider and the web.
No matter what dungeons your life has taken you through, or how bleek the landscape of your life appears to be—there is still an unspoken power hidden inside of you, ready to be summoned, to be asked for permission to thread together the pieces given. To do so, to create the form of art and life that you will be proud of—it requires an open heart, a fertile mind, and a spirit that is willing to imagine greater possibilities.
Join us for an experience, a series of threading. A series of unfoldings. A year-long series of discerning what fabrics we have, and what fabrics we may have hidden or forgotten. This class, this art class—is a sacred space for the artist inside of you. It's for those who desire to make the most of the materials they have been given—who want to weave together the best versions of themselves. If that’s you, let's unfold. Let us thread together, the collective.
With Grace,
Dr. Darrien & Tricia
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