Community Grief Programming
ART WORKSHOPS
Loss and grief are difficult for many of us to discuss. We get stuck in our heads trying to find words to express all that we are feeling in our hearts and bodies. Art provides different ways to express complex emotions while also helping us to tap into our unconscious to make new connections and uncover deeper truths.
What would it be like to explore, process, and even learn to embrace our grief in community?
Inspired by the five gates of grief presented by Francis Weller in The Wild Edge of Sorrow, each of the following workshops explores a different type of grief through art. The goal of this programming is to hold a safe and inclusive creative space for individual and communal grief exploration. These workshops can be adapted for different age groups and offered separately or as a series in any order.
Workshops Titles
Embracing the Sorrows of Our World
Behind Our Masks
Where Do I Fit in Space and Time?
The Village We Long For
What We Carry
Putting the Pieces Back Together
Shedding the Old to Make Way for the New
JProulx, Ether, collage, 2024
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
In The Wild of Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller expands our understanding of grief through his concept of the five gates of grief. Weller moves beyond limiting grief to an emotional response to the death of a loved one to include other types of loss such as significant changes in our lives, the parts of ourselves that we have lost to trauma, our dreams remaining unfulfilled, and changes to the world as we have known it. Weller challenges us to explore our sorrows, recognize that they are shared, and understand how they can help us to transform our lives.
Small to medium sized group discussion will focus on the book in its entirety or by section. There will be opportunities for participants to break off into smaller groups to explore different themes and questions. Poetry and other art forms will be woven into the discussions to illustrate concepts. Discussion facilitation can be offered alone or in combination art workshops.