This workshop is for you if:
In any case, you are curious about the potential in doll making for discovering and mirroring deeper sides of yourself. ON-LINE OFFER:
Befriending Our Shadow A doll-making e-course about befriending our shadow, using tenderness and compassion to connect with all parts of ourselves. Flip dolls are two sided dolls connected at the waist. These two sided dolls have the capacity to capture divergent views of reality, dark vs light, joy vs sorrow, love vs alienation. In this course you will have the chance, through exploring and befriending your shadow, to discover hidden strengths within. And at the end of the course, your doll will represent and unite both shadow and light. And, important note, you do not need to know how to sew beforehand. This class is open to those at all levels of sewing ability. Through this course, you will:
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Testimonial from a Befriending Our Shadow alumna: "Carl Jung said 'The shadow is where the gold is.' The process of working on a flip doll in a community of doll-makers under the tutelage of Erika Cleveland was a wonderful way of accessing shadow parts of my personality, those parts of myself I have trouble acknowledging and seeing clearly. The craft tutorials, lectures, book-making, visualizations, and group sharing all helped me manifest in form complexes that were latent in my mind. I was surprised and delighted by the doll I made and what ’she’ continues to teach me. Erika is gifted at guiding her students to the gold. Joanne Rocky Delaplaine |
I wanted to learn how to make a flip doll and was curious about an alter ego/shadow. Before taking the class, I had no idea that there are so many aspects about our shadow and found them very interesting. I liked our intimate group which made it easier to remember who they are and their stories. I enjoyed the reflective/meditative aspects of the Zoom sessions. It helped me focus on the present. Reviewing the visualizations outside of class helped me see my thoughts from week to week and how they could be related to my shadow and discover topics to explore in the future. I used the e-book often to re-watch the video links to understand the specific techniques when creating my doll. I don't use FB very much but found watching the progress of other dolls helpful and interesting. I grew both in self-awareness and in learning a new medium. I was surprised that Grabby became my dark side -- doing projects for organizations which has been a way of life for me since childhood. I realize now those projects need to come second to Grace, my light side of taking care of me so that I can care for and enjoy my time with family and friends. I love my shadow doll! Debra Lee |
You will get the most out of this workshop if:
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Here are some words of advice from a participant in a previous class:
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"I really wanted to explore my own current state of mind and I had a feeling that the class might encourage the deep dive I needed. These simple expectations were met and the more hidden expectations emerged and were met as well. The classes followed a path that was like a stairway down towards an internal place where the psyche and the soul met somehow....The structure of the class and the progressively deepening emphases (readings, guided imagery, etc) were great guideposts on the trip inward.
I really liked having the eight weeks — same reason as above: 8 weeks allowed for a kind of journey to unfold. Although I did not read or do everything, I chose what was important to me, and I allowed the readings, imagery, and discussion to stimulate my thinking but also to just seep into my daily life and my dream life... For me, it was a great forum where there was a live attention to the art as well as lots of food for thought — about culture, history, aesthetics .... so much! ...The whole making of the actual doll was new technical learning. A lot of the learning was actually a consolidation and reemergence of some very early principles of artmaking taught by my original art therapy mentor Edith Kramer. These principles kept reasserting themselves as touchstones: that art is characterized by “an inner consistency, evocative power, and the economy of means.” The art work that was my doll kept insisting that I draw on those characteristics— nothing, even the elaborations, was superfluous..." Barbara Sobol |
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"... The biggest surprise I experienced was just how much peace the process and result brought me. It usually takes me a few months to totally unpack a new feeling or memory, but I processed through (or at least started the process for) a few rather large aspects of my life I either denied myself, or ignored entirely. It was a pretty raw experience that I couldn't quite put to words for a while... As far as the spiritual part of the course, it helped give a face to and a place to speak with the Shadow, which was new for me. I usually talk to my reflection, but even then, it's just my surface self I'm talking to, not necessarily a deeper aspect of myself. And with the technical part of the course, For the e-book specifically, the patterns were very accessible, regardless of skill level, and lent themselves perfectly to interpretation, additions, and alterations. A perfect seed of inspiration. For the FB group aspect, it was very helpful having things further explained to help refine ideas on how the construction process worked... This class was definitely an exercise in Happy Accidents, whether it was from working the parts I damaged into the doll’s narrative, or from the accidental success of putting parts together curiously to see how they looked. I learned a new way to play and how to get out of my own head! I felt connected to the others in the group, in the sense that we were all there to create and accept ourselves and our circumstances more. As far as the learning materials, they were full of great mind food! Being able to think of some of those topics wound up making some neat mental images." Sam Margarette |