What is this thing called Transformation? or, did I bite off more than I could chew in choosing the word, Transformation, for my website?

When I had to think of a title for my website, which I created earlier this year, I decided to use the word Transformation in the name. I wanted to capture the courage it takes to change, when, as in the quote below, we "literally go beyond our form."

In a way, I was right; I had bitten off more than I could chew. Transformation is a wild ride. Since I started this website, it hasn’t been easy. It has been confusing at times and scary and yet at the same time exhilarating and fun. Maybe you can relate to the exhilaration of becoming something new or the scariness of leaving behind what is familiar.

 Two wildly creative friends with websites, describe transformation…
Recently I came across the word, transformation, in the websites of two of my friends (see below) with wildly different kinds of websites and wildly different offers and I saw that I had chosen this word because Transformation is what is happening all around us.
 
I was inspired by the way they describe the process of change and transformation. One, Pascale Kavanaugh, writer, yogini, sage and guide, says that transformation is that process that happens when you are expanding into the space of something new, it is about what it feels like to be stretched into that space. Ouch-while it’s happening, this process can be pretty damn confusing and painful, yet she stresses that we are always guided and held through this process. Pascale just wrote a novel, which she mentions in the latest post on her website.
 
And the other, Gretchen Miller, art therapist, artist and all around creative person, speaks in a recent post says that transformation is when everything is breaking down and falling apart, like the seed breaking out of it’s shell. It would feel completely like chaos and destruction, if it weren’t the natural process of growth. Gretchen will be leading a workshop at the Expressive Therapies Summit in NYC this November, (where I will also be co-leading a workshop on felting for therapists) all about the creation and destruction process that is a part of art-making.

The word, Transformation, is everywhere, describing everything from kitchen cleansers to weight loss products…
In one way, it feels like the word, Transformation, is overused, to describe anything from kitchen cleaning products to weight loss products. I think it’s kind of funny that the word used to describe this feeling of total and utter, confusing and exhilarating and terrifying change that is happening in the world right now is also used to describe the change that will happen in your kitchen if you use a certain cleaning product or to your body if you use a certain weight loss product. 
 
It helps to find a guide...
And this brings me back to the workshop I will be leading in DC this month (October 18 and 25, 10 am to 3 pm), “Doll-Making from the Inside Out,” where participants will be creating their own guardian dolls. What you need in times of change and upheaval such as we live in is a guardian, a guide. In this workshop, which I plan eventually to also offer on-line, we will be creating our own guardians, dolls made out of felted wool. Because what could be more useful during times of outer change, than a guide who connects you to your inner truth?  

Find out more
Read more below about how two of my friends are working with transformation. And, if you’re in the DC area and you want a playful and transformative experience in the wonderful, nurturing setting of the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, check out my workshop. (To see the texts from my friends' websites, join my newsletter list and check out the full article in the archive section.)
 
And if you want to see my dolls…
They will be exhibited in a few venues over the next months, but all at the Torpedo Factory. My dolls will be in a temporary gallery for Associate Artists on the first floor of the Factory, in Studio 20, from November 17 through the 30th, along with two other artists. And one of my dolls will be exhibited in 3-D and enamel artist, Ann Citron’s studio on the third floor, number --as part of the exhibit “Text/Subtext,” which will take place throughout the building. A map of all participating artists will be provided. There is an opening for “Text/Subtext” on October 18th from 2-4. Unfortunately this overlaps with my first “Doll Making from the Inside Out”, so if I make it to the opening, it will be at the very end.
 
And I will be submitting my dolls to the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery show from October 17th through November 16th, so if they are accepted you can see then there too.

*Note: The image at the top of this post is from a series of mini drawings I did last October. This one is of a guardian/guide watching over a woman seated in her palm.

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