Visual Journaling – Creativity & Resilience with Kelly O. Finnerty & Edie Scott Hoffman – G26070307
Visual journaling is a creative practice that combines words and images in fresh, unexpected ways. Gain new insights in a supportive creative community while strengthening your resilience during stressful times. People often consider creativity to be a talent that only some people have. But in fact, research has shown that the skills of creative people overlap with the skills of resilient people and that these skills can be learned. Our weeklong workshop will center on the skills of creativity: looking closely, being curious, making connections, seeing things in new ways, being open to uncertainty, and trying something new. Your journal will be a laboratory for experimentation using mixed media such as colored pencils, markers, paint and collage together with your written thoughts. The emphasis is on process not product.
Visual journals take many forms. Your journals are a record of your life journey. We will consider a variety of approaches including travel impressions, nature observations, emotional expression, dreams, wishes and desires, project planning, relationships, and, of course, the challenges and joys of daily life. Words and images will combine, one form of expression informing another. We will work both collaboratively and individually to take creative risks without fear of making a mistake. No prior art experience is needed.
Instructors
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Kelly FinnertyKelly O. Finnerty is an experienced visual artist, educator, writer, and licensed therapist who has filled over 90 visual journals so far. She is now exploring how to use elements from these journals to create meaningful new art. She holds graduate degrees in Creative Arts Interdisciplinary and Marriage and Family Therapy. She has worked as a California Arts Council Artist in the Schools, held creative leadership positions in science and children’s museums and continues therapeutic work with children and families. She particularly loves to bring people together to awaken creative expression inspired by the singular environment of Ghost Ranch.
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Edie Scott HoffmanI am a San Francisco Bay Area artist focused primarily on photography and artist bookmaking. My work has been selected for exhibition at Gray Loft Gallery, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Berkeley Art Center Member Show as well as other venues. From the awe of nature to the realities of life and death, my artwork strives to express the beauty of emotion in its rawest and most honest forms. I’m attracted to the synchronicity of what I am reflecting upon; often the opposites mingle and come together. I walk in the soul of the land to find my own journey. I travel a path seeking balance. My images recognize that life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not.