One of the workshops I took was "Another's Shoes" where we used plaster strips (like they use to cast a broken arm) to make someone else's shoes and to tell a story about them. There were some wonderful shoes: mom's house slippers she put on each day after working 3 jobs, shoes for a child in africa sponsored by the maker, work books, etc.
My shoe is for the Mommy I'm Not. I don't own any high-healed shoes. This greatly disappoints my 5-year old. So here is the shoe I wish was in my closet for him to play with:
I also went to a dance workshop by happy accident. When my friends re-gathered after our first workshop, Penny was glowing from her dance workshop and said we really should go. I weight it in my mind and thought about skipping my assigned painting workshop to go, but the Dutiful Child won out and I went to the painting workshop. When I got there, my name wasn't on the teacher's list, and the class was full. So off I went to the dance workshop.
The leader drew from many different sources from the bible to "What the body wants" and Gabriella Roth and others. Our hour and a half class was mostly active dancing as we danced our ways though the chakras. It was intimidating, freeing, and exhausting. It was also deeply personal even though we were dancing in the same space. I didn't get a picture of this workshop, but wow!
The other workshop I attended was creating Mandelas. It was really fun. Here's what I came up with:
The ostrich in the center of mine started calling to me from another table as soon as I sat down. He's such a funny creature!
After we made our mandalas, we were given time to contemplate them. I almost laughed out loud when I realized that the ostrich wasn't me!
Pieces of 2 songs came to me, "Crown him with many crowns" (see the safety pin with 3 bells on it on his head?) and from "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light" the phrase, "The star of my life is Jesus." HA HA. Apparently, one of my images for Jesus is now an ostrich. Hmm...
When I got home and showed my kids what I'd done, Charlie (5) was facinated by the mandala and asked several times to do one together. So the boys spent most of the morning creating their own mandals. Here's Lukes:
And Charlie's. See how proud he is!
What a great day at ArtiGras. And what a great day with the kids.
