“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” —Mary Oliver
INNER STUDIO, as it originally existed, was in Easthampton, MA (2016-2019) in the historic Cottage Street Studios building downtown, at the corner of Union and Cottage.
It was my large, sunny, spacious, personal art refuge and a learning space where I supported others in recovering, unblocking, or deepening their creativity — and connecting with each another around that. My niche community included musicians, songwriters, therapists, activists, craftspeople; parents, non-parents; and folks with no arts-based identity at all.
During that era, I also taught a creative journaling unit for high school students at LightHouse Holyoke: Personalized Education for Teens, and started working at Downtown Sounds in Northampton, doing musical instrument/gear retail, managing the Music School arm of the business, and being part of the transition into a worker-owned coop model as the original owner retired after 40 years.
I had to close Inner Studio in late 2019 due to other commitments and changes that made it (seemingly) untenable to keep.
But, as the name hopefully suggests: an INNER STUDIO doesn’t require an actual physical studio!
There are so many ways to build a personal, portable, permanent refuge within and amongst ourselves wherein creativity is welcomed, prioritized, protected, and nurtured.
My signature class at Inner Studio was a 15-week group that met on Sunday afternoons and supported people all the way though The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, the famous course book by Julia Cameron which takes you through a sequence of weekly themes, self reflections, assignments, and habits/practices to aid in the recovery or encouragement of your creativity.
It is notoriously challenging to complete the whole thing by yourself. Many people give up. And that’s where I come in! I hold space, facilitate sharing and discussion on chapter themes, and add some of my own experience-based wisdom, broader perspective, and humor (including critique of the book) as someone who has completed the course twice, benefitted from it, found problems with it, and witnessed others have their own unique relationships with and insights about the work.
At Inner Studio, I also explored new frontiers in my own art, taught a couple of one-day art workshops, did an accountability series called REGROUP for people who had already done The Artist’s Way group, hosted an open studio, and did some one-to-one creativity support sessions with people.
Dig a few testimonials below, or see group photos + read the full collection here!
“This was like, ACTUAL recovery. Like I recovered something, and that’s really cool. Also, I can just draw in my journal now. It’s fun! I haven’t done it in years — and I used to do it all the time. It’s been a really good anchor, having this. I really appreciated being here.”
“So, without this group I would have had enormous difficulty with or casually dismissed The Artist’s Way book. What started as a quasi-request from my girlfriend has transformed into a new community of sorts, and an expanding of my knowledge of self; a new perspective on what it means or could mean to be human, to be an artist.”
“I feel like I have grown as a person more in the last year than I have in my entire life, and taking part in this course with you was beautiful timing. The amount of what I call ‘duh’ moments — moments of finding words for ideas or feelings that have been spinning through my head, whether directly from the book or from the group discussion — has been unbelievable. It’s been a start of a brand new vocabulary of words and theories for me. Things like simply being given permission to own my artistry, my creativity, and nurture and care for it (and encourage others to do the same) has been wonderful.”
“I want to thank you, in particular, for the success of this class and making this such a comfortable space and inviting us all into it. You, specifically, made the course and some topics I could have completely brushed aside really easy to take-in, and the growth and knowledge I got from this and will continue to work on have been a life-changing experience.”
“The Artist’s Way group was amazing! It literally helped me create ACTUAL creative change and movement in my life after a few years of feeling stuck. I got clear about goals. I started de-cluttering my house. I made art with my child. I wrote. I got ideas for my career. I bought new clothes and started wearing earrings again (which may not seem like a big deal but actually signaled to myself that I care about myself), processed creativity and the world/political shit storm.”
“The supportive, awesome members were inspiring, real, and co-travelers of the process. I needed this, and you were the perfect non-hierarchical travel ‘coach,’ sharing your experience of using these tools and helping create a group that felt safe, fun. I looked forward to it every week. That is an understatement. I grew to depend on that time to remember myself and my goal of creative recovery. I loved the check-ins and discussion of the chapter. I really appreciated that it was okay to do it imperfectly and go at my own pace. I should also say that it re-inspired my relationship with my own inner Guidance, the most profound and important aspect of my life really. Thank you!!!!!”
