“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
I started Inner Studio in 2016 to support others in recovering or deepening their Creativity from an inner (emotional and spiritual, not technical or commercial) standpoint. It was originally a beautiful physical space located in a converted historic 1800s industrial mill building in Western Massachusetts, and it served as my art studio, office, and classroom. While there, I held four rounds of my 3-month small group classes centered on The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (book by Julia Cameron), a follow-up advanced class called Regroup, one open house, two Touch Drawing workshops, and I started working with people individually.
In 2019, I had to move out due to other demands on my time/energy — but, as the name hopefully implies, Inner Studio exists regardless of whether or not I have my own physical space! Plus, who knew a global pandemic would arrive just months after I closed it, and I wouldn’t have been able do my classes or sessions there anyway!
The idea is that I want to help people build a portable, personal internal refuge where the Creative-self can always feel included, nurtured, and cared for… an inner studio.
Dig a few student testimonials below, or find a whole collection of them 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!!!!!”
