Summer 2021 Class:
Practices on the Crossroads of Art and Meditation

Four sessions (but these may continue with no charge in July, depending on circumstances at that time).
Online classes will be conducted on the ZOOM platform.
Saturdays, June 5-26, 9-11 a.m.
REGISTRATION OPENS APRIL 26, 2021 The class will be offered by OLLI at UVM. If you have difficulty registering, call Lora at 802 656 5817

»  Visit OLLI at UVM to Register

This class will incorporate much of the content covered in the previously offered OLLI class “Drawing for the Terrified” but is taught with a specific focus on mindfulness, self-compassion, and meditation. In both representational or imaginative mindful drawing, we will practice focused attention on shape, color, and value (light and dark) in the world we see in order to reconnect directly with ourselves and the environment around us. We will explore shape consciousness (how we can see the world without naming things,) our memories of past visual experiences and how these create our reality as well as influence the art we make.

Come prepared to draw, practice meditation, share your work and thoughts with others, and enhance your creativity with mindful drawing. In addition to artistic endeavors, we will explore our ever-present thought stream, the default mode network of “selfing”, as well as how we pay attention, become distracted and mind wander. We often live our mental lives in the past and the future. In this class you will learn how creating art can help you experience great clarity in the present moment. Artist, author, workshop leader and Emeritus Professor Michael Strauss will a four-week class that includes mindful drawing and many hands-on activities and exercises. The course is valuable for those just beginning meditation, or those who already have an established practice. It will also be useful for both beginning and experienced artists.

Materials: