WInged Heart by Margo Rivera-Weiss pastel on Fabriano paper, 8″x 10″, 2014
Quickness by Karen, pastel on Fabriano paper, 8″x 10″, 2014
I am very pleased to announce the collaboration between The Red & Orange House and the wonderful Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Oakland. Spring 2015, I will conduct two Bodyscapes Technique workshops for the WCRC community. The workshops will be funded by The Lloyd Symington Foundation. WCRC helps women with cancer improve their quality of life through education, supportive services, and practical assistance. They offer a variety of classes and workshops to promote healthy living, cancer prevention, and quality of life through creativity, movement, education, and activism. Learn more about WCRC…. http://www.wcrc.org/
I met with Margo Rivera-Weiss, WCRC’s Manager of Community Wellness Programs and curator of the JanRae Community Art Gallery, and Karen, a volunteer. I conducted a fast and furious 35 minute, hands-on Bodyscapes presentation.
The presentation was fast, indeed. Luckily for me, both women were practicing artists~Margo a watercolorist and Karen a pastelist. Normally, a Bodyscapes workshop lasts two and a half hours. The three components~a writing activity, a drawing activity and a time for reflection~ take 45 minutes each to complete. Margo and Karen had to work fast, completing each component in 10-12 minutes. Margot and Karen are committed to help those living with cancer. So, we engaged in the Bodyscapes art-making experience as a mindfulness practice to promote and support their own self-care. The Red & Orange House recognizes the need for emotional and spiritual sustenance for health practitioners in the cancer field.
We explored the modern malady everyone in our ever updating, digital workplace experiences~stress.
Our fast paced lives seem to be causing us to forget specific details of places and faces. We risk forgetting the essential details that make up our unique selves. Art-making slows down our overworked selves. The Bodyscapes Technique allows us to slow down, to focus, then choose what to remember and highlight.
Quickness by Karen, 2014
Wolf at the Door by Margo Riviera-Weiss
Pressure cooker doing double-time, express train breathing the strain, winged rocket spurting tension, deeply desiring the nourishment of understanding.
Visit Margo’s website, highlighting her bright, bold and detailed watercolor drawings. www.margoriveraweiss.com
“Diane, thanks a lot for the presentation. We both really enjoyed it and I think this will be a great collaboration.” ~Margo Riviera-Weiss
The Red & Orange House relies on support from individual donors to maintain our work in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Each gift brings another art-making experience to a patient’s bedside, their family sitting in a family surgical waiting room, a private home or a workshop. Donor benefits include a weekly subscription to our upcoming newsletter. You can share the powerful healing moments experienced by program participants and their families.
The Red & Orange House is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; all gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.
