More on the evolution, tone of this workshop
Three Characteristics of this Workshop
The tone of the workshop is "responsive". It is meant to support and help elaborate the concerns you bring and the interests you may develop. That's the "people-in-transition" part. It's related to the alchemical practice of meditatio: the engaging in an inner dialogue with someone unseen. So, I am starting from the assumption that you -we- are all, always, in some conversation. 
We are always reviewing and revising our Story.That Story is rooted in our personal and collective past as well as in the creative unconscious. This week is a chance to try out a few new ways of learning more about all that... and do it as wordlessly as we can, by Making Objects as ways to help us understand.
As another part of the "responsive" approach, I want to allow for alternative learning styles. We all don't learn or explore in the same ways. Some of you may need and thrive in this group of pilgrim people that are coming together; Others may yearn for opportunities for some solitude or private adventure, with Omega as the safe home base. Let me know. I know a lot of the special,"thin" places in the area.
Another twist in this workshop is its gaze away from art-making as commodity or even utility.
So what's left if it's not the Marketplace or Gallery or Museum?
Hmm, good question. It'll be interesting to explore the alternatives. I can assure you there are many. It has something to do with what's called the Middle Way in Buddhist teaching. There ARE other ways and motives for making things: Fetishes, charms, allurements, adornments, totems...
I was talking with an artist interested in this workshop and she asked me: "What materials are you bringing?" a fair question. I hestiated. I am bringing materials. Lots of them.
The emphasis, for me, is on the the appetite, the hunger, the allure that will drive one to some materials and not others during that week. It's about preparing for the indirect. Having enough food groups available...
It has to do with the fascination of the Surrealists (and Others) with chance, accident, coincidence.
It is hard to package too far ahead of time. Short shelf life.
It has something to do with mindfulness, the practice and integrity of aimlessness.
It has something to do with exploring the implications of: liminal, hypnagogic, hypnologic. The purpose of the workshop is to develop better understanding and facility with our lives on the edges, the borders, the deviations from our normal comfort areas. The thought is that practicing in slightly uncomfortable areas helps us develop the abilities to better respond when unpredictable events shake our lives. Put simply, art-making is practice for crisis response.
