Ritual is an art making with mindfulness experience for adults. Process oriented techniques are thoughtfully designed and facilitated in order to encourage accessible and playful creativity for participants.
About
Ritual’s first iteration began in the spring of 2015, during Rachel's secondary level student teaching placement. A need for older students to have an intentional transition into art making soon became a feature of her teaching approach. Classes opened with a silent, five minute mindful moment, with lights dim and soft music playing. Through this 'ritual', students were able to relax in their bodies and focus their minds.
Since then, Ritual has evolved in Rachel's classroom teaching across grades K-8. This routine has allowed students to seamlessly drop into an immediate creative practice with the choice of sketching, painting, sculpting, and more. Rachel credits Ritual as the one feature that has worked consistently throughout her teaching career, in part, because young people have little ‘freeze up’ in approaching art materials and art making. The environment and norms of Ritual simply lay the groundwork for creative output to flow sustainably.
In the fall of 2018, Rachel wanted to extend this creative routine to an adult demographic. She noticed that art making opportunities for adults were often skill or product based, rather than process oriented. Rachel wondered if adults could drop into a similar creative flow as children if given the opportunity to simply explore art media with gentle prompting. With this in mind, Rachel began dramatically modifying Ritual into a scaffolded art making experience suited specifically for adults. To date, adults of varying artistic ability have entered into art making through this approach with the same focus, joy, and ease as she has seen in her work with young people.
Since then, Ritual has evolved in Rachel's classroom teaching across grades K-8. This routine has allowed students to seamlessly drop into an immediate creative practice with the choice of sketching, painting, sculpting, and more. Rachel credits Ritual as the one feature that has worked consistently throughout her teaching career, in part, because young people have little ‘freeze up’ in approaching art materials and art making. The environment and norms of Ritual simply lay the groundwork for creative output to flow sustainably.
In the fall of 2018, Rachel wanted to extend this creative routine to an adult demographic. She noticed that art making opportunities for adults were often skill or product based, rather than process oriented. Rachel wondered if adults could drop into a similar creative flow as children if given the opportunity to simply explore art media with gentle prompting. With this in mind, Rachel began dramatically modifying Ritual into a scaffolded art making experience suited specifically for adults. To date, adults of varying artistic ability have entered into art making through this approach with the same focus, joy, and ease as she has seen in her work with young people.
