"The reason for evil in the world is that people are not able to tell their stories.”
―Carl Jung
Join us on beautiful Enders Island
Discover Your Creative Engagement with Story and Transformation!
August 13th - 16th, 2015
What are the stories shaping your life?
We think we are telling a story, when the more accurate reality may be that the story is telling us. Our alignment to archetypal stories which have the power to creatively attract and repel specific circumstances and individuals, shape the contours of our personal and professional lives. These unseen forces work like hidden riptides, invisible yet powerful enough to move us in a predetermined trajectory. The degree to which these stories remain untold and unrecognized is the degree to which we will find ourselves repeating patterns of behavior and not understanding why.
The ancients understood that "every telling of a story is a new origin." It is only through creative engagement with our own stories that genuine transformation is sustained. Transformation happens in the deep waters of belief systems, values, perspectives, and firmly held assumptions all of which manifest in behavior.Sailing in these waters necessitates a creative and holistic approach. The creative unconscious offers a counterbalance to the forces of life which can threaten to capsize us. Creative engagement is not an aesthetic luxury sidelined to the margins of life, it is a psychological imperative for surviving and thriving.
Whether you are navigating a career transition or a life transformation, your ability to recognize the stories of your own life and creatively engage with them will help you discover new insights and perspectives in order to experience your life from a place of authenticity and meaning.
Join with artists, authors, analysts and professionals from around the world, as together, we explore our stories and prioritize our engagement with the creative wisdom which shapes a life.
The ancients understood that "every telling of a story is a new origin." It is only through creative engagement with our own stories that genuine transformation is sustained. Transformation happens in the deep waters of belief systems, values, perspectives, and firmly held assumptions all of which manifest in behavior.Sailing in these waters necessitates a creative and holistic approach. The creative unconscious offers a counterbalance to the forces of life which can threaten to capsize us. Creative engagement is not an aesthetic luxury sidelined to the margins of life, it is a psychological imperative for surviving and thriving.
Whether you are navigating a career transition or a life transformation, your ability to recognize the stories of your own life and creatively engage with them will help you discover new insights and perspectives in order to experience your life from a place of authenticity and meaning.
Join with artists, authors, analysts and professionals from around the world, as together, we explore our stories and prioritize our engagement with the creative wisdom which shapes a life.
Mystic, CT - Voted one of the ten best coastal communities in the country!
|
|
KEYNOTES:
Perspective and the Transforming Moment
Kay Chernush
Kay Chernush is a leading US photographer with more than 25 years experience in commercial and fine art image-making. Based in the Washington, DC area, her assignments and interests have taken her all over the world in search of the "transforming moment" -- using her cameras to "see" the extraordinary in the ordinary, to make visible the poetry and drama in the mundane and banal.
Since 1980, when she launched her free-lance career, she has photographed more than 50 feature stories for Smithsonian Magazine and has shot for many other national publications.
Her fine art work is included in the permanent collections of the World Bank, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the National Institutes of Health, private collections both in this country and abroad, and has been exhibited in solo and juried group exhibitions.
In 2005 an assignment for the U.S. State Department brought her face to face with the evils of human trafficking and modern slavery. Challenged and appalled by this pervasive human rights atrocity, Kay began working with anti-trafficking organizations around the world. She gradually developed an innovative approach, using collaged and constructed imagery to dignify trafficked persons and re-frame how their stories are portrayed. To broaden the scope of her project, Kay founded ArtWorks for Freedom in July 2011, a non-profit organization that uses the power of art in all its forms to fight modern slavery.
Kay Chernush
Kay Chernush is a leading US photographer with more than 25 years experience in commercial and fine art image-making. Based in the Washington, DC area, her assignments and interests have taken her all over the world in search of the "transforming moment" -- using her cameras to "see" the extraordinary in the ordinary, to make visible the poetry and drama in the mundane and banal.
Since 1980, when she launched her free-lance career, she has photographed more than 50 feature stories for Smithsonian Magazine and has shot for many other national publications.
Her fine art work is included in the permanent collections of the World Bank, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the National Institutes of Health, private collections both in this country and abroad, and has been exhibited in solo and juried group exhibitions.
In 2005 an assignment for the U.S. State Department brought her face to face with the evils of human trafficking and modern slavery. Challenged and appalled by this pervasive human rights atrocity, Kay began working with anti-trafficking organizations around the world. She gradually developed an innovative approach, using collaged and constructed imagery to dignify trafficked persons and re-frame how their stories are portrayed. To broaden the scope of her project, Kay founded ArtWorks for Freedom in July 2011, a non-profit organization that uses the power of art in all its forms to fight modern slavery.
Artigiano:
The Soul of Profession and the Muse of Vocation
Michael Conforti, Ph.D
“Art is the language for expressing the mystical and the prophetic.”
Matthew Fox, Afterword, Trial of God
Artigiano asks psyche what it takes to fully engage with ones passions, and then whether there is the courage to take this journey. In contemporary life, where so much of what we see, eat, and purchase is ready-made, we experience and unfortunately taste first hand the loss of psyche.
Artigiano is an Italian word used to describe the work of a skilled craftsman, of one who who has dedicated much of their life to their art form. An artigiano may be a third or fourth generation Neopolitan chef, like my friend Davide Manzo, from Pompeii, or they may be the individual who for thirty years has been making hand made shoes or clothing. And then there is the life and work of Jung and the early Jungians who spent more than fifty years of their life working and studying the domain and expressions of psyche.
In this presentation we will discuss ways for listening to the call of the muse of vocation and how to enter this world where one can be truly proud of their work, and come to see how an archetypal approach to life, soul and vocation expresses ones destiny.
The Soul of Profession and the Muse of Vocation
Michael Conforti, Ph.D
“Art is the language for expressing the mystical and the prophetic.”
Matthew Fox, Afterword, Trial of God
Artigiano asks psyche what it takes to fully engage with ones passions, and then whether there is the courage to take this journey. In contemporary life, where so much of what we see, eat, and purchase is ready-made, we experience and unfortunately taste first hand the loss of psyche.
Artigiano is an Italian word used to describe the work of a skilled craftsman, of one who who has dedicated much of their life to their art form. An artigiano may be a third or fourth generation Neopolitan chef, like my friend Davide Manzo, from Pompeii, or they may be the individual who for thirty years has been making hand made shoes or clothing. And then there is the life and work of Jung and the early Jungians who spent more than fifty years of their life working and studying the domain and expressions of psyche.
In this presentation we will discuss ways for listening to the call of the muse of vocation and how to enter this world where one can be truly proud of their work, and come to see how an archetypal approach to life, soul and vocation expresses ones destiny.
CREATIVE MASTER CLASSES:
Martin Dominguez Ball, MFA
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Martin Dominguez Ball moved to New York in the mid-1980s. Recently named as the Artist in Residence for Warwick, NY, he is a multidisciplinary artist with a BFA in graphic design and a MFA in interdisciplinary arts. A prolific creator, Martin’s paintings, drawings and sculptures have been well received in galleries in New York City and beyond. Additionally, he is a professional filmmaker and graphic designer and a professor of fine arts and graphic design at SUNY Orange and St. John’s University.
The Power of Performance Story:
Illuminating Shakespeare's Language
Maureen Kuehler, MA
In this workshop, we will explore presentation of story by way of William Shakespeare. Through emotional connection, close examination of text, and traditional theatrical techniques, our goal will be to better understand and communicate Shakespeare's language.
Maureen Kuehler seeks to demystify the language of William Shakespeare in order to facilitate clear and deep connections to his text. Having received her MA in Shakespeare & Theater from the University of Birmingham's Shakespeare Institute, Kuehler couples her academic experience with an extensive theater background. She currently serves on the board of the Deacon John Grave House, an 18th century living history museum in Madison, Connecticut.
Story, Place and Nature:
Creating Art by Connecting our Stories with our Natural Environment
Monoprinting with Gelatin Plates and Plant Materials
Deborah Greenwood, Ph.D
"At times I feel as if I am spread out over the landscape and
inside things, and am myself living in every tree, in the splashing of the waves, in the clouds and the animals that come and go, in the procession of the seasons. There is nothing . . .with which I am not linked."
(Carl Jung speaking on his experience of interconnectedness at Bollingen in Memories, Dreams and Reflections (225).)
Jung had the sense of being most completely himself at Bollingen, a structure without electricity, heat and running water surrounded by nature. He equated nature with the collective unconscious, and “therefore as encompassing all other archetypes,” explaining that the totality of “Nature” is “unknown to us” (Sabini 14). Stories about the natural world embodying values and life experience have long been a part of culture. We carry these traditions within us.
Come and work with artist, Deborah Greenwood Ph.D., and explore the potential in this archetype through a monoprint technique that uses gelatin print pads, printer’s ink, pressed plants and other materials.
Students are free to bring pressed plant clippings from their own gardens and special places.
Creating Art by Connecting our Stories with our Natural Environment
Monoprinting with Gelatin Plates and Plant Materials
Deborah Greenwood, Ph.D
"At times I feel as if I am spread out over the landscape and
inside things, and am myself living in every tree, in the splashing of the waves, in the clouds and the animals that come and go, in the procession of the seasons. There is nothing . . .with which I am not linked."
(Carl Jung speaking on his experience of interconnectedness at Bollingen in Memories, Dreams and Reflections (225).)
Jung had the sense of being most completely himself at Bollingen, a structure without electricity, heat and running water surrounded by nature. He equated nature with the collective unconscious, and “therefore as encompassing all other archetypes,” explaining that the totality of “Nature” is “unknown to us” (Sabini 14). Stories about the natural world embodying values and life experience have long been a part of culture. We carry these traditions within us.
Come and work with artist, Deborah Greenwood Ph.D., and explore the potential in this archetype through a monoprint technique that uses gelatin print pads, printer’s ink, pressed plants and other materials.
Students are free to bring pressed plant clippings from their own gardens and special places.
Embodied Story:
The Poetry of the Soul
Loralee Scott-Conforti, MFA
"To paint what we see before us is a different matter from painting what we see within."
--Carl Jung, Modern Man In Search of a Soul
The artist understands that creativity comes from a place separate from cognitive, conscious, thought. The dancer understands how to physically connect to this place and give it graceful expression. Perhaps this is what Martha Graham was referring to when she said "The body doesn't lie." Learning to tell a story through movement connects us to a place of deep authenticity that can be transformative.
Embodied Story is a process of learning to listen to the hidden stories that our bodies carry within them and then give them expression in the outer world. It is a holistic approach to engaging the creative unconscious that will encourage participants to embody the pre-verbal images of their own psyches in order to open up new perspectives and insights. It will challenge them to push the envelope in terms of the consciously and/or culturally imposed limitations that may be keeping them “stuck” in patterns which are limiting their personal and professional growth.
The Poetry of the Soul
Loralee Scott-Conforti, MFA
"To paint what we see before us is a different matter from painting what we see within."
--Carl Jung, Modern Man In Search of a Soul
The artist understands that creativity comes from a place separate from cognitive, conscious, thought. The dancer understands how to physically connect to this place and give it graceful expression. Perhaps this is what Martha Graham was referring to when she said "The body doesn't lie." Learning to tell a story through movement connects us to a place of deep authenticity that can be transformative.
Embodied Story is a process of learning to listen to the hidden stories that our bodies carry within them and then give them expression in the outer world. It is a holistic approach to engaging the creative unconscious that will encourage participants to embody the pre-verbal images of their own psyches in order to open up new perspectives and insights. It will challenge them to push the envelope in terms of the consciously and/or culturally imposed limitations that may be keeping them “stuck” in patterns which are limiting their personal and professional growth.
Artistic Presentations:
Fancifool! with Ananda Bena-Weber
|
|
FANCIFOOL! is a brilliantly constructed and entertaining piece of 21st century theater, complete with dramatic and comic dialogue, singing, dancing, mime, vocal impressions and film. The nimble writing ranges from the hilarious to the poignant. Ananda Bena-Weber embodies a diverse assortment of comic and sympathetic characters, touching your heart while simultaneously revealing the humorous side of 21st century life in New York City. In this fast-paced time of ever evolving technology, how do human-beings preserve those sweet and sentimental things that give life its magic – love, poetry, humor, and the beauty and grace of the natural world? Fancifool opens this conversation in a way that leaves the audience feeling uplifted, energized, and filled with hope for the future.
Artist Portfolio Gallery
Enjoy a wine and cheese reception while viewing the creative portfolio presentations of students in the Assisi Institute's Patterns of the Creative Unconscious Course. Meet and talk with the artists.
Artists Displaying Portfolios will be:
Susan Adams
Philip Bechtel
Renee Belair
Skye Burn
Jessica Boylston
Kay Clarke
Deborah Clifford
Dara Hopp
Nader Khaghani
Leila Khazaneh
Ellen Kudrnac
Evie Lindeman
Dorica Nevin
Matthew Thomas
Artists Displaying Portfolios will be:
Susan Adams
Philip Bechtel
Renee Belair
Skye Burn
Jessica Boylston
Kay Clarke
Deborah Clifford
Dara Hopp
Nader Khaghani
Leila Khazaneh
Ellen Kudrnac
Evie Lindeman
Dorica Nevin
Matthew Thomas
Black & White
A Dance and Mixed Media Editorial
Downloadable Conference Schedule
| aug._conf._2015_pdf.pdf |