"You can't have everything.
Where would you put it?"
--- Steven Wright

Life Passages
Series of Mini-Classes

In this 5 week series of classes you'll create five - 5X7 collage cards following Angeles Arrien's model of the five stages in a person's life: The Child, The Youth, The Adult, The Elder, and The Essence . We will discuss the symbolic and archetypal meaning of each stage and touch lightly on the physiology of each.

There will be time for a short discussion of the cards at the end of each session. We'll save most of our insights for the last class, in which the value of mapping your own life can become evident.

We will also show you how to mock up your cards to turn them into greeting cards to send to friends and family.

This series of five classes can be taken one class at a time or as a series. If you take the entire Series you will receive a discount.

Leap Frog Studio has been offering Workshops and Classes since 1998

Leapfrog Studio Collage Works

Class Descriptions

Hearts Desire

This all day workshop explores the meaning of desire and the many various qualities for which the heart is a symbol. Participants will have an opportunity to express their personal desires. We'll lead a meditation to open the heart chakra and call upon our intuition to guide this work. The finished collages will symbolize that which your Heart Desires in the present moment.

There will be time to share your finished work. Projects will be ready to hang. All materials are supplied. This class is open to all levels ... beginners to experienced artists.

Mixed-Media
Techniques Class

This is a 1 full day workshop usually held on a Saturday. It is designed for those who are interested in expanding their knowledge of collage/mixed-media techniques. We create a Sampler of Techniques using special papers, magazine images, acrylic paint, watercolor crayons, colored pencils, inks, stamps & pens.

We will explore masking, painting, cutting vs tearing, resist, glazing, layering, windows and doors, plus expando. Types of glue, mediums, and care of supplies will also be covered. There will be time to share our work with one another.

The Winter Bear

Just as the bear enters her cave at the onset of winter, so do we humans use the dark time of the year to tell tales, dream dreams and reflect on the past/future of our lives.

Drawing on fable, folk tale and facts from Bear’s winter cycle, we will explore through the creation of a collage such questions as: What dreams am I carrying? How might I reinterpret my perennial stories? What will I give birth to in the spring?

We end this all day workshop by exploring the insights and beauty of our completed collages.

Coyote Workshop Mapping the Shadow

In many Native American Traditions Coyote is the Trickster. His tools are mischief and humor. He is sometimes benign but not always kind.

Coyote prowls the boundaries of our blind-spots marking them with his scents, calling attention to the margins of this shadowy landscape so that we may perhaps find a way to cross the borders and explore the unknown.

"Shadow" is a name for the patterns, actions and beliefs which live in our unconscious. Our all day Coyote Workshop is an experiment in shadow work. We've developed a few tricks to help you by-pass the gates of consciousness and allow some new information to come forward. During the day will talk about collage techniques and hear a Coyote tale or two. There will be time to share and comment on our completed collages.

Mandala

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘whole world’. Traditionally, mandalas represent the eternal wheel of becoming and unbecoming and appear most often as circles or as circles contained in squares.

During this all day workshop you will create your own personal Mandala. It will represent the universe of you, as you are in the moment. We will talk about Mandalas and the inner Critic. You will select your own personal images and experiment with intuitive play. At the end of the day projects will be ready to hang. Participants will present their work to each other for praise and feed back.This is an excellent class to take if you’re just beginning your exploration of Collage. It is open to all levels ... beginners to experienced.

The Goddess Within

This all day workshop is designed to call forth the Inner Goddess. She represents the Sacred Feminine. She shows herself wearing many faces and moving in mysterious ways. We will allow the hand and heart of the Goddess to guide us. Together we will create a space of abundance and ease in which the Divine Feminine can manifest within our collages. There will be time to share our finished work.

The Medicine Wheel

This workshop adapts Native American teachings related to the traditional medicine wheel, which places certain archetypes in each of the four directions. These are different for men and women.

We will talk about the symbolism of each archetype and the direction. Most of the time will involve hands-on experimentation. You will create your own personal wheel/shield using collage techniques you will learn along the way. There will be time to share your completed project. Art will be ready to hang.

Age With Joy

This six week Series explores the glories and triumphs of becoming an Elder. We'll use the creative process to reveal the mastery of skills, talents and accomplishments each of us acquires by the time we’ve reached that "certain age." The workshop celebrates the freedom and responsibility this time of life brings. Yet, the interior work is never completely finished. Having resolved major issues we now have the time and skill to refine and reflect on more subtle levels.

The themes we will cover are ... Standing Between Heaven and Earth (Staff) ... Walking Your Talk (Shoes) ... The Wisdom of Baubo and Aphrodite (Apron) ... Grandmother Warrior (Breastplate) ... What Do Women Want?(Crown) ... Matrx, Context, Continuum(Cloak).

The Series will begin and end with a full day workshop. We will also spend four evenings together. All day sessions run from 9:30 to 5:00, evening sessions are from 6:00 to 9:00. If the group wishes, there will be a public sharing of our art and process. All materials included except shoes.

The Queen's Cloak
A half day Sampler Class

This is a "Sampler" class in which we offer a preview of our six-session, Joy of Aging Workshop. We are basing this workshop on The Queen's Cloak: A Myth for Mid-Life by Joan Chamberlain Englesman. We'll tell you her fairy tale and help you create a collage which embodies the elements of your own "Coming of age" story. There will be time at the end of the session to share and exchange insights and to admire each other's creation.