• Fosters Visual & verbal literacy 
  • Image-based symbolic creativity
  • Embodied imagination 
  • Multi-modal & integration 
  • Holistic & synthetic perception
  • Personal & collective healing 
  • Body-mind-spirit connection
  • Understanding, integration & retention
  • Life wellbeing & success

You are recreating yourself

All art is said to be a self-portrait and at the root of art (s)-based research or ABR is the truth that you are creating yourself as a body of art. This art is a form of embodied wisdom that is uniquely adapted to reach unconscious and collective material beyond our conscious perception. It is natural & emergent like a seed growing out of us to bridge above and below, art is both transcendent and immanent, a living force and unstoppable power that creates and evolves us. The trick is to find out how YOU work with art in YOUR way.

People learn through art in different ways

Find your way

LearnWorlds is the best learning platform I found so far. I was pleasantly surprised with the possibilities.
art-based
LearnWorlds is the best learning platform I found so far. I was pleasantly surprised with the possibilities.
art-informed
LearnWorlds is the best learning platform I found so far. I was pleasantly surprised with the possibilities.
art-influenced
  • Explore different mediums
  • techniques & approaches
  • a
  • Multi-modal & integral 
  • Holistic & transdisciplinary
  • Personal & collective
  • Painting: abstract & realistic
  • Writing: poetry & story
  • Musical: singing & drumming

What will you learn?

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Modern Artists

Friends & Guests

From multi-media collage to felt, ceramic, mosaic, sacred geometry, and more, artists of different disciplines have gathered to give talks, interviews, demonstrations and more. Come explore the power of art.

Archetypal Examples

Visionaries through Time

Going back through time, artist examples serve as archetypal stepping stones to guide and teach us. From Jung to Picasso, O'keefe to Kahlo, these visionaries show us a way forward in our time.

Heather's Experience 

Learning & Healing

Combining over 4 decades of study on the power of art with graphic recording & facilitation training, Heather offers ways to learn and transform through art from mind mapping to nature-based ritual. 

Art-Based Learning

  • Embodied Gnosis
  • Level: Intro
  • Study time: X hours
  • Video time: X hours
  • a
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Teaching that heals core wounds

At 
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".
  • Opposites of mind & body 
  • Right & Left brain hemispheres
  • Conscious and Unconscious
  • Personal & collective unconscious 
  • Inner "Masculine" & "Feminine"
  • Spiritual & Material
  • Sy
  • Writing: poetry & story
  • Musical: singing & drumming
Art is a way to learn that is creative, holistic & natural

You evolved to learn through art

Humans evolved over 45,000 years of art (vs 4,500 years of writing). You were made for this! 

Art connects to the deep unconscious and its embodied wisdom & wounds.

To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage.
georgia o'Keeffe
I never make a painting as a work of art. It's all research . . . The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. Everything you can imagine is real.
Pablo Picasso
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".

Examples of ABR in art history

At 
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".
Art intuitively apprehends coming changes in the collective unconsciousness.
carl jung

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Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
Edgar Degas

Embodied and Holistic Education

We are in a time of rediscovery, remembering the past and past ways of knowing. The word idea comes from the Latin root "to see," and this art offers an embodied gnosis that is inclusive & transdisciplinary. Art includes forms from painting to poetry & dance with an emphasis on the visual, embodied & nonverbal to restore balance and greater efficacy (and fun) in education.
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".

Remember Visual Thought:
A Time to Remember Past Knowing

Art-based research is a kit to help you explore creative ways of knowing. 
  • Creating Partnerships 
  • Fostering Collaboration
  • Forming Groups
  • Teaching Skills
  • Guiding Visualizations  
  • Charting Strategies
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".
The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".

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At 

This offering comes with a free monthly circle and discussion.

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You are an artist: 

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Soul Speaks in Images

This free offering is designed to help you work and play with art as a form of knowledge and language of the soul. 
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The Art of Making
The skill you need to become a real professional.
Develop your skills
Learn the tools used by the world's top professionals.
Read. Watch. Learn.
Boost your confidence, master "the field".
A medium of communication is not merely a passive conduit for the transmission of information but rather an active force in creating new social patterns and new perceptual realities . . .Revolutionary art and visionary physics are both investigations into the nature of reality. . . to imagine things other than they are is the essence of hope. It is also the stuff of revolution.
Leonard shlain 

Why now? We need a road map

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Who is this path for?

This path is designed to help students, teachers, families, and communities, because we know that we heal within circles of support together. Our offerings include journaling, prompts, and other activities designed to strengthen understanding and insight into not only the youth but the relationships around them. 

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Dream Journal

Begin to record your dreams

Combining words, drawings, and doodling, record your dreams. You can map the dreamscape and color it in or write stream of consciousness, whatever works to anchor the memory and experience for you to return, observe patterns, and learn lessons. 

Befriending Nightmares

Turn toward your fear

As hard (and silly) as it sounds, turning toward and befriending nightmares creates a surprising response: an ally. 

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Structure: You are held in CIRCLE

This is called Circle Passages because it is held in a circle. As you undergo your rite of passage there are 3 circles that provide safe passage.

A circle of ONE

whether student or teacher

This is a process that develops personal insight, healing, and understanding.

A family approach

made of siblings and parents

In this process you are held by your family as you heal and grow together 

A community CIRCLE

You are held in a larger circle

From beginning to end, you are held within the circle of your community.

Envision your future

At its heart this is a vision quest on which each step allows you to see further into your future, gaining insight on where you are going. Vocation means soul's call and rites of passage are designed as archetypal steps to lead you to a new identity, name, calling, and role in community. They help you step into your power and purpose in a new way. 

This does NOT have to be hard.

While rites of passage are traditionally rigorous, this does not have to be hard. What is more important is that your experience is meaningful and suited to you. This can mean staying in a cabin or a tent, out in the open or in a cave. Go within to follow your intuition and heart about where your rite of passage should take place and how long it should be. Each of these details is yours to decide. This is a reflection of you. 

12 weeks to a new sense of yourself

We begin and end with an opening and closing of the circle, as we come together. Week 1 & 2. Beginning with the stages of introduction and separation, you step away from your old life and self toward a new call and identity. Week 3 & 4. Learning about self-generated ritual and thresholds, you design your rite of passage, as we circle up together to create intentions. Week 5 & 6. Entering into your transformation, you experience time on the land before coming back into a circle of story and power. Week 7 & 8. Returning to integrate your experience within the circle of family and community, you embrace your new power, name, and identity, as you ground your experience in your daily life.

Week 0

Basic Skills (optional)

Like any pilgrimage or rite of passage, this journey begins with some preparation. So, we send out information on the path and process for you to read to orient you and open with a circle.

Week 13 and on

Continuing exploration & education

As 

Week 1

Introduction & Orientation

Like any pilgrimage or rite of passage, this journey begins with some preparation. So, we send out information on the path and process for you to read to orient you and open with a circle.

Week 2

Overcoming Resistance

As 

Week 3

Self-Reflection on Relationship to Art

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Week 4

Relating to Art as Teacher

Holding circle and beginning to separate from your old life.
What do you want to leave behind? 

Week 5

Art-based Research Ex. 1 Collage

Designing your rite of passage for YOU.
What do you want to bring with you and experience?

Week 6

Art-based Research Ex. 2

Circling up for intention: gather in ceremony.
Who are you and what calls you?

Week 7

Art-informed Research Ex. 1 Jung

Entering onto the land to transform and create a power circle.
What is your calling, purpose, and identity? 

Week 8

Art-informed Research Ex. 2

Returning into a circle of story, ceremony, and power.
How are you witnessed and mirrored in your power?

Week 9

Art-influenced Research Ex. 1

Re-entering family, tribe, and community as your new identity.
Who are you now in relationship with the world?

Week 10

Art-influenced Research Ex. 2

Rippling out in your new life, purpose, and vision.
What do you want to do looking forward?

Week 11

Week 1 Creating an initial circle

Like any pilgrimage or rite of passage, this journey begins with some preparation. So, we send out information on the path and process for you to read to orient you and open with a circle.

Week 12

Week 2  Expanding your circle

As 

Evolving & ongoing relationship

At its heart this is a vision quest on which each step allows you to see further into your future, gaining insight on where you are going. Vocation means soul's call and rites of passage are designed as archetypal steps to lead you to a new identity, name, calling, and role in community. They help you step into your power and purpose in a new way. 

Coursework and play . . .

Each week your content drops down for you below.

Nature is alive 

When we are in nature we come to life, realizing that not only nature but our nature is alive. We realize that we love life and are ready to live. Whether revealed through symbolic or synchronous experiences on the land or within your inner landscape as an inner vision or calling, your nature and nature work and play together to guide and transform you.

Envision your future

At its heart this is a vision quest on which each step allows you to see further into your future, gaining insight on where you are going. Vocation means soul's call and rites of passage are designed as archetypal steps to lead you to a new identity, name, calling, and role in community. They help you step into your power and purpose in a new way. 

Envision your future

At its heart this is a vision quest on which each step allows you to see further into your future, gaining insight on where you are going. Vocation means soul's call and rites of passage are designed as archetypal steps to lead you to a new identity, name, calling, and role in community. They help you step into your power and purpose in a new way. 

Return to your archetypal roots 

As a practice held throughout time but lost in our time, rites of passage return us to our human roots and to our authentic self. This is a call back into our body and the body of the land, but it is also a call back to ourselves, our families, and lives. Rites of passage bring us home.

A power instrument

Reflecting traditions throughout the ages, you get to create a rattle or a drum to help hold your vision. Constructed throughout your journey, you draw or decorate your instrument with symbolic images from your initiatory journey, embodied in an instrument that empowers your life.

Create a necklace

Make a symbolic image

Decorate a carved wooden pendant with a power image and cover it with glass. Then string your necklace with leather. Supply packets are available for groups.

Create a drum

Make a power instrument

Create a drum as a power circle to hold you on your quest and remind you of your passage. Recommendations for drum supplies are available on request.

Create a rattle

Tell your story your way

Decorate a rattle to take with you to mark your passage, tell your story, and symbolize your new name and identity. Rattle packets are available for groups.

You create a power circle

Your power circle is a circle that supports you on the land and in your life. To reinforce this circle, we offer drum or rattle making. Following ancient traditions, we embody our visions and calling in instruments as people have for thousands of years. Like all of the aspects of your rite of passage, the creation of an instrument is done your way, if you want.

You are telling your story

Retelling your story in your own way has the power to transform you and your life, taking control of the narrative of your past and future. So, we begin by keeping a nature journal--a journal of our nature and nature. This journal helps us move through the stages as we self-reflect and grow.

Open to the wisdom of lineage and land.

What calls to you to heal? It could be the call of your ancestors and family lineage as much as your d. It could be your soul, a song of the bird, or the beauty of the sunrise. On this path you will leave patterns in your past to move more fully into your future. Separation, transformation, and integration lead you to transform yourself but also those around you. 

Being in nature helps you self-reflect

When you are in nature you get in touch with your nature, becoming natural. In the mirror of nature you discover your power and receive the gift of your name and calling. Whether in the song of a bird, a vision in the sunrise, or a synchronous discovery, nature teaches you.

You are gifted in circle.

On your rite of passage you are given the gift of understanding who you are and what you are called to do and be. Though each passage is unique, the purpose of the passage throughout time has been to transition and transform people from one state of development and consciousness to another, so they can offer their gift to the world and their community.

The gift of time

On the land you have time to really be with yourself and discover who you are. In a time of unprecedented technology, this is a chance to be alone with yourself and get to know who you are. In the midst of constant contact, this is a chance to rest a recover, reflecting on where you have been and where you are going. Drop deep and remember yourself.