Several years ago, I took a parents class at my church. We got together on Saturday mornings, in the cool fall like now. I don't actually remember a lot of the specifics of the class itself, I think we talked about creating rituals with our kids, for one, and we did a few creative projects in class that we would be able to do with our kids.
One of the things that we learned about ourselves in this class, was that we really enjoyed getting together as a group. We were maybe 10 women, and one man, with kids all right around the same age, who all really felt inspired by and connected to each other. When the weekly class ended, we didn't want it to stop. We came up with a plan to continue meeting, on a monthly basis, to explore more creative ideas, and share ideas with each other, we'd each take turns leading.
That part, the getting together after the official class was done, that's the part that stands out in my mind the most. We made plaster casts of our faces, learned some yoga, wove, and danced. We enjoyed our time together. The group shrank every week, unfortunately, the spirit was willing, but the families were busy.
One week, when I think we had only three of us show up, we made silhouettes of ourselves. We commented that it was perfect that there were three of us, one to hold the light, one to trace the shadow, one to sit and be traced. I think the plan all along was to make a collage out of our silhouette, but that morning all we had time to do was the tracing, and my posterboard with pencil sketch outline stood in the back of my closet for a while. I pulled it out a few months later to color in the outline, another year later painted the background. All the time collecting possible pictures. A couple years ago, I collaged on the pictures that you see in this photo, complete with 'art car' painted lavendar and covered in seashells, these pictures being the dreams or goals or ideas that were in my head at that time. I hung it up then, and I have added a few things since then, sometimes just jotting a note as I walk by. So many things have changed since I hung it up, and many more have changed since the origional day of group silhouetting, but I am still me, and the 'things inside my head' haven't changed too much in all that time.
