January 28, 2025 @ 6:00 pm – February 18, 2025 @ 8:00 pm
Reclayming Space to Build Community
Tuesdays January 28 to February 18, 2024
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
For ages 18+
How do we nurture love for ourselves, one another, and our world?
The simple practice of breath connects us with our shared humanity. Learn how to breathe slower, relaxing into the core of the body, breathing low and slow with clay to be in rhythm with all things. Through clay, breath, and presence we remember a sense of belonging. Moving with the malleability of clay, we connect with our own spirit of generosity and possibility. As a community of practice, we generate spaciousness for all beings, past, present, and future.
Guided by a registered psychotherapist, explore the dance between breath and clay through a series of hand-building exercises designed to awaken the present moment. Moving with one body, one breath, one human family, we learn to interrupt habits of separation and create space for all to thrive.
The emphasis is on the process of working with clay, not being attached to the product we create. At the end of each workshop we return the clay to its original form letting go of what was created ready to begin anew.
Class dates: January 28, February 4, 11, 18
Important Information:
- Please ensure the course you choose works with your schedule. For any withdrawals, a non-refundable fee of $50 fee per course will be charged, regardless of the reason for withdrawal. No withdrawals will be accepted within 10 business days of the class start date, regardless of the reason for withdrawal.
- By signing up for this class, participants are committing to abide by the Museum’s Code of Conduct, Ticketing Policy, and Studio Policy.
Gardiner Friends, please log in to access your discount and front-of-the-line access. Gardiner Friends may only purchase adult clay classes at the discounted rate for membership card holders.
Instructor
Suzanne Thomson, Zen Buddhist practitioner and registered art therapist
Suzanne Thomson is ceramic artist, registered psychotherapist, and art therapist with over 30 years of experience integrating these practices to facilitate healing, community building, and social transformation work. As a practitioner of Zen Buddhism with training in contemplative arts, sensorimotor psychotherapy, narrative therapy and trauma-informed approaches, she offers psychotherapy, clinical supervision, and has taught at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute and the University of Toronto. Transformation by Fire: Women Overcoming Violence Through Clay, a 10-year retrospective at the Gardiner Museum facilitated by Suzanne, won the 2013 OMA Award of Excellence in Exhibitions. It is a direct reflection of Suzanne’s deep commitment to working collaboratively to address social justice issues through the arts.