
I've led many groups through my workshops, but this was the first time I would be breaking down what I was doing and therefore sharing not just the activities and experience, but the logic and intentionality of everything I would share. I worked on a heady presentation with theory and concepts and then a couple days before showtime, I scrapped that plan and instead focused on giving the teachers a deep experience of the concepts so that they would feel interested in pursuing whatever inspired them in what I was presenting. After stressing about the details of my workshop, when it came down to it, being relaxed, real, and playful was the way to go.

I was squeezed into the (sufficiently spacious) teachers lounge/kitchen and had to come up with a way of adapting all the activities onto paper sheets (rather than sand boxes, forested pathway, pavement squares, and so much more that I had intended! to engage). Everything t worked! It wasn't at all the same as roving about the school grounds, but it worked anyhow- all the activities translated well, even the many experimental ones. Lots of stuff I *couldn't* do, but I had enough to carry the session, letting everyone experience the magic of collaborative art.
We played painting games with water, sand, and chalk. It was a sight to have 25 adults huddled on the floor around squares of paper.
This session was mostly adapted from a teacher's resource I've been working on for making largescale art. (It's a work in progress that has been stalled for a few years, awaiting renewed vigor as well as real teacher input. If it sounds intriguing to you to work on with me, give me a holler!) In a future post I will speak about the principles I follow which I shared with the teachers, ones I feel form the basis of powerful explorations into self expression and group connection.
