Through my life of teaching and creating art, I have come to believe that creativity offers a portal into the magic and deepening of life. If we focus our intention, we can learn to honor our selves, the creative process, and the artwork that we create.
WORKSHOPS
& TEACHING
Judith Ann Cooper is a visual artist and teacher who works with individuals and groups to offer support and creative opportunities. She invites clients into a safe space for conversation and for brainstorming creative ways to give visual language to what their hearts are feeling. This can be especially helpful during transitional times. Creating art has sustained her during her own personal journey, and she offers others guidance in learning to use this process for themselves.
Always interested in spiritual, personal, and creative development, Judith received a Certificate of Completion for participating in the Spiritual Guidance Program at the Rowe Conference Center in Rowe, MA from 2016 to 2018. This program is “designed to engage the head, the heart, and the body, as well as the spirit…to deepen [participants] own spiritual growth and facilitate others in the process.” It “encompasses both theory and practice, with an emphasis on direct experience.” Judith enjoyed the intensity of the program and the range of all its components. She also felt affirmed as to how she’s holding the space for others to grow in her workshops.
You are invited to make an appointment to visit the studio for tea and conversation to see what type of art workshop or teaching session might be of interest to you. Click below for more information:
Spirituality/Creativity Workshop: The Archetypal Figure
Growing Through Grief, Healing the Heart
Spirituality/Creativity Workshop: The Archetypal Figure
Archetypal Guide by Judith Ann Cooper
When spirit intersects with art and the creative process, it can help us grow and bring us to a deeper understanding and relationship with our own souls. Combining art and spirituality can also surprise and inspire us through a sense of wonder and the use of imagination.
Goal
This workshop offers a journey within our selves with the intention of discovering an archetype that will lead to the creation of a meaningful piece of art. An archetype is a Jungian psychological term for something that gives shape and form to your energy and how it manifests in your life. A good analogy for an archetype is a skeleton is to the body as an archetype is to the psyche. We will each create a human figure that is embodied with the energy of our chosen archetype. This can then become a symbol that inspires us to honor, heal, empower, or celebrate this aspect of ourselves.
Process
The first part of the workshop is self-exploratory and will use an exercise, which involves identifying 12 archetypes and exploring how they resonate with our life experience. The second part of the workshop will be creating a ‘doll’ or ‘figure’ based on one of those archetypes. For assistance with inner exploration we will use creative process, guided visualization, group dialogue and journaling. We will also look at images to inspire us and will welcome our dreams and passions as collaborators.
Requirements
Artistic training is not necessary but a willingness to be introspective is important. Intention, commitment and care are needed to create a piece of art that is more than technique and is connected to our core. Self-exploration takes courage, and I see myself as a guide for navigating this journey in a safe and supportive environment. In this process a structure will be provided that will assist you in finding the archetypal possibility that you choose to work with as well as manifesting it creatively.
Benefits
Participating in spiritual/creative work enriches our lives by opening portals in ways that are powerful and fulfilling. It also serves to integrate parts of ourselves by honoring and respecting who we are and who we are growing to be.
Format and Cost
Twelve 3-hour group sessions; $850 for twelve sessions + $50 materials fee. The frequency of the meetings depends on the group that is created: meeting every 2 – 3 weeks is suggested.
Growing Through Grief, Healing the Heart
“Judith listens compassionately and without judgement. She is encouraging and inspiring. With her help, I am moving through my grief, transforming it...and finding my way forward.”
- D.W.
Grief by Judith Ann Cooper
Mom-dala by Donna Weintraub. This collage honored the life of Donna's mother and evolved over private sessions with Judith.
Description
Throughout the living of a life there are many times we experience loss: of a loved one, a relationship, a job, a home or community, or one's health and well being. Creating art can provide a focus for the feeling that perhaps don't know where to go. Creative expression can be a way to navigate through the grieving process - to heal, to honor, to transform the pain, and to move forward.
Private, one-on-one sessions available. Please email or call for details.
Coming from Sacred Intention
“I love this workshop! I so appreciate the dedication, commitment, planning and energy you have given to each one of us. You have provided not only an atmosphere of exploration and acceptance, but have also given us the opportunity to take risks and express our inner voices. Thank you for demonstrating the focus, passion and wonder of the creative process!”
- E.M.
Art Created From Self Exploration,
Honoring Process and Product
Goal
This workshop offers a journey within our selves with the intention of discovering a concept that will lead to the creation of a meaningful piece of art. What is created can then become a symbol for something that deeply matters to us. With time and attention, we will explore what is within ourselves that wants to be honored, healed, empowered, celebrated or simply attended to. What matters most is the personal connection from which we draw the inspiration for our creative piece.
Process
For assistance with inner exploration we will use creative process, guided visualization, dialogue and journaling. We will also look at images to inspire us and will welcome our dreams and passions as collaborators. Involvement, focused attention, and personal responsibility will all assist us in connecting with and gaining from the overall experience.
Requirements
Artistic training is not necessary. However, intention, commitment and care are needed to create a piece of art that is more than technique and is connected to our core. Self-exploration takes courage, and I see myself as guide and partner for navigating this journey in a safe and supportive environment. In this way I will help you in discovering where it is you wish to travel within yourself, and in finding creative possibilities which honor that choice.
Benefits
Participating in creative work enriches our lives by opening portals in ways that are powerful and fulfilling. It also serves to integrate parts of ourselves by honoring and respecting who we are and who we are growing to be.
Format and Cost
Three, 3-4 hour group sessions on alternate Saturdays (or a different day can be arranged), plus one private 1-2 hour brainstorming session; 10 participants maximum. $250 (negotiable on an individual basis)
Teaching Sessions
“Through my life of teaching and creating art, I have come to believe that creativity offers a portal into the magic and deepening of life. If we focus our intention, we can learn to honor our selves, the creative process, and the artwork we create.”
- Judith Ann Cooper
Judith is available for teaching group and private sessions in her Lexington, Massachusetts studio. These creative sessions can be either technique or concept based, with each session collaboratively tailored to meet the personal needs of the participant(s). The sessions are designed to challenge the individual perspectives and perceptions of each person’s creative abilities, in a nurturing and creative environment.
Examples of technique-based creative sessions
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Learning how to draw from observation; utilizing “drawing from the right side of the brain techniques
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Learning hand-building (pinch, slab and coil) and glaze techniques with clay, oxidation firing
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Using fiber and/or fabrics for a wall-piece or ritual garment: finger weaving (Osage braiding), patchwork and appliqué, embroidery and bead embellishment
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Using found and natural objects for a creative piece
Examples of concept-based creative sessions:
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Creating a piece that is representative or symbolic of personal transition, transformation, or life process
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Creating a piece that honors, empowers, or heals something within us that needs attention
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Discovering a concept that we are passionate about and then choosing appropriate materials
TEACHER
JUDITH ANN COOPER, BFA, MA
Although I was trained as a painter, the joy I receive from creating has led me to utilize many different materials: fibers and textiles, clay, graphite and pastels, and mixed media with found objects. Each material offers very different responses and possibilities for my creative process and for the resulting finished piece of work. My art has been exhibited in studio tours and galleries, and is in corporate and private collections.
Since my childhood in Manhattan I’ve created art. After earning a BFA from Boston University, with a major in painting and a minor in education, I taught art in the Gloucester Public Schools for 28 years. There my primary focus was on high school courses in ceramics, drawing, and portfolio preparation for those applying to art school.
Retiring from public education in 1999 gave me the chance to concentrate on my art, work with private clients and delve into graduate studies at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in California and Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I received a Masters with a specialization in Art and Self-Transformation. I am particularly interested in working with individuals and groups who wish to delve more deeply into their life process and create a piece of art that honors that journey.
Cooper Studio in Lexington, Massachusetts