Organizers of the Bodhisattva Boot Camp have offered 10 workshops over a summer agenda. They range from a day of teaching about peace (held last June 17 with over 30 participants) to a two-day session on speaking and listening from the heart to be offered Aug. 12 to 13. The program closes with a meditation and stress reduction session on Aug. 26 and 27.
All the programs involve creativity, says organizer Bonni Ross. "Whether we're working with clay or paints, all involve art as part of what we're doing," she said.
The focus for art expression will be a nine-day workshop, "Art Full Heart, Mind Full Art," offered July 22 to 30 by renowned Edmonton artist Robert Sinclair.
Though Sinclair retired from his university teaching position six years ago, he has not stopped painting or instructing, preferring to teach workshops in scenic locations such as Red Deer and Waterton Lakes. Mountain landscapes are his forte, though he has recently exhibited at a solo show of prairie landscapes in which the grasslands, the weather and the sky of his Saskatchewan birthplace are depicted.The Coast workshop will be a combination of what Sinclair calls mindful exercises along with the art. Participants will stimulate the creative process through visualizations and other exercises drawn from Sinclair's background in tai chi and Buddhist meditation. One of the exercises involves students making brush marks on the paper by moving the body, not the hand, in an effort to unblock.It's all about confidence building. He'll spend two or three days on drawing, then show how to mix colour. Some will move on to landscapes in their chosen medium; others will want to stay with drawing. The process will move organically. Once, during a workshop in Waterton, the class arrived thinking they would paint wildflowers -an idea that was based on the text of an inaccurate brochure. Sinclair went with the flow and the result was a series of wildflower paintings that everyone was happy about. This flow - the way he works with his paintings - is also the way he works with people.
"I'm open to anyone, beginner or professional, attending the class," Sinclair says. "In my classes, one third to one half of the people have never done art before."
Art Full Heart will take place in the natural light venue of Eric Cardinall Hall in Gibsons. Fee is $500 for the nine-day program. For registration, call Katherine Raaby at 604-885-6717 at the Path of Peace Study Centre or look on the website: www.retreathouse.bc.ca/pathofpeace.
