We made our own Power Figures! How many people can say that?

Last Saturday, January 26th, five of us met up at the Flint Institute of Arts and made our way to Studio 4 in the Art School wing. We all had our bags of token objects that we were told to bring but we still didn't really know what to expect from this workshop. We knew we were going to make some sort of a doll, that by the looks of the pictures in the FIA Winter catalog, looked like folk art. While we were waiting outside the room, to see if we were going to be able to get in (come to find out...they had limited space and we were not guaranteed a seat), the artist Vanessa German came out into the hallway to tell the FIA facilitator to "chop chop" we need to get started.

We took our places at the tables along side 15 or so other women and a few young girls. 15 minutes later we were in the throws of creation. Tables were filled with fabric and yarn, embellishments and shiny bits. We were told to choose 4 pieces of fabric that "spoke" to us. Instinctively scoop up what we were drawn to. Then we took our seats and tore a piece of paper into 3 pieces (that would later become the intentions that we incorporated into our art figures). Vanesa told us about putting our intentions into the universe with purpose, similar to how Tibetan monks place individual grains of rice into mandalas, and how it changes the frequency of energy in the room. A scientific and measurable shift. By writing down our specific intentions (of love, challenges we have over come and purpose) we were giving our figure a metaphoric power to be the extension of our intentions. Reading this you may think it sounds whacky but I'll tell you, there was a shift in the room. The process had begun and we were on board!