10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Martina Sestakova 

No matter what ‘balance’ may mean to you, the theme will inspire us during a guided meditation and a visual exploration of ‘balance’ in a mandala. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have created a one-of-a-kind artwork communicating your particular experience. No experience needed.

Suggested Materials: 

Materials (gather what works best for you):

  • cardstock paper
  • colored pencils
  • markers
  • watercolors or acrylics
  • brush
  • paper
  • cup with water
  • paper towel
  • pencil
  • pen
  • paper

*You are welcome to use any materials for the mandala that you enjoy even if they are not listed. Martina Sestakova, your instructor, will create a sample artwork combining watercolor paints and colored pencils.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Martina Sestakova

Martina Sestakova (owner at RADOST) engages in textile design, painting, and art education. Martina creates scarves that invoke stories of life experiences. Her scarves have been featured on Voice of America and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC). In her paintings on yupo, she communicates words through colors and shapes. Her artworks have been shown at the Adah Rose Gallery (MD) and Latela Curatorial (DC) and other art institutions. As an art educator, Martina offers workshops and brings creativity to the public and communities with limited access to the arts. Martina Sestakova resides in Kensington, MD.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing olivia@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Theresa Esterlund

Practice mindfulness in a new way and open to being – with yourself, with each other, with the present moment. In this workshop, you’ll be guided in a slow looking activity around a single work of art from the Joan Hisaoka gallery as a technique for accessing inner wisdom and sparking creative flow. In conjunction with this mindfulness practice, you’ll use a series of prompts and poetry writing techniques to express yourself through the written word, individually and collectively. You’ll discover new insights and fresh perspectives as you build empathy and learn to integrate this type of practice into your journey.

By slowing down as you look, you’ll be invited to explore personal insights, reflections, and ideas. You’ll also have an opportunity to practice opening to other perspectives and points of view through group participation. Slow looking (or slow art) comes out of the “slow” movement and is often intended to help you look at and learn about artwork, especially if you are not as comfortable or familiar with art. It can be applied to any kind of looking or listening (at a tree, a piece of music, another person), and when infused with mindfulness, it can be a powerful way to connect with yourself and each other.

Suggested Donation: $15/session


About Theresa Esterlund

Theresa Esterlund is an artist, educator, and mindfulness guide whose teaching draws from her deep experience and expertise. In her mindfulness practices, she facilitates pathways for integrated mindful living, creating environments for personal exploration and transformation that are based on individual experiences. Theresa’s collages are windows that open to the inside—as well as abstract landscapes and other arrangements. She currently brings her love of gathering, sorting, and composing to letterpress, which also gives her a path to integrate words and phrases from her poetry. After retiring from a professional career in museum education, Theresa channeled her vision to inspire compassionate connections into a stationery business, Open to Being, that reflects the intersection of her mindfulness and artistic practices.

10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.

10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.

10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing olivia@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Gayle Danley, national & international poetry slam champion

Gayle Performing Poetry in Frederick, MD
Gayle Performing in Frederick, MD

Slam poetry began in Chicago’s bars and coffeehouses in the late 1980’s. This phenomenal blend of spoken and written word turns every willing soul into a poet while providing relief from the stresses of the day. Master teaching artist Gayle Danley has shared her down-on-the-floor style of performance poetry all over the country in classrooms, lecture halls, theatres and even on CBS’ 60 minutes.

 

Join her for much laughter, emotion, comfort, understanding and instruction in the art of slam poetry. Her 4-step process has been tried in the fire and proven to be an effective antidote to the blues of the day and the isolation that threatens to drive us mad!

Suggested Donation: $15


Poem for my Sisters With Sons:
Breathe:
Pull a clean fist of air inside your self
and let it rest there
wide and unfrightened inside your belly
asking for nothing
Remember when the baby boy was there
Stirring and fighting and kicking things around
inside of you.
And where is he now?
Kicking at air
asking for everything
Defiance rippling on the edge of his skin
Beautiful as water
And do not worry if your brown boy 
doesn’t smile enough
as long as he still smiles at you:
over dinner
over the news
from beneath a curtain of hair tangled and sprawled,
it is enough
Does he still know your name?
Good.
Does he still reach for you when there is blood
Does he still make you want to kill him on Monday mornings
and kill FOR him on Saturday nights?
Good
Is he still
breathing
good 
good 
good
Your turn:
breathe
again
until all
the air you can find
makes home
 within your body
Your black sad
scared hopeful body
Round and trembling
like your mother’s
Rest now
tomorrow will come before you know it
with her hair on fire and her knee on your neck
Your son knows you are his home
He has memorized all the valleys in your voice
every scream and grin
He ain’t going anywhere far
He is not leaving you
He will not vanish
he will not stray
Your breath is his
Your love is his
Never leaving
never dying
never going
away

And, check out more of Gayle’s work on YouTube here!


About Gayle Danley

Gayle Danley

Soon after crushing the competition at Asheville’s National Poetry Slam in 1994, Gayle Danley entered America’s classrooms teaching thousands of children how to access their emotions through the force of words. She performed and taught her way from Maryland Young Audience’s Artist of the Year, to National Young Audience’s Artist of the Year. She’s also both a former national and international poetry slam champion. CBS 60 Minutes profiled her work with middle schoolers as well as the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and New York Times.

For the past five years, Gayle’s Grieffriend sessions have helped women who are living with AIDS, widows, incarcerated youth and those struggling with drug addiction and recovery use poetry to cope and bravely face life’s challenges.

Gayle was recently named Maryland Library Association Poet of the Year.

10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.

10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.

10AM-12PM SESSION – This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Noelle Imparato

This workshop provides a safe and powerful learning container using community building and a “mindfulness painting” practice to foster healing, spiritual awakening, and personal transformation.

You are invited to work from the heart and express your drama in forms and colors. As you paint, you process your emotions and liberate yourself from the psychological and physical disease they may cause. This is a workshop for processing feelings through painting and group sharing. It is not a good space for finishing existing projects and using other mediums.

By intentionally focusing on the emotional process rather than the artistic product, participants are able to unleash their creative powers and produce striking works, while by sharing their creative process they gain the insight and wisdom often hidden in works created in a state of letting go.

For more information about Painting for Life and what you can expect during a session, please explore this manual:

PFL MANUAL

Participants are encouraged to drop-in for any session and attend as many sessions as they would like.

Session Schedule:

The Painting For Life workshop on Zoom consists of a 1-hour painting session framed by a 30 minute opening circle (which can often be 45 minutes) and a 30 minute closing circle.

Opening Circle – In the opening circle we build a safe and powerful We-Space
community characterized by “presencing,” sharing with honesty and integrity, deep listening, and resonating in harmony with each other. Noelle will start this opening circle by giving a quick prompting and end it with a 3-minute meditation before sending people off to paint for exactly 1 hour.

1-hour Painting Session – Participants paint at home, using cheap materials such as paper, tempera paints, watercolors, acrylics, or pastels, Crayolas, and even color pens. When the hour is over, people take a picture of their painting and text it to Noelle before coming back to the Zoom room.

Closing Circle – Noelle then shares each painting on the screen as people explore their process while the group may offer feedback and further insights get sparked. We end this closing circle with a group hugs as we shout “May all beings be happy!” thus fusing personal and collective healing together.

Suggested Donation: $15


About Noelle Imparato

Armed with a PhD and her lifelong experience, Noelle Imparato created Painting For Life, a process art painting workshop envisioned as a tool for healing, awakening, and personal transformation. After 20 years of running it from her home studio in Los Angeles, France, Spain, and Baltimore, she moved to Zoom due to the pandemic. It allowed her community to grow more international with participants from Canada, Europe, and India. Noelle’s life experience includes training and working in architecture and film, a Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology, a 30-year mindfulness meditation practice, and a multitude of retreats especially at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur CA. She is currently writing “Painting For Life,” a 2-volume book about her personal experience with the healing power of art, and the method she
developed with her workshop.