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/session


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.

In order to participate and to receive to Zoom invitation, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

with Kiersten Gallagher

Outside the Lines

Creative expression has often been used in the healing process and it is at the core of Smith Center’s philosophy, but fear of judgment and “not being an artist” can often prevent us from tapping into its healing power. Join us for Outside the Lines, where a facilitator will help you reclaim art-making as a healing tool through guided creative projects. Participants who feel comfortable working on their own projects are also welcome to do so.


Suggested donation: $15 per class

Our programs are open to the community, and tailored to meet the needs of people affected by cancer. Classes and workshops are free or low cost on a pay-as-you-can basis, ensuring that our programs are accessible to everyone.


About Kiersten Gallagher

Kiersten Gallagher

As the Cancer Support Program Director, Kiersten fully believes that through the arts we can expand our perspectives and explore new fulfilling ways of being. She invites you to make our space your own refuge, to circumvent your daily routine to spark creativity, to take time for introspection, and draw outside the lines.

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/session


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 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/session


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/session


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.

In order to participate, click the RSVP button above or please email programs@smithcenter.org.

with Renee Sandell, PhD

Join Renee Sandell for a hands-on, interactive art “workout,” designed to strengthen your sense of unity as a virtue for freedom. We will use her Balanced Way of Seeing® method to explore multiple layers of meaning in Norman Rockwell’s 1961 painting “Golden Rule,” created as part of his Four Freedoms series. We will consider this work and its timely relevance to our lives. Reflecting on past and present moments in our history, we can rediscover sources of our own unity and freedom.

  • Experience a hands-on, interactive art “workout” on Zoom
  • No previous art experience necessary
  • Simple supplies: White paper and a black Sharpie marker
  • Emailed post event: Unity Resource PDF

Suggested Donation: $20

Our programs are open to the community, and tailored to meet the needs of people affected by cancer. Classes and workshops are free or low cost on a pay-as-you-can basis, ensuring that our programs are accessible to everyone.


About Renee Sandell

Renee Sandell

Renee Sandell’s art, teaching, and research focus on Visual Fitness 4 All: Engaging Creativity and Insight® for EVERYONE. Renee is founder/director of the expeditionary, museum-based SummerVision DC Program, which she designed and has delivered for the National Art Education Association (NAEA) for 10 years since 2010. Previously Professor of Art Education at George Mason University (2004-2014) and at Maryland Institute College of Art (1990-2003), she is co-author of two books on gender issues and has published numerous articles, book chapters and art curricula. Winner of the 2019 Lowenfeld Award, Sandell was recognized as 2015-2016 Distinguished Lecturer in Art Education at Miami University and 2013 NAEA National Art Educator. Renee has received numerous awards for her leadership and scholarship on her Form+Theme+Context (FTC)® and her Marking & Mapping®, an accessible form of visual meaning-making. Sandell’s Visual Fitness 4 All® for Engaging Creativity and Insight® workshops are designed to nurture envisioning skills for individuals within professional development programs, organizations, health spas, businesses, and other venues. She has been offering Art & Virtues workshops since early in the Pandemic. Renee’s Smithsonian Associates studio courses include: “Curating a Life: Art as Memoir,” Seeing More: Art, Virtues, and Our Lives, and Visual Journaling: Creativity Workshop.

Learn more about Renee’s teaching at www.visualfitness4all.com Renee’s artwork includes artistic installations of multi-media markings on paper, board, and silk, to explore the human condition in time, space, and place. To learn more about Renee’s artwork, visit her website www.reneesandellart.com

Visual Fitness 4 ALL

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/session


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 session will be in-person. 

with guest artist Deborah Coffey

Outside the Lines: Then, Now, and When – A mixed media, Mood Board workshop

Our earliest memories reflect our innate qualities and values. In this creative arts workshop, we reconnect with our personal qualities, tracking them, like a red thread that moves from our early childhood to ‘Now’ and a desired future – that ‘When’ that we look forward to. A mood board is a place to collect and arrange images, objects and words that capture feeling and what matters in a healing journey. More precious objects, and objects that we want to remain fluid,
can be pinned to the board rather than glued.

We’ll be using the creativity supplies available at Smith Center.  We invite you to bring a childhood photo that resonates with you, as well as any natural materials (e.g., seeds, sticks, leaves) you’d like to include.


Suggested donation: $25

Our programs are open to the community, and tailored to meet the needs of people affected by cancer. Classes and workshops are free or low cost on a pay-as-you-can basis, ensuring that our programs are accessible to everyone.


About Deborah Coffey

Deborah Coffey, BFA MFA, is an artist, certified art educator and mindfulness and Mindful Self-Compassion instructor. She has taught art and mindfulness courses domestically and internationally for many years while also exhibiting her artwork. Deborah especially enjoys facilitating programs for adults and teens that combine mindfulness and art.

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/session


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.