Join Smith Center staff for a social hour of community and connection!
Memorial Art: Home Based Studio Experience
Memorial Art is a home-based studio experience where participants can improvise with materials and create a personal and meaningful experience.
Memorial Art allows participants to explore meaningful objects around them.
These objects may be relics, artifacts, photos of loved ones or places, and more.
Goal: To help artists reconnect to their happy place through the art making process
This 6-month integrative wellness series, sponsored by The Washington Home, will be offered to caregivers, those who are critically ill, and those facing cancer-related challenges during this especially difficult time.
Outside the Lines is held Bi-Monthly on Wednesdays from 10:30am – 12:30pm.
Upcoming sessions:
Kunle Adewale)Suggested donation: $10 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.
Kunle Adewale, is an artist and a development practitioner by profession. He is a graduate of Fine and Applied Arts (Painting and Art History), from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. To hone his skills in leadership, he studied Civic Leadership at Tulane University, New Orleans. His penchant for utilizing arts within the healthcare system spurred him into participating in related professional courses such as: Arts in Health for Helping Professionals in Charlotte; Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida, United States, and Arts in Health Research Intensive, organised by Center for Arts in Medicine, University of Florida in collaboration with University College London.
Kunle did not stop there. In his quest for more knowledge in the field of Arts in Medicine, he also bagged certificates in: Understanding Dementia and Arts, from University College London (UCL) and, Medicine and The Arts: Humanising Healthcare, from University of Capetown, South Africa. He was one of the selected Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Currently, he is part of a 1-year training programme on Dementia. To reduce the scale and impact of dementia, the 1-year programme brings together a powerful mix of perspectives, approaches, and skill sets from varying backgrounds and disciplines, including neurologists, social scientists, artists, and policymakers.
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.
This ongoing healing circle will focus on the unique needs of those experiencing the loss, recently or not, of a spouse or partner. No matter where you find yourself in your journey with grief, a chance to be with others who have lost a spouse or partner can lead to profound learning and healing.
Come join us in our healing circle of collaborative conversations.
What is a Healing Circle?
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. Healing Circles is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
This Healing Circle meets bi-monthly on Thursdays from 4:30pm – 6:00pm.
Upcoming sessions:
Moving here many years ago from the SF Bay Area, my relationship with Commonweal led me to Barbara Smith Coleman. I am proud to have been part of an early group of people with Shanti Norris who met with Barbara to envision the cancer retreats, a healing center, and gallery for Smith Center. Years later when my late husband Gene Cohen was facing metastatic prostate cancer, he went to Commonweal for his cancer retreat. The gift of community support, reflection, and care guided the choices we made through the many years of living with cancer in our family body. I became a widow in 2009.
Wendy Miller is an expressive arts therapist, artist, and writer living in Kensington, MD. In 2016, she published the book, Sky Above Clouds: Finding our way through creativity, aging, and illness, about her life and work with her late husband. It is a spiritual treatise on love and creativity during life’s major transitions.
My late wife, Alex Todorovich, passed away in 2009 from breast cancer. My work with the Smith Center began in 2007 when Alex and I attended the Center’s week-long retreat, which marked a turning point in our understanding of what it means to really live, to love life, and to live in the embrace of a healing community. After Alex’s passing the Center’s Hisaoaka Gallery mounted a show of Alex’s art entitled “How to Leave a Well-Traveled Road” which documented her life, her fears, her loves and the path she chose at its end.
Larry Kanter is a graphic designer living in Washington, DC and is a Smith Center friend and an ardent supporter of the Center’s work.
This ongoing healing circle will focus on the unique needs of those experiencing the loss, recently or not, of a spouse or partner. No matter where you find yourself in your journey with grief, a chance to be with others who have lost a spouse or partner can lead to profound learning and healing.
Come join us in our healing circle of collaborative conversations.
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. A Healing Circle is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
What is a Healing Circle?
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. Healing Circles is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
This Healing Circle meets bi-monthly on Thursdays from 4:30pm – 6:00pm.
Upcoming sessions:
Moving here many years ago from the SF Bay Area, my relationship with Commonweal led me to Barbara Smith Coleman. I am proud to have been part of an early group of people with Shanti Norris who met with Barbara to envision the cancer retreats, a healing center, and gallery for Smith Center. Years later when my late husband Gene Cohen was facing metastatic prostate cancer, he went to Commonweal for his cancer retreat. The gift of community support, reflection, and care guided the choices we made through the many years of living with cancer in our family body. I became a widow in 2009.
Wendy Miller is an expressive arts therapist, artist, and writer living in Kensington, MD. In 2016, she published the book, Sky Above Clouds: Finding our way through creativity, aging, and illness, about her life and work with her late husband. It is a spiritual treatise on love and creativity during life’s major transitions.
My late wife, Alex Todorovich, passed away in 2009 from breast cancer. My work with the Smith Center began in 2007 when Alex and I attended the Center’s week-long retreat, which marked a turning point in our understanding of what it means to really live, to love life, and to live in the embrace of a healing community. After Alex’s passing the Center’s Hisaoaka Gallery mounted a show of Alex’s art entitled “How to Leave a Well-Traveled Road” which documented her life, her fears, her loves and the path she chose at its end.
Larry Kanter is a graphic designer living in Washington, DC and is a Smith Center friend and an ardent supporter of the Center’s work.
This ongoing healing circle will focus on the unique needs of those experiencing the loss, recently or not, of a spouse or partner. No matter where you find yourself in your journey with grief, a chance to be with others who have lost a spouse or partner can lead to profound learning and healing.
Come join us in our healing circle of collaborative conversations.
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. A Healing Circle is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
What is a Healing Circle?
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. Healing Circles is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
This Healing Circle meets bi-monthly on Thursdays from 4:30pm – 6:00pm.
Upcoming sessions:
Moving here many years ago from the SF Bay Area, my relationship with Commonweal led me to Barbara Smith Coleman. I am proud to have been part of an early group of people with Shanti Norris who met with Barbara to envision the cancer retreats, a healing center, and gallery for Smith Center. Years later when my late husband Gene Cohen was facing metastatic prostate cancer, he went to Commonweal for his cancer retreat. The gift of community support, reflection, and care guided the choices we made through the many years of living with cancer in our family body. I became a widow in 2009.
Wendy Miller is an expressive arts therapist, artist, and writer living in Kensington, MD. In 2016, she published the book, Sky Above Clouds: Finding our way through creativity, aging, and illness, about her life and work with her late husband. It is a spiritual treatise on love and creativity during life’s major transitions.
My late wife, Alex Todorovich, passed away in 2009 from breast cancer. My work with the Smith Center began in 2007 when Alex and I attended the Center’s week-long retreat, which marked a turning point in our understanding of what it means to really live, to love life, and to live in the embrace of a healing community. After Alex’s passing the Center’s Hisaoaka Gallery mounted a show of Alex’s art entitled “How to Leave a Well-Traveled Road” which documented her life, her fears, her loves and the path she chose at its end.
Larry Kanter is a graphic designer living in Washington, DC and is a Smith Center friend and an ardent supporter of the Center’s work.
This ongoing healing circle will focus on the unique needs of those experiencing the loss, recently or not, of a spouse or partner. No matter where you find yourself in your journey with grief, a chance to be with others who have lost a spouse or partner can lead to profound learning and healing.
Come join us in our healing circle of collaborative conversations.
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. A Healing Circle is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
What is a Healing Circle?
Healing Circles bring together small numbers of people impacted by a condition or circumstance to share experiences and harvest collective wisdom. Healing Circles is a peer-led process by which people support each other through deep listening and shared learning. When working at its best, this collaborative conversation model leads to authentic and deep connectivity and can create wisdom and healing for participants.
This Healing Circle meets bi-monthly on Thursdays from 4:30pm – 6:00pm.
Upcoming sessions:
Moving here many years ago from the SF Bay Area, my relationship with Commonweal led me to Barbara Smith Coleman. I am proud to have been part of an early group of people with Shanti Norris who met with Barbara to envision the cancer retreats, a healing center, and gallery for Smith Center. Years later when my late husband Gene Cohen was facing metastatic prostate cancer, he went to Commonweal for his cancer retreat. The gift of community support, reflection, and care guided the choices we made through the many years of living with cancer in our family body. I became a widow in 2009.
Wendy Miller is an expressive arts therapist, artist, and writer living in Kensington, MD. In 2016, she published the book, Sky Above Clouds: Finding our way through creativity, aging, and illness, about her life and work with her late husband. It is a spiritual treatise on love and creativity during life’s major transitions.
My late wife, Alex Todorovich, passed away in 2009 from breast cancer. My work with the Smith Center began in 2007 when Alex and I attended the Center’s week-long retreat, which marked a turning point in our understanding of what it means to really live, to love life, and to live in the embrace of a healing community. After Alex’s passing the Center’s Hisaoaka Gallery mounted a show of Alex’s art entitled “How to Leave a Well-Traveled Road” which documented her life, her fears, her loves and the path she chose at its end.
Larry Kanter is a graphic designer living in Washington, DC and is a Smith Center friend and an ardent supporter of the Center’s work.
Join us for 108 Sun Salutations in memory of Laura Gobbi to benefit the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts (smithcenter.org). Laura studied yoga with Beth, the co-host of this event. Laura’s joy and gratitude shone through her every word and action in and out of class. She died of breast cancer about a month ago. In her obituary, Laura asked people who were moved to donate to the Smith Center. The sun salutations are one way we can celebrate Laura and the work the Smith Center does.
108 is an important number in many yoga traditions. While we will be leading 108 sun salutations, you can participate and do as many or as few as you like!
$10 to the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts
RSVP via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/659827651298699/
Take some of your most cherished and beloved memories — and turn them into haiku or short poems to share with others. When you’re feeling low and just need an extra boost, it will help remind you of your favorite times and people. An experienced poet will help you along the way to make these poems memorable for you and others.
Suggested Donation: $20
About Rick Black
A poet, book artist and photographer, Rick Black is the founder and owner of Turtle Light Press, a small publishing company that specializes in handcrafted books, fine art prints and note cards.
In recent years, Rick has won several awards for his own poetry as well as books that he has published. He has given readings at the Library of Congress and elsewhere around the country. He often takes bike rides in the region and can be spotted taking photographs in and around Arlington, Falls Church, and Washington, D.C.
As he has gotten to know the area, he has begun turning his digital photos into artistic paintings – luminous, colorful and playful. His images have been selected to adorn the rooms of the Hilton Garden Inn in Falls Church. He has exhibited widely in the mid-Atlantic region and his work can be found in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
For close to twenty years, he worked as a journalist, including a three-year stint in the Jerusalem bureau of The New York Times. He also has freelanced for numerous national newspapers and magazines, including The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, and other publications.
To see more of Rick’s books or his artistic photographs, please visit his website: www.turtlelightpress.com
YA Social Hour will be hosted monthly on Fridays from 5:30-7:00pm. Each month will have a new “theme” – please see below for the currently scheduled social hours.
DC Young Adult Cancer Community: https://youngadultcancerdc.org/
Join us for an evening of art journaling and creative expression. Fuse words, images, and everything in between and practice self-care and self-awareness together.
YA Social Hour will be hosted monthly on Fridays from 5:30-6:30pm. Each month will have a new “theme” – please see below for the currently scheduled social hours.
DC Young Adult Cancer Community: https://youngadultcancerdc.org/
Copyright © Smith Farm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Smith Center for Healing and the Arts is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. (EIN/tax ID number: 52-1977976).
