Tag: Healing Arts

with Kiersten Gallagher and special guest Denise Feldman

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to gods, a common misconception; rather, it’s believed that the prayers and mantras are blown by the wind to spread good will and compassion to everyone the wind may reach. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all. The prayers or a flag become a permanent part of the universe as the images fade from exposure to the elements.

In this workshop we’ll learn how to make multi-layer prayer flags to send our hopes and dreams out into the world. Each one will be unique – a personal reflection or wish for ourselves and our collective community/world.

Materials needed:

  • 5-8’ of strong string, ribbon or yarn
  • Old papers, children’s artwork, coloring pages, journal pages, etc. (note that these will be cut and ripped, so nothing that is ‘precious’ to you)
  • Scraps of ‘stuff’ that would otherwise be thrown away
  • Magazines for cutting out words or phrases (optional)
  • Stapler and staples

Optional materials:

  • Watercolor and paper, paint brushes
  • Scraps of fabric, yarn, string, felt, ribbon, etc.
  • Beads, charms, or other add-ons
  • Permanent marker, any color
  • Needle and thread or embroidery floss
  • Hole punch

Suggested Donation: $15

This series is held twice each month on Wednesdays from 10:30am – 12:30pm. 

Upcoming sessions:

  • July 8
  • July 22
  • August 5
  • August 19
  • September 2
  • September 16

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.

Wellness in the Time of COVID

The Washington Home

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.

About Denise Feldman

Denise Feldman is a local mixed media artist who discovered the power of creativity as a healing practice after her treatment for breast cancer in 2014. As a creative ‘dabbler’ who loves working with various materials and surfaces, Denise shares her altered book processes and soulful perspective with the hope of inspiring others to tell their stories ‘on the page’ and clear space for life’s chapters yet to come.

About 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.

This event is being hosted virtually via Zoom. In order to participate live and receive the Zoom link, please purchase tickets below or email carla@smithcenter.org.

Join us to celebrate the beauty of life and survivorship. Come enjoy music, poetry and stories performed and shared in honor of cancer survivors, and in memory of our dear friend and colleague, Fatima Djalo Johnson.

Please stay tuned for an updated list of performances, speakers and other fun opportunities!

Fatima Djalo Johnson touched the lives of so many people around the world in countless ways. Her bravery to reach for the stars and to create a life of joy and fulfillment was truly inspiring. Knowing Fatima meant learning to see life through a brighter lens, to face challenges fearlessly, and to never surrender hope. Fatima lost her battle with cancer on February 12, 2019, two days before Valentine’s Day, a reminder to all who knew her to love and live as big as we can and to never take a single day for granted. The 1st Annual Survivor Voices was Fatima’s effort to uplift those who had persevered through cancer. It is our hope that the event will live on in her honor and carry her light for years to come. 

In honor of what would have been Fatima’s 31st birthday this year, tickets to Survivor Voices are available in increments of $31. Please be as generous as you can.

 

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, you must register here or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org

with Debra Diamond, Ph.D.

In “Diary of a Death Doula: 25 Lessons the Dying Teach Us About the Afterlife,” psychic medium, and near-death experience researcher Dr. Debra Diamond presents the story of life as a hospice ‘Death Doula’, revealing 25 critical life lessons from those at the threshold of the afterlife, and those who have already crossed over, ultimately revealing a new way of understanding death.
Dr. Diamond will present for ~45 minutes, followed by a question & answer portion.
About Debra Diamond, Ph.D.

Debra Diamond, Ph.D. is a former Wall Street money manager, regular CNBC commentator and Professor at the Johns Hopkins University who left a high profile life to pursue a life of purpose and spirituality. She earned an MBA from The George Washington University and a Ph.D. from the Esoteric Interfaith Theological Seminary. She is a graduate of the Holistic Studies Institute of New York, has completed mediumship training at the Arthur Findlay College in the UK and trained at the Carl Jung Institute in Analytical Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland. Debra is the author of “Life after Near Death: Miraculous Stories of Healing and Transformation in the Extraordinary Lives of People with Newfound Powers” and “Diary of a Death Doula: 25 Lessons the Dying Teach Us About the Afterlife.” Debra is dedicated to the empowerment of her clients.

with Tamara Wellons, Artist in Residence Manager at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts

featuring Kinard Cherry

Valentines Day 2020!

Please join us for a new concert series at the gallery hosted by our very own Tamara Wellons, Artist in Residence Manager at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts and Washington, DC based vocal artist.

Each quarter Tami will host a series of different accompanying artists and musicians. The first series will debut on Valentine’s Day as we celebrate love with the smooth rhythms of Tami Wellons and her husband, Kinard Cherry.

Tamara Wellons is a vocal music recording artist who has a voice that flows seamlessly from hymns to soulful house music. Upholding her southern Virginia roots and musical tradition, Tamara has performed on prestigious national and international stages, such as London’s Jazz Café, DC’s Blues Alley, Richmond Jazz Festival, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and many more. Her latest project was recorded with bassist, drummer and lead guitarist and husband, Kinard Cherry.

Tickets: $15

with Helen Frederick

The Healing Arts Series

Exploring the concept of site-specific space and working from a probe the instructor will provide, you will experiment with one element that can be repeated, expanded, or interfaced with itself to plan a small artwork. With personally defined activities derived from objects that act as touchstones, you will take a role in exploring a sensorial or physical experience, as seen in the artworks of Material Woman. This may include the act of splicing ropes, yarn or paper; piling up of small three-dimensional objects, using words and your voice, or inviting others to help you create a tiny installation. We live in a country of cultural appropriation where we desire to experience each other in ceremony. Bring one or two objects with you that you feel represent a deep connection about you, a material that you respond to, and may relate to your cultural roots. Participants and the instructor will enjoy conversation before and after your work is created to share some conclusions. No artistic experience required.

Suggested Donation: $15

with artist Leigh Davis

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Join us for a conversation and discussion with artist Leigh Davis focusing on ELEs (end-of-life experiences). ELEs are unusual experiences that typically occur around the time of a death and are experienced by a person who is dying or who has lost a loved one. These experiences can be interpreted as premonitions, deathbed visions, golden light, changes in the temperature or atmosphere, terminal lucidity, or eerie coincidences. The talk invites the audience to participate and speculate about the boundaries between the physical world, the emotional world, and what may exist beyond.

 

About Leigh Davis

I create multimedia work that is both deeply personal and anthropologically rich, navigating the complex line between voyeurism and empathy. In recent years, projects have taken the form of shrines, altars, and collections of various objects and images that work together to form a cohesive and immersive installation. To house these works, I have been drawn to sites that present their own spirituality or sense of community, using this intrinsic human quality to complement the stories represented in the installations. My overall work is designed to foster connection between viewers and community members, encouraging conversation about the aspects of humanity that keep us apart and bring us together. Currently, I am working on a body of work about the modern rituals surrounding death and the remnants of the life left behind. Vigil, my recent site-based audio installation, stems from my membership with a community of women continuing the tradition of bedside singing to the dying. This project was created for the historic chapel at Green-Wood Cemetery 10/17. I teach courses at Parsons the New School for Design and work between Brooklyn NY and Washington DC.

with Johnathan Gilbert, L.Ac., NCCAOM

Nearly two thousand years ago a series of Chinese medical classics were written with the idea of not only treating illness but also exploring our place and meaning in the world. In this lecture Jonathan Gilbert will be looking at a few of these ideas and images and explain how they can be relevant to our lives today.

 

About Johnathan Gilbert, L.Ac., NCCAOM

Photo of Jonathan Gilbert, Acupuncturist

Mr. Gilbert’s journey into Asian philosophy began with martial arts at the age of 9. By 13 he began training in movement and meditation at the Kitaido School of Movement in England, under the guidance of Head Instructor Ken Waight. From the ages of 16-18 Jonathan also studied Shiatsu massage, a Japanese form of healing, and earned his diploma from the British School of Oriental Therapy and Movement in 1988.

In 1991, Jonathan Gilbert enrolled at the London Academy of Oriental Medicine London (LAOM), England, one of the foremost schools of Oriental Medicine in Europe. Graduating from the Vietnamese school in 1995, Mr. Gilbert pursued a masters study in “Stems and Branches Theory” with world-renowned Professor Truong Thin, the Director of Traditional Medicine for South Vietnam. Jonathan lived in Vietnam while completing his post-graduate training at The Traditional Medical Institute (TMI), a 500-bed state teaching hospital Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. At TMI, Jonathan worked in collaboration with Western-trained medical doctors, observing the blending of Oriental Medicine with Western medicine.

Jonathan’s first private practice as an Oriental Medicine physician began in London in 1996. In 1998, he moved to the United States and eventually set up practices in Towson, MD, and Arlington, VA. Board-certified in the U.S. in both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), Mr. Gilbert has served as the Senior Consultant of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Maryland in Baltimore.

Jonathan’s passion for creating an integrated medical clinic came to fruition in 2005, with the opening of The Gilbert Clinic in the Bethesda area, near Washington, D.C. The clinic blended Western Medicine with TCM and psychotherapy by using traditional Asian medical principles. For 5 years this model proved incredibly powerful in the treatment of chronic illness.

Since 2011, The Gilbert Clinic’s focus has been dedicated to providing excellent traditional Vietnamese / Chinese herbology and acupuncture, Jonathan’s Gilbert’s expertise and passion.

with Erin Price, LGSW, and Samantha Evans

A workshop for caregivers of a loved one at any stage of cancer treatment. We will incorporate writing and creativity to process the topics of self-forgiveness and guilt.

 

About Erin Price

Erin serves as Smith Center’s Director of Young Adult and Psychosocial Support Programs. She is trained in Integrative Patient Navigation, a Project LEAD graduate, and holds a Masters in Social Work. A seven-year breast cancer survivor, Erin is passionate about providing support and community to other cancer survivors, especially young adults. She works with Smith Center’s DC Young Adult Cancer Community and is also actively involved in the cancer community through Young Survival Coalition, Critical Mass, the Georgetown Breast Cancer Advocates, National Breast Cancer Coalition, and the DC Cancer Action Partnership.

About Samantha Evans

Samantha Evans is getting her Masters in Social Work at the University of Maryland. She will be joining the Smith Center as a Social Work Intern until April 2020. Samantha is excited to be joining the team at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. When not studying for graduate school, Samantha spends her free time with her dog, reading, and with friends.

The Healing Arts Series

Purchase tickets below.

In Flow: A Moving Meditation by Donne Lewis

Friday, November 15th at 7:30pm

Meet three enchanting women who are powerful solo performers in their own rights – sand dancer Donne Lewis, aka the Wychdokta, interdisciplinary artist and healer Artis Moon (the Boundless Eclectic), and producer/singer/songwriter Tamara Wellons, all artists who are deeply rooted in the American tradition of Jazz & improvisation with an eclectic mix of other influences. There is a synergy between them that feels like they are reaching into infinity.

You will experience meditative vibes from Artis Moon with anything from wooden flute and metallophone to crystal bowls and drums, the magic of the Wychdokta with percussive sand dance, movement, and energy healing (Reiki), and the scintillating vocals of Tamara Wellons.

To achieve the integration of Mind, Body, and Soul is to arrive at, or be within, the state of “Flow.”  Movement has always been how I tap into my spirit, to have peace, and its partner, euphoria.  A tap dancer for the past 20 years, I’ve spent the last five years nurturing and developing my concept of barefoot percussive dance, using sand on wood (Sand dancing). The incorporation of modern, contemporary and African movement came two years ago.  The final piece is my journey to mastery of Reiki healing. I am working to physically represent the symbols, to literally embody them, in order to simultaneously share with audiences both my artistry, my rhythms, and the healing energy of Reiki.

In Flow is designed to bring together all the parts of myself, Mind, Body, and Soul, for personal and group healing. I, along with my collaborators, Artis Moon and Tamara Wellons, will represent each concept. Tamara – the Mind, Artis – the Soul, and myself as the Body.

A bath of sound will be created to aurally stimulate the senses. The audience will be witness to a literal flight across the sand, and a gathering of light, air, and sonic vibrations, to arrive back in their bodies, awash in the experience of healing energy.

Click here to visit the Joan Hisaoka Gallery website.

Mind | BODY | Soul

Healing the Outside from Within

A Group Exhibition

Curated by Lindsey Yancich and Meg Mowery

October 1 – December 21, 2019

Curator & Artist Talk: Saturday, October 19, 1:00-3:00pm

Join the artists and curators of Mind, BODY, Soul for a look into their creative and individual perspectives!

In today’s fast-paced world of technology, social media, and a volatile political climate, American society’s opinions regarding body image are constantly evolving and oftentimes treacherous to navigate. Through platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, a younger generation (that’s YOU!) is now dictating and interrogating their own ideals of beauty and body positivity. In this group exhibition, this new generation of artists and thinkers explore concepts of the body as a catalyst for healing and acceptance.