Creativity and the Inner Other | Online Workshop Series by Wilna van der Walt

IMAGE CREDIT:  STUDY TO THE JACOB’S DREAM BY MARC CHAGALL FROM WIKIART.

Symbolical creative work can be an indispensable tool to anyone who takes the inner journey seriously.

“So, I squeezed and kneaded the clay for half an hour … and observed the forms that arose. I felt the cold clay and gradually stopped thinking. And then I saw how the figure of a child emerged out of the clay as if from the very earth…” Joan Chodorow quoting a patient, 1997, p. 8

In this short course I combine practical and theoretical work in 3 online modules. It is presented on 3 Saturday mornings from 9 am – 1 pm. This course is open to everyone. Preparing the workspace beforehand is important and to this end participants will receive instructions. Pre-reading in preparation of our theoretical work will be required. All discussion material will be emailed.

The practical approach: Simple guidance will be given, drawing upon our current state of mind. An inquisitive, exploratory approach is recommended, starting with what comes to us, allowing it to develop and unfold. No previous artistic experience of any kind is required, and an unfamiliar medium is often beneficial.

An ordinary everyday space must become extraordinary. By preparing the workspace and engaging with the creative material the night before, a message is sent to our inner selves that there will be a happening of some sorts. To this end, participants will receive suggestions on how to be prepared.

The theoretical approach: The foundational principle in this approach is the creative space, a physical as well as psychological space. We will explore the psychological creative space as a containing space, its unfolding content and how it may be meaningful. The natural tendency of the unconscious to restore equilibrium in creative work will be discussed, together with its symbolic function. Objectivity and relating assists us in inviting the content of the work into our real lived lives. Medicinal stories from around the world will be used to demonstrate these characteristics of the creative process.

“I have patients who, evening after evening, work at these images… The work has a fascination for them; it is the fascination which the archetypes always exert upon consciousness. It is almost impossible to define this effect in rational terms; it is a sort of ‘magical’ effect, that is, a suggestive influence that goes out from the images to the individual, and in this way his unconscious is extended and changed.” Jung, CW 18 Par 406

Format of the Workshop

Dates: 21 and 28 August, and 4 September
In this short course I combine practical and theoretical work in 3 online modules. It is presented on 3 Saturday mornings from 9 am – 1 pm.

Programme details available HERE.

Booking Information | All welcome. Advanced bookings only.

Cost: R1600
All queries/bookings: Please contact Wilna at asdopas@gmail.com

Click HERE to book online.

Banking details
Standard Bank | Account name: PW van der Walt | Acc nr 043120008 | Branch 051001
Beneficiary reference: SURNAME
Please email POP to asdopas@gmail.com
No cash or cheques deposits please. No refund policy if cancelled within 3 days of workshop.

More About the Facilitator

Wilna van der Walt is a registered medical doctor; she works in the field of psychotherapy in Muizenberg and has a special interest in creative work.