Jan Richardson:
Transforming Sorrow

A workshop with Jan Richardson on grief, renewal and the creative life

April 22 & 23, 2022 via Zoom (EDT)

The workshop is entirely on line (via Zoom) and will be recorded for viewing after the event.

There are periods of our life when we have to live with grief. So how do we do that? And can we transform it into something that has meaning and purpose?

As one well acquainted with grief following the sudden death of her husband, Jan Richardson leads this workshop on how our losses can invite our creative energy and how that energy can transform grief into something more.

Jan has used writing and art as pathways in her loss. She will share her work and talk  about how that work continues to transform her as she makes a new and unexpected life.

Workshop Elements

  • Jan will read from her work and talk about how the creative process can happen in and around grief. She will reflect on how both grief and creativity are untidy, unpredictable, and tangled, and how the places where they intersect can become spaces of grace and transformation.
  • Jan will share her visual art and talk about the practice of making it—the role that uncertainty plays, how the process can serve as a doorway to something new, and the spirit that moves through this. She’ll also reflect on how the creative process can become a solace and a balm for a grieving mind.
  • Jan will invite the group to talk about their own creative practices and what part those play in living with grief.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time

Friday, April 22 (Via Zoom)
9:00 – 9:30 PM:  Compline- Contemplative prayer service of scripture and music with a reading by Jan Richardson

Saturday, April 23 (Via Zoom)

10:00 – 11:00 AM: Welcome, introduction, conversation with Jan (by the facilitator).

11:00 – 12:00 PM: Jan reads from her work and shares her visual art.

12:00 – 12:45: Lunch Break

12:45 – 1:30: Conversation with participants about their creative practices

1:30 - 1:45 : Break

1:45 – 2:30: Jan concludes with discussion on the transformation of sorrow and an invitation to the group to cultivate their own creative practices

    COST: $85 per person

    The workshop is entirely on Zoom and will be recorded for viewing after the event.

    Have questions? Email Nancy LeVasseur for more information.

    Register for the Workshop

    About Jan Richardson

    Jan is an artist, writer and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. She serves as director of The Wellspring Studio, LLC, and has traveled widely as a retreat leader and conference speaker. With work described by the Chicago Tribune as “breathtaking,” she has attracted an international audience drawn to the spaces of welcome, imagination, and solace that she creates in both word and image. Jan’s books include The Cure for Sorrow, Night Visions, In the Sanctuary of Women, and the recently released Sparrow: A Book of Life and Death and Life.

    A native Floridian several generations over, Jan grew up in Evinston, a small community near the university town of Gainesville. The rural landscape, community traditions, and lifelong relationships fostered a rich sense of place, imagination, and ritual that continue to shape Jan's life and infuse her work.

    Jan makes her home in Florida. She often collaborated with her husband, the singer/songwriter Garrison Doles, until his sudden death in December 2013.

    The Urban Well is a registered trademark of Saint James Episcopal Church.