Creative Spirit Retreat for New Beginnings

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Paradise Garden Foundation

Left: yoga class in the Paradise Garden Foundation Visitor Center & Museum. Right: an example of a vision board registrants will create, made by artist Kimberly Dawn Crowder

In honor of the New Year, Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden Foundation invites all to register for a Creative Spirit Retreat for New Beginnings on Saturday, January 21, 2023, an event celebrating slowing down through meditation, yoga, and art-making!

Cyndi Allen, Chattanooga-based yoga instructor, will kick off the Retreat in the Paradise Garden Art & Learning Center by leading registrants through a guided meditation about letting go of the past year and saying goodbye to things holding you back and no longer serving you. She will then guide registrants through a yoga flow sequence and close out the hour-long session with a guided meditation centered on new beginnings for the year ahead.

With new beginnings in mind, participants will then join Kimberly Dawn Crowder, a Chattanooga-based self-taught artist, in the Art & Learning Center, to create vision boards illustrating goals, affirmations, and hopes for the year ahead. Registrants will paint a portrait of themselves on a canvas board and then explore newspaper and magazine clippings for words, phrases, and images to assemble in a cloud around their portraits. Canvas boards, paint, glue, and clippings are included with registration, though participants are welcome to bring their own materials to add to their vision boards.

After the vision board workshop, registrants are welcome to break for a light lunch in the Art & Learning Center. Afterward, Retreat goers can choose to return to work on their vision boards or peacefully tour the 4-acres of Rev. Howard Finster’s visionary art environment.

RETREAT SCHEDULE:

• 10:30 am – 11 am ET: check in at the Paradise Garden Visitor Center and Museum (200 N. Lewis Street)

• 11 am – 12 pm ET: Yoga Flow with Cyndi Allen in the Paradise Garden Visitor Center & Museum

• 12 – 1 pm: Vision Board Workshop with Kimberly Dawn Crowder in the Art & Learning Center

• 1 – 2 pm: Lunch in the Art & Learning Center

• 2 – 4 pm: Open studio & time to explore the Garden

WHAT TO BRING:

• A yoga mat

• A water bottle

• A t-shirt to protect clothes from glue and paint in the vision board workshop

• (OPTIONAL) Additional materials to add to your vision board

TO REGISTER: https://checkout.square.site/buy/5B5C5AXRKBQL4QNSDYCMP2WS

Paradise Garden Members & Chattooga County Residents: $40

Not-yet-members: $45