A Workshop Tour
What’s a TIP workshop like? Here’s some background information….
Our workshops consist of two components:
1) Lamp construction, and
2) “Process” surrounding the lamp-making. “Process” refers to time spent in discussion, wisdom-sharing, reflection and journaling.
While the arts & craft process of lamp-making is an important part of our workshops, our ultimate focus is NOT on lamp-making, but rather on meaning-making, intention-making and light-making.
Lamp-making is a tool, not an end-goal. Our communal mission - and we do this on an individual basis, one by one - is simple: putting more light into the world by nurturing and sharing each of our unique lights, and by nurturing and encouraging the light of others.
The finished lamps our participants craft are beautiful, but they’re also a way for our participants to “take the workshop experience home” with them.
In subsequent weeks and months and years the lamps will not only provide beauty and light, but they can also serve as luminous reminders of the intention and meaning brought to the lamp-making. And as participants have shared with us, the meaning and intention surrounding the lamps may change over time.
Our workshops vary widely depending upon the focus of the workshop, but most are 5-6 hours in total over two separate sessions, each of which is 2.5 - 3.0 hours long. Roughly half the time is spent in lamp-making and the remainder in process. Having two separate sessions allows for an easier lamp-making process and also allows time for supplemental activities and reflection between sessions.
However, we adapt our workshops depending upon the goals and circumstances. For example, some workshops are three sessions of two hours each. Or, when working with organizations such as camps and schools, we can take the lamp-making and discussion/reflection process and divide it into multiple sessions - ranging from three separate sessions to as many as fifteen! Of course, in the latter case, each session is much shorter.
Longer workshops are also possible - especially if one wishes to deepen the art/craft experience or the discussion, reflection and wisdom-sharing process surrounding the lamp-making.
We’ll usually spend one to 1.5 hours with introductions, process, discussion and reflection before diving into the lamp-making. By the time our participants launch into lamp construction they’ve begun considering the meaning and intention they’ll bring to their lamp construction, and they’re ready to start crafting.
Some participants are initially nervous about the prospect of making a lamp, but we reassure them that we’ve had scores of lamp-makers ranging in age from 3 to 104 years - some with significant disabilities - and we’ve never had a failure!
If our participants doubt their abilities as arts and crafters, we reassure them that everyone’s an artist. But we also reassure them that this doesn’t have to be an art project. They can have fun and relax because no matter what, they’ll end up with a beautiful lamp.
