July 10-15, 2011
Do you long to delve into your soul through Touch Drawing?
Do you feel called to bring the process into your life and work?
The Touch Drawing Gathering is for you.
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The Gathering is a six-day intensive retreat that provides a deep immersion into the process of Touch Drawing, the community of practitioners, the beauty of the earth and your own creative soul. It is oriented to people with a sense of purpose, emotional maturity and a feeling that this simple yet profound process could have vital a place in their lives. Each year we have a wonderful mix of new and returning friends. Together we generate an atmosphere that enlivens and inspires.
This event has a very sacred and joyous quality, and words fail to describe it. Watch the slide show above and other images of past Gatherings and you might sense more than I can say. Morning, afternoon and evening sessions are designed to evoke personal expression as well as transpersonal awareness. Live music, reflective writing, gentle movement and sharing are woven through our days to support your creative opening, and to integrate the images that have emerged. Afternoon quiet times and a day of silence allow for rest and integration. Small groups will meet to explore specific applications of Touch Drawing. Read reflections of participants and see a schedule to get a sense of the flow of our week.
We meet at The Chinook Center amidst 100-acres of protected forest on Whidbey Island, Washington. Our sacred studio is the awe-inspiring Thomas Berry Hall. My husband Ross Chapin was the architectural designer for the Hall and other buildings, so we have a special connection to this place. We will walk and draw in the Chartres-style outdoor labyrinth. Sacred sites such as the Woodland Sanctuary and Earth Nest are available for quiet times.
This is a place of deep spirit, nature and beauty. There are miles of trails through the forest and a cedar sauna built by the original Finnish settlers. The large vegetable garden provides some of the food we eat each day. The beaches of Puget Sound are a few minutes away, and can be visited during the afternoon quiet times. On our day of silence, you can chose to go to Whidbey State Park where you can draw in the old growth forest and on a beach that faces the magestic Olympic Mountains, or settle into the beauty of the Chinook lands for the day.
You are not required to have experienced a previous Touch Drawing workshop to attend. If this is your first Gathering, please write a brief description of your background and interest in attending when you register. You are also required to view Through the Veil; The Story of Touch Drawing before arriving. In this video I share my personal story of discovering and developing Touch Drawing. I will not focus on this during the Gathering, but I want you to have a sense of how the process emerged.
You are particularly encouraged to attend if you are in a position to facilitate Touch Drawing with others. If you are a therapist, educator, artist, social worker, intuitive, health practitioner, body worker, spiritual counselor, healer, life coach, expressive arts practitioner or student in these or other fields, you will be empowered to integrate Touch Drawing into your work in your own unique way. I am available to talk with you individually about your interests and potential applications of the process during all meal times.
Though not a facilitator training in the usual sense, the Gathering provides the deep experiential roots out of which your own way of sharing the process can grow. 'Gatherers' form a network of kindred souls who are co-hearts in the unfolding of Touch Drawing. I cannot spread the seeds of this simple yet powerful process alone. I invite you to join us! Feel free to call with any questions or email us at center@touchdrawing.com.
Blessings,
Deborah Koff-Chapin
Scroll down for prices, times, travel information and link to the registration page.
• Immerse yourself in the sacredness of the creative process.
• Meet kindred spirits and be inspired by each other’s wisdom and creativity.
• Reflect on your images through poetic writing and storytelling.
• Attune to subtle energies through simple awareness and movement practices.
• Learn to trust your intuition through creating a series of drawings for a partner.
• Settle into silence in an old growth forest.
• Bring your images to greater fruition by mounting and coloring them.
• Envision how you can integrate Touch Drawing into your life and work.
• Celebrate the blessings of our time together.
Tuition & Abundant Art Materials
$595 until May 10
$625 after May 10
$300 deposit secures your place. Refundable minus $35 registration fee until June 10. Balance due June 27.
Room & Board The prices below are from 2010. We have heard food costs will go up but do not know the amount yet. We can accept your deposit and work out exact cost later. Earlier registrants get best choice of rooms.
Three home-cooked meals & snacks with organic produce, including some from the retreat center garden.
Rooms are simple. All bathrooms are shared. Campers & cabins use bath house.
• Private room or private cabin & meals $675
• Double room or double cabin & meals $575
• Onsite camping & meals $375
• Meals & facility day-use (sleep off-site) $295
Travel & Timing
Detailed travel information will be sent by email with confirmation of your registration. Fly to SEATAC International Airport in Washington State. We will help you arrange a shuttle from the airport that takes you on the ferry and drops you right near the Center where we will meet your shuttle. Whidbey Island is 30 miles north of Seattle with a twenty-minute ferry to the island.
Arrive on Sunday, July 10
Registration begins at 3pm. We gather for dinner at 6pm. The opening session is at 7:30pm.
Depart on Friday, July 15
Please do not depart before 12:00pm. We hope you can stay for a celebratory lunch at noon after the closure of our final session. If you need to take the shuttle to catch a plane please do not make flight reservations for earlier than 4:30pm. There is a shuttle that will get you there by 3:30.
You are invited to stay through the evening on Friday to enjoy the seaside village of Langley and then gather for pizza dinner on my front porch. This extra time allows for integration, relaxation and FUN. If you want to stay on the island Friday night or for the weekend, there are many B&B's and inns nearby. We provide information in the confirmation letter. Reserve early as summer weekends fill on the island.
 Click here to register for this year's Gathering.
We are happy to talk to you about your interest in attending or take your registration over the phone. Call us at 360-221-5745 or center@touchdrawing.com
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A Few Personal Reflections from past Gatherers
Carol Fairbanks
I woke up early this morning and was missing the wonderful group of creative souls I met at this year's Gathering. Touch Drawing at the Gathering has facilitated significant healing in me, even when I was not aware of it at my first Gathering. At my second Gathering I was so amazed at the benevolent, nurturing male faces and figures I created in my drawings. (I have never drawn males before.) For someone who has experienced abuse with significant males in my life (starting with my father) I was deeply touched upon creating these loving male faces and figures. At one point at the Gathering, I felt deep feelings that were witnessed by other women at the table where I was drawing. My drawings mirrored back to me the incredible healing and self acceptance that has and will continue to take place within me as I continue my creative process. I have all these drawings displayed in my studio where I continue to dialog with them. When a group of women came to my studio Friday, I was able to share my touch drawing experience with them. We all love the touch drawing process so! Who knows how many souls have been allowed to heal because of touch drawing?!
 Ann McSwiggin
This year's Touch Drawing Gathering was deeper, richer and fuller than my first. I was enriched in many ways. I very much liked the coming together of some of us from last year, seeing the changes and the growth, knowing what we shared the year before. I love meeting the new people, so dynamic and loving. The greatest realization I had was that it's the PROCESS of TD. as much or more than the actual drawings that do "it" for me. The process of Touch Drawing over an extended number of days had the effect of putting me in an altered state. I had unusual clarity come to me most of the time. There were frequent awareness's about my life. It was like 'connect the dots', and light bulbs kept going on. I also could clearly see some of my own behavior patterns with greater honesty and that was freeing. I tapped into more primal, ancestral places and at times, other worldly places and felt a great sense of satisfaction and pleasure from that. I love the story that unfolds for me, the images that come forth. I get to learn later the foretelling that they are. I am grateful for the process.
Marsha Lash
As a person who had a belief that there are only certain people who can create art, this process has been life and belief system transformative... As I was frustrated - near tears praying to create something with heart and meaning - a warmth and a golden light came over me. Even though the next drawing wasn't "a work of beauty" my spirit lifted and eventually beauty came. I learned to love the process and be able to have dirty hands and draw with closed eyes and have questions answered by doing the practice. Delight warmed every cell in my body.
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Tatjana Zemcuznikov
We are the eyes
That reflect who I am
The voices that echo
The sound of my soul
The ears that stay tuned
To the mystery
In the silence of our thoughts
And the music of our words
We are called to remember
We invited pain and fear
To dance with us
And to release their loyal hold
On our remembrances
They spilled out on paper
In broad strokes
And tiny details
And then,
With grace and gratitude
We let them go... |
We are the guardians of the memories
And carriers of the code
With love
We reach to those who suffer
Or still sleep
We are their eyes, their voices and their ears
We remember
And we reach out
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Jeanette LaFontaine
Touch Drawing has opened the spiritual place within me!
I had been so blocked, knowing it was there - afraid to unleash it!!
Now it is free - and I no longer am afraid.
Daryl
The experience was an answer to a prayer to reawaken to the Art of my Soul.
I see touch drawing as a vital aspect of the Spiritual Arts Renaissance that is unfolding in the culture at this time.
I believe that you have discovered a new language that will be spoken by many. Parlez vous Touch Drawing?
Kathie Dame-Glerum
Ode to Touch Drawing
There is magic in the process
Running deep and running strong
Fireshot waves of blue and purple
Heart to hand and hand to heart.
There is power in the process
Power to grow and power to change
Holding love from being to being
In sacred space.
There is essence in the process
Power to love and power to live
Creating space for transformation
In us all.
Marion Prochnau
Touch Drawing Reflections
Touch Drawing…
The ribbons of creative fire weave in and out,
spiralling through our fingers
~ you and I.
Touch Drawing…
Stirring, waking, and re-igniting
the embers of distant dreams and desires within
~ you and I.
Touch Drawing…
Unique and yet united,
touching one another through the collective
signatures of our souls’ expression
~ you and I |
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The Sixth Annual Touch Drawing Gathering - August, 2002
This year's Touch Drawing Gathering continued to deepen and grow in joyousness. Twenty nine beautiful souls made their way to Whidbey Island from as far away as Chile. The weather was so beautiful that some chose to draw outside the whole time. On the night of the full moon, the large drawing board was in use out the moonlight all night long. When we walked the labyrinth, we had a few drawing boards in the center was generated in our time together. I hope these photos presented in slide shows convey some of what cannot be described in words.
Click here to see 2002 Gathering slide show
The Fifth Annual Touch Drawing Gathering - August, 2001
Each year, the Touch Drawing Gathering attracts an inspiring collection of people from all over the continent. This summer, I had a sense that each individual was taking such responsibility for their own inner process. As a collective we opened to a new level of trust, which allowed for powerful transformational work to happen with gentle grace. A new element introduced this year was a strong focus on writing from our drawings. This was facilitated by Vicky Edmonds, who is a passionate poet of the soul. She created writing practices specifically designed to help draw out the essence of our images. She has helped Touch Drawing to find its voice! Chef Tom French added a great loving presence to our mealtimes as he served his delicious regional cuisine. On the last night together, we had an ecstatic dance with the live world-beat music of Sister Monk Harem. Our closing morning brought great energy and commitment to staying connected to one another, and to bringing Touch Drawing out into the world.
I find myself at a loss for words to describe the deeper underlying qualities of our time together. The feeling-tone of this year's Gathering is best expressed through the portraits of participants holding their mounted drawings. Take some time to gaze into their faces. Their depth and beauty speak more directly than any verbal description.
Click here to see the 2001 Gathering photos |
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