Creativity & Shamanism 

2012

Sunset over the Forest, pastel on paper, 

33" H x 28" W

The newest CREATIVITY & SHAMANISM© workshop, LIVING A CREATED LIFE, was developed in 2011 & 2012 in response to requests from students for a comprehensive system of practical shamanic technologies and modern theories about the creation process that could be applied everywhere - not just in visual arts but to every aspect, big and small, of daily life.  

The workshop has been offered both as three separate 3-hour classes and as a weekend-long, in-depth exploration of shamanic practices and work with the land.  

In LIVING A CREATED LIFE each of us discovers profound and personal answers to some of today's most pressing questions:

- What does it take to live a life of ongoing joy, purpose, and fulfillment - in continual connection with Universal energy and participating fully in the expansion of human consciousness?  

- How can we best fulfill our essential nature:  loving self and others, serving, and contributing authentically to our communities and our world?  

Over the course of the workshop we deepen our relationship with Source; master the context of sufficiency and radical gratitude; learn the simple, everyday practical tools of creation; and celebrate the revelation of a balanced life of creation, devotion, and action.

Carol Dearborn is a visual artist, initiated shaman in the Peruvian Inca tradition, President Emeritus of the Sufficiency Foundation, Reiki Master Teacher, and trained facilitator of the Pachamama Alliance Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium. Carol has more than 30 years' experience teaching art and many forms of energetic healing. She is the 3rd generation of women painters in her family to use art as a force for healing, transformation, and world peace. Her mission is to help awaken modern cultures to our freedom and responsibility to create a sustainable presence on Earth through the evolution of human consciousness and particularly our connection to the sacred in all forms.

Carol gives gallery talks and conducts classes and workshops for artists, educators, spiritual groups, and the general public. Offered in conjunction with her exhibits, these talks and workshops often center on Earth-honoring principles and practices, tools for exploring human creativity, and the importance of art in an evolving human consciousness of reverence and responsibility for all life.

Please see Calendar section for details of upcoming workshops, or contact:  info@caroldearborn.com

Exhibitions 2011

2011 was a full year for shows and other events.  Here are a few of the year's highlights:

Solo Exhibition Attleboro Museum

                                                   Full Moon at Manasarovar, pastel on paper, 28" H x 33"W
                                                   (fine art prints available)

Attleboro Arts Museum hosted a solo exhibition March 30 through April 29, 2011:  ten new works from the Where Heaven Meets Earth series depicting encounters with the sacred at places of energetic emergence around the world.

The Journey Chosen for National Exhibition

 

The Journey, pastel on paper, 

33" H x 28" W

Jurors at the Arts Center/Old Forge selected "The Journey from Ausangate" to be part of the Northeast National Pastel Exhibition, on display at the Center from May 14 - June 25, 2011.  The exhibit then traveled to other locations.  

Please visit the Arts Center site for more details.

Textile & Pastels In Provincetown Green Arts Festival 

                                                             Full Moon Flood, pastel on paper, 21" H x 18" W
                                                          (fine art prints available)


Three pieces - textile and pastel - were chosen by the Provincetown Conservation Trust for exhibit at Appearances, Provincetown's 2011 Green Arts Festival.  The multimedia, interactive exhibit was displayed throughout the city from April 15-2.

Tree and Its Reflection, textile, 36" H x 31" W

Life Art Heart Expo

                                                                 Trees Embrace, pastel on paper, 33.5" H x 26" W


Lovers of art and spirituality celebrated a day of art exhibits and talks by healers, philosophers, and experts in many areas of spiritual study.  June 11, 2011.


Solo Exhibition Bentley University

Shadows at the Sanctuary, pastel on paper, 26" H x 32" W

On February 26 2012 Bentley University's Conscious Capitalism Institute hosted a solo exhibition to accompany a presentation of the Pachamama Alliance Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium. The exhibit contained paintings of sacred, indigenous sites in the Peruvian Andes and Pacific Northwest, and included the monumental triptych Earth, Water, & Sky:

 The purpose of my artwork is to celebrate

the beauty, mystery, and spirituality of the natural world.

 I try to make visible the energetic oneness of all life

as a way to inspire honor and

 preservation of Earth.

~ Carol Dearborn

The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium is a transformative educational experience that empowers participants to respond to humanity's current situation with action and informed, grounded optimism about our future.   

Illinois Women Artists Project

Illinois Women Artists Project

Lakeview Museum / Bradley University

2011-2012

                                        Sunset over the Ocean I, Carol Dearborn
                                        pastel on paper, 23" H x 26.75" W

The Illinois Women Artists Project—documenting among others the Burnham family of artists, with work by American Impressionist Anita Willets Burnham, her daughters Carol-Lou Burnham and Ann Burnham Smith, and Burnham Smith’s daughters Carol Dearborn and Jane Bernhardt, as well as audio clips describing the mission of their art—continues, with a recent article in American Art Review (with a biography of Anita Willets Burnham and image, Café Tabac). 

                                        Cafe Tabac, Anita Willets Burnham, 1930

The exhibit, which began at Lakeview Museum, Moves in mid-March from Quincy Art Center to Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University, where it will remain until September 30, 2012.  

Additional information on the Burnham family of artists from the IWA Project:

Over the past century, the women of the Burnham family have established themselves as painters, etchers, toymakers, illustrators, writers, performers, art therapists and art teachers. Their artwork is vibrant and imaginative, their compositions always fresh, intriguing, often amusing.

Anita Willets Burnham (1880-1958) was the first to develop her artistic talents. She toured the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, saw the women artists' paintings and decided to become an artist. She trained at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1906, she hesitated when Alfred Burnham asked her to marry him. Could she be an artist and have a family? He persuaded her that she could.

Anita always said of her first daughter Carol-Lou (1908-1997) that she was "born with a paint-brush in her hand." With no trouble at all, Carol-Lou learned to draw...art-making was serious business in the Burnham household. She spent her life painting and teaching art.

In 1921 Anita decided her family of six should spend a year traveling in Europe. Her third daughter, Ann (1921-2001) was only nine months old. They toured and sketched and painted every day, often trading their sketches for food and other necessities. By the time they returned home, Ann was producing sketches, too. She continued to paint and later became an art therapist.

From 1928 through 1930, the family traveled in the Far East and again in Europe. When they returned Anita wrote a book about their travels called Round the World on a Penny, a lighthearted tour guide for family travelers. The Burnhams' artwork illustrates the book.

Today, Anita's granddaughter Jane Smith Bernhardt is a portrait artist, a trained actress and a writer. In 2003, Jane founded the Hibakusha Peace Project, a multimedia tribute to the survivors of Hiroshima. For more about her work, visit her website.

Anita's granddaughter Carol Dearborn explores the mystery and spirituality of the natural world with her oil, pastel and mixed medium paintings of landscapes. An activist for environmental sustainability, Carol also teaches Creativity and Shamanism, inviting students to open pathways to creation in all aspects of life. Learn more about her work at her website.

Enjoy the work of these wonderful artists.