Education
Three-year Certificate Program
What is Biography Work, this new approach to human life which is being developed more and more around the world? Rather than merely focusing on the details of an individual life, it expands our human perspective to include an exploration of the larger world within which we live. Learning to read biography–”life-writing” as the word suggests–encourages an appreciation for the cosmic rhythms that sustain life. Discovering the growth process of a rose or drawing the seasons of a tree can bring a sense of order and lawfulness as we look at human life. The Biography and Social Art Program takes us into the complexities of human becoming and can shed light on questions of meaning.
Social Art describes a way of working in which discoveries and insights are enhanced by entering artistically with others into the exploration of a theme. Quiet work with pastels, paint or clay can open up deep memory sources, and then sharing in small groups can encourage further remembering. The Biography and Social Art Program provides a laboratory for adult learning in which participants are trained through their own activity. Working together with stories, our own and also fairy tales and myths, awakens new imaginations that can break the spell that has enchanted the world and bewitched us into believing only what can be weighed and measured. Working artistically with others, participants cultivate a living understanding of nature, biography, the story of humanity, and the cosmos. Learning to trust process, while lessening the focus on product, encourages a sense of play, risk and adventure.
This program is for those who work with adults and wish to guide explorations into the nature of the world and of the human being in ways that reveal wholeness and connection. In many organizations and communities there are people who long for rich learning experiences, personal transformation, and a more conscious understanding of life, the nature of the world and of the human being.
This program offers professional development for a variety of fields, or it can be a preparation to provide learning opportunities for others seeking personal transformation, healing and a more conscious understanding of life. Taking inspiration from Rudolf Steiner’s insights into human development, the program brings together Biography, Lifeways, and Nurturing Arts as well as the Biographical Counseling work developed in England. Former students are now active in adult education, art therapy, biographical counseling, parent education, elder care, coaching, medicine, hospice care, and various community building activities.
COURSE OF STUDY
The Biography and Social Art Program meets three times per year for a total of four weeks, over the course of three years. Each block focuses on a particular aspect of the mystery of human life and development. Artistic practice (no experience necessary) is central to the learning process. Nature observation as well as painting, modeling, drawing, writing, singing and movement encourage deepening capacities of perception.
All course work considers the human being from a threefold perspective: as a being of body, soul and spirit. Inquiries into questions of the times and contemporary challenges to human freedom weave throughout the program. Between sessions, participants do reading and artistic work, keep a journal and develop individual projects.
THEMES
- Phases of Human Life
- Life Gestures in Nature
- Four-fold Imaginations of Life
- Group Facilitation
- Adult Learning Styles
- Temperament
- Gender
- Working With the Planets: The Helping Conversation
- Nature Observation
- The Senses
- The Evolution of Consciousness through Art
- Working with Stories
- Thresholds and Destiny
