THE GARDEN
Symbolic Art School
Learn the art of transmutation: Turn an idea into an object.
You bring a question, memory, dream, experience or idea, and I teach you how to move it through symbol, material, form and making until it becomes something physical.
You choose the materials from a curated selection, build the object yourself, and learn how to read what emerges.
Next session: The next Garden session will be announced by email.
Join the list to be the first to know when registration opens.
THE ART OF TRANSMUTATION
Transmutation is the movement from one state into another.
In The Garden, we begin with something intangible and give it physical form.
A memory becomes a symbol.
A symbol becomes a form.
A form becomes an object.
You learn how to make that movement deliberately.
We start with one theme.
In the morning, I teach the method: how to take an idea, find the symbolic language inside it, and choose materials whose physical qualities can carry meaning.
You learn to move from:
IDEA → SYMBOL → MATERIAL → OBJECT
In the afternoon, you build the object by hand using wood, rust linen, rope and other raw materials I bring.
We end by reading what you made together — looking at the symbols, materials, forms and choices that emerged, including things you may not have consciously planned.
What you will learn
IDENTIFY
What are you actually trying to express?
TRANSLATE
What symbol could carry it?
MATERIALISE
What material has the physical qualities to embody it?
COMPOSE
How should the elements relate to one another?
MAKE
What happens when the idea enters your hands?
READ
What has emerged that you didn't consciously plan?
What you'll leave with
A finished symbolic object made by you
A repeatable method for translating an idea into physical form
An understanding of how symbol, material and form can work together
Experience reading the meaning contained in an object
WHO IT IS FOR
For women who want to turn something they have been thinking, feeling, remembering or investigating into a physical object.
You do not need artistic training or previous experience.
You come to investigate it through making.
WHY I TEACH THIS
The art of transmutation is something I have been doing for a very long time without calling it that.
I remember hammering a nail into a piece of wood in art class when I was 7 years old. Thirty years later, I am still doing it, only now I understand that an object can carry something words cannot.
I teach women how to move what is difficult to explain: a memory, desire, question, experience or creative energy — through symbol, material and making until it has a physical form.
The Garden is a place to turn what is moving through you into something you can see, touch and understand.
FAQ
Everything you might be wondering before you step into the Garden.
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A curated selection of materials for your object: including wood, rust linen, rope and other raw materials — plus the teaching, guided making, and closing reading of what you made. You take your finished object home.What is included?
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You need no artistic training. The method starts with an idea and moves step by step through symbol, material, form and making. Beginners and practising artists can work side by side.
You can attend alone. The day is structured around individual making within a small group.
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The Garden is an eight-hour in-person school day with breaks. The language is English. The exact location is announced two weeks before the session.
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Between eight and twelve people.
The group stays small so that each person has time with me during the making process, and the closing reading can include everyone's work.
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Bring one thing you want to investigate: a memory, question, dream, experience, image, story or idea.
You do not need to know what the finished object will look like. That is part of what you will learn.
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You receive an email when the next session opens, with the theme, date, location, and price. Registration opens to the list first.
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The sculptures in The Architecture of Self-Betrayal were made through the same movement you learn in The Garden:
IDEA → SYMBOL → MATERIAL → OBJECT
The Garden teaches the method behind my own practice.
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Your place is confirmed once payment is received.
If you need to cancel, you can request a full refund up to 14 days before the session. Cancellations made less than 14 days before the session are non-refundable, but you may transfer your place to another person or request to attend a future Garden session, subject to availability.
If you are unable to attend and do not arrange a transfer, the place cannot be refunded.
If I need to cancel or reschedule a session, you will receive either a full refund or the option to transfer your booking to the next available session.
You are on the list. The next session will be announced by email.
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