Taproot Women Artists Circle

Deep support for your creative work with Val Gilman MFA, psychosynthesis life coach for Artists and Creatives

This is for you, if you relate to these
  1. You care for the well-being of the environment, the culture and the community, and sometimes you can really get how your creative work matters to the greater good, but sometimes it feels selfish or hard to justify.
  2. You strive to make art with integrity and depth, even if you do not always feel like you are succeeding.
  3. You want support in making your art work a priority.
  4. You are ready to have your work to be seen and discussed in a way that is deeply engaged and honest.
  5. You need to find some freedom from that inner critic and tap into your wise compassionate self.
  6. You long for the sense of community of other women who are also working from a sense of inner purpose and vision, so that you can feel your belonging to something bigger than yourself.
 
What does Taproot Women Artists Circle provide as a solution?
In this dedicated group of (6-8) creatives, we will build a profound sense of support so that each of you can pursue the creative work that you are meant to do. By witnessing each other with compassion, generosity, openness and non-judgement as you work through your struggles and move into your passions, you will find the strength and courage to keep moving ahead into the unknown territory of your work.

By seeing each other’s creative work with curiosity and deep engagement, bringing our own lived experience to how we receive the work and let it resonate in our own beings, we make the communication of your work real.

This group will nourish your creative side in a way that feels both warm and exhilarating. We will laugh, and there may be tears, and all the while we will be held in the kind of safety that allows for the deepest parts of the self to feel at home.

What is the structure?
We meet as a whole group twice a month.

One meeting a month will be similar to a group coaching or support group. I will create a safe container for us to share what is essential with each other. We will focus on our challenges, strategies and motivations using some guided visualizations and writing exercises, as well as time to speak our truths to each other.
We will address issues such as:
  • “Am I a Real artist?”
  • “What right do I have to spend the time, money, energy on this?”
  • “Everything else and everyone else comes first in my life.”
  • “What if my art is actually not any good?”
  • “How do I know what direction I should really be following?”
  • “What is the worth of it anyway?”

The second meeting of the month will focus on the creative work of two or three members. The location of this meeting will rotate; Each month we will meet in the studio of one member, and they will host one or two others to bring their work. We may look at finished work or work in progress. It is not a critique in that we will not be assessing the relative merits or giving suggestions on improvements. Rather we will be engaging fully -- letting the work speak to us, and letting the artist know what it is that resonates and how. Through this process you experience the value of your own work in a greater context. And all of us benefit from being in deep creative dialogue.

Individual Studio Visit and Clarity Session- optional

This is an individual in-depth conversation, usually in person, but it could be by video conference, in which we talk about your work, where you are in your creative practice, what is the context of your life and commitments and some of your background. It is a profoundly supportive coaching experience. It also lays the groundwork for your work in the group.

What else is included?

Because this is the first time that I am running this group in this way, I am going to charge a little less and expect that we will come up with additions and improvements along the way. We may want to add a partnering component to the group, or an on-line community discussion for example.
 
What is Val's training and background?
I have been a professional, artist since graduating from college in 1988. And it was in that time between undergraduate and grad school that I first felt the power of a well-run support group- it was inspiring, deeply moving and life-changing for me as I went from not being sure of myself as an artist to having a full portfolio, a number of shows under my belt and getting into one of the best grad schools in the country. After earning my MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999 I had 14 years teaching art at the college level, focusing primarily in ceramics and sculpture, but also teaching both intro studio and senior projects. This gave me experience working with a wide variety of materials and directions, and a great love of helping people find and articulate their own voices and creative visions. When I moved back to the valley in 2014, having lived here in my 20’s, I studied psychosynthesis transformational life coaching at the Synthesis Center and started my coaching and teaching business, Taproot Arts and Insight. Along the way I have studied and practiced authentic movement for many years, and through the practice learned the power of the compassionate, open, and non-judgmental witness in supporting our most tender truths.

Why is Val doing this? 
I am passionate about the power of art and I know that your creative work is essential. I believe that it is the soul of a culture. The creative process, in all of its messy unknown qualities,  is essential to the well-being of the individual, it is nourishing in a way that nothing else is because it is tending to, being present with, witnessing with compassion and non-judgement, the deepest and most disquieting parts of ourselves. But it does not stop there.
Our being nourished in this way allows us to turn to those around us with a sense of generosity and caring because we are fed on a profound level and because witnessing ourselves honestly breeds compassion for others. So even if we show no one the product, it is doing good.
And there is more. Because we are a part of the culture, by tapping into our own deepest psyches through this messy creative stumbling, we are tapping into the places in our culture that need attention, need to be seen and held with compassion. So when we do have the courage to bring our work out to show others, we are engaging in the deep healing of our own culture. And right now, there is a lot of healing to be done. We need all of us doing our deepest most vulnerable work. Now.
I hope you’ll join me on this mission.

How do you become a Circle Member?
This group is intended for artists and creatives who have already been working with me individually. 

TIf you feel like it might be the perfect thing for you, the first step is a conversation, about 30 or 45 min on the phone. This is a free and with no obligation. It is a way for us to get to know each other a little bit and for me to hear what is going on for you. Because this is a small and focused group, I will be making sure that all of the members are a good fit.

After the initial conversation, if we are both clear that it is a good fit, then we can jump in with a Studio Visit and Clarity Session- this will be an enormously supportive private session that will help me understand your needs and strengths so that the work in the group makes sense for you.

Individual Studio Visit and Clarity Session
  • $200 for Circle Members (normally valued at $300)

If this group seems like a good fit for you, I will send you a link to register for the group and pay on-line. 
  • $550 for 3-month series 
  • A limited number of sliding scale and work study options available upon request
  • Time TBA
​Could you be a good candidate for coaching?
Click below to take a short quiz to see if it is likely that coaching and specifically coaching with Val might be a good fit
​​Lets talk!
After you take the quiz, if you feel like we could be a good fit, I invite you to contact me and lets talk! We can set aside 1/2 hour or so to check in with each other about what is going on for you and what next steps we might want to pursue. 
I have included some questions for you to work with before we talk. I hope you find them to be useful for your clarification and reflection.