what is creative inquiry?
what is creative inquiry?
at Conspire Studio, we facilitate a process called creative inquiry
this process is simple at its core and has three basic steps
1
we engage with a topic
by thinking and talking about it with others
listening and sharing stories
2
we bring those stories, ideas, and stirrings
into a non-conversational art-making space
3
we reflect on what we’ve created and invite
it to speak back to us
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Frequently Asked Questions
We love receiving questions and providing as much info as we can, but truly the best way to understand how creative inquiry works is to try it! Your first session is free. Find a session and sign up here
How much talking is involved in the group session?
There is absolutely no need or requirement to talk in the whole group. In the break-out portion of the process, you’ll be invited to speak with one other person in response to the topic, text, or prompt. This takes up about 10-15 minutes of the 90 minute process.
Is this group therapy?
The creative inquiry practice that we facilitate was born out of art therapy, but this is not therapy. We hold a container in which participants get to have parallel experiences through engaging with ideas and feelings and making art in a non-conversational space. These experiences sometimes can be very deep and transformative, and sometimes not. Either way, they belong to you and, while there is some space for sharing, there is nothing that you are expected to share beyond your presence and willingness to be in the room with others.
Can I bring my own art materials?
We invite you to try out the materials that we have in the studio, which include paints (gouache, watercolor, acrylic), pastels, colored pencils, collage materials, and air dry clay. We also understand that you might have materials you feel most at home with. We welcome this as long as you can help us keep our space clean (no clay or oil paints please), give room to those around you, and take your materials with you when you go!
Will I be expected to share personal things about myself?
No. The sharing that we do in small groups can involve personal sharing, or not. You get to decide what is comfortable for you, from sharing broad ideas and thoughts to offering more personal stories.
I’m not an artist. Do I belong here?
Yes. Creative inquiry is something every person is capable of accessing, whether you have art experience or not. The creative time not about making a good piece of art, but rather about getting into conversation with the part of you that is inherently, deeply creative.
Can I book a private session for my group of friends, organization, or company?
Absolutely! We’d love to work with your group or organization. We’ll work with you to develop a theme or direction for a session or series of sessions, whatever fits your needs. We love doing team-building and supporting groups/organizations in shaping their next big ideas. Please send an email to Connect@Conspire.Studio with as much detail as you can about what you’re looking for.
Conspire can be translated as breathe together and there are many we have conspired with, to whom we give deep gratitude.
The creative inquiry process comes to us through Rabbi Adina Allen and the Jewish Studio Project. Rabbi Allen created the Jewish Studio Process as a methodology for bringing traditional Jewish text study out of a purely rational and intellectualized domain and into a place that allows for more spacious, embodied, and intuitive modes of knowing. She draw on the Open Studio Process, developed by Pat B. Allen in the 1990’s as a response to the other diagnostic model of art therapy, revolutionizing art therapy by putting the power of meaning-making into the hands of the art-maker.
We strive to honor this lineage and give thanks for the integrity with which it is held and continually nurtured in ever-changing aliveness.
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