Jan D’Sa – Bridging Arts and Sciences in the Middle East through Intuitive Cufflinks and an ‘Awakenings’ Workshop

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (PRWEB) October 16, 2013

http://www.travelartslife.com - Writer and artist-designer-maker Jan D’Sa has created a workshop to share some of her experiences whilst on her journey towards a creative awakening and away from being a frustrated creative and worse, a blocked one. Aptly called “The Awakenings,” the workshop mainly targets frustrated or blocked creatives and is an extension of her blog TravelArtsLife.com that is centred on creative and expressive arts therapy. The workshop is also open to curious creatives who are on the perpetual path of learning and development. The workshop takes place in the Art Gallery Ahmedia, in Dubai’s heritage district, on Saturday, the 26th of October, 2013.

The workshop will highlight some of the creative processes in intuitive art and arts so that the participants can choose which processes will put them back in their creative flow. It is loosely structured to include elements of spontaneous art, handcrafting, some dance movement and writing. Jan says, “The objective of the workshop is to give the little child in us the permission to play and create without any judgement. When we forget to create and play, we numb our creative selves and our creative identity gets fragmented. Creating with intention and intuition may help to undo the negative programming that have so become part of us.”

The subject on blocked creativity cannot be emphasized enough, with more people becoming disillusioned as to what their purpose in life is. They constitute the breed of ‘shadow artists.’ Shadow artists? “I was one of them,” Jan says. “Julia Cameron, in her book called the Artist’s Way, talks about the shadow artist who is that creative who lives on the fringes of her limelight, but hangs around other creatives that she perceives to be the ‘real’ artists and supports them in a secondary arty role.”

“I had ‘forgotten’ how to paint and dance for 15 years. I was perpetually blocked even though I had already started to handcraft and write again. I wanted to find a way to bridge my fascination with science and arts, but found that ‘I’ got in the way of that goal. Strangely, I found how to overcome that through intuitive art and dance but that took years. People then started to appreciate the creative risk that I was taking and I found myself having conversations with other shadow artists and even doctors who were scared to get in touch with their creativity due to the rigidity that worklife imposed on them. I would offer advice or show them an exercise they could use so that they had the courage to write or paint without fear of criticism. That’s where the idea of the workshop originated.”

The proof of her creative risk taking is seen in her two lines of cufflinks under the brand Janys De. Jan’s anatomy/medical based cufflinks currently focus on bone tissue and histology and are created in silver, polymer clay cane techniques and resin. Side by side, the Janys De intuitive cufflinks line has evolved, where Jan handcrafts the cufflinks based on elements of her intuitive art.

As for Jan, the journey of self-discovery through the art and arts is not over. “I am glad that I found a way to bridge arts and medicine through my artwork and handcrafts. Now that I’m keenly aware that I am a ‘shadow’ performance artist, I am really interested to discover what this will lead to. After all, creativity is the way to awakening who we truly are and is a door that opens into our highest purpose of who we are called to be.”

Workshop details:
The workshop location, Art Ahmedia Gallery Dubai, is the chosen venue to allow the pure sanctuary of the outside world to work in harmony with the creative sanctuary within in the participant. Participants can choose to attend either the morning session or the afternoon session. They can buy their tickets online:
http://awakeningsbytravelartslife.eventbrite.com/

Who is Jan D’Sa?

Jan is an artist-designer-maker, writer, musician and performance artist with a deep interest in bridging the world of science, medicine and arts right here in the Middle East. Raised in Abu Dhabi, she holds a master’s degree in molecular biologist from a UK based University and currently runs a business in scientific and medical communications. She has discovered and experienced that spontaneous art, writing and dancing are crucial for purposeful living as well as to heal, restore and renew her creative spirit. Her art, jewelry, cufflinks and her writings are a result of this journey. Jan believes in spontaneity and injecting a bit of joie-de-vivre where the world is consumed in mundane musings.

She is currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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