still life studio is a branch of valentine design collective with a mission to facilitate space & time for slowing down, being present, and connecting with life via creative, intuitive and expressive arts & crafts sessions and other practices focusing on creativity, awareness, presentness, and connection.

Still Life Studio is for visual & tactile learners and thinkers.

For those looking to strengthen their connection to themselves, others, and the world by accessing the creativity inherent within themselves and in the aliveness around them.

For creative people. (You do NOT need to be “good" at visual art or fit any sort of specific expectations or requirements to be a creative person. Leave any preconceived expectations at the door!)

For those looking to slow down and be present, in the “here and now”, in their bodies.

For humans. We stand to uplift living things and humanity. We care for all humans but will not tolerate bigotry in our space.

We reject ideas held by some mainstream Western meditation practices that might equate slowing down and being present with strategies for simply coping through the despair of the colonized world we live in. Instead, we think that when we practice being present in our bodies, honoring humanity, remembering we are animals and part of Earth, feeling how good it feels to be in the here and now with one another — it becomes more and more realistic for us to step in to our collective power to oppose oppression — in small ways, routinely, that add up to larger and stronger movements.

• AWARENESS - Present moment awareness is heightened and strengthened, like building muscle memory each time you practice, during tactile processes like art-making.

• EXPRESSION - Art-making can be an effective way to understand, express and communicate. For some, it may be easier to access these abilities via tactile, kinesthetic art-making processes than via talking or writing.

• CONFIDENCE - Confidence can be built while engaging in the process of creating. If participants choose to share the end result or share details about their experience with the process, this can also boost confidence.