Welcome to Grief Threads
a 5 week deep dive into the mystery-teachings of grief through cloth, quilting, and art-based ritual
Put me on the waitlist!
Welcome to your magical art studio cave for transforming emotional intensity.
this is grief-spelunking the artist and alchemist’s way.
♾️
in spite of it’s villainous reputation, you’re grief-curious.
you see a twinkle in grief’s eye that suggests there are secrets behind the Doom and Gloom fanfare.
as if that’s not the whole story.
you’ve got a deep knowing that grief is a kind of cosmic doula herself— a guide into the deeper mysteries of being alive.
she’s got initiation codes, and is calling to those who are brave enough to lean in…
In the world of Grief Threads,
you’ll bring the fabric and cloth that holds significance to you.
think: your loved one’s old clothes, the familiar dish towel that always hung in your grandmother’s kitchen, the pillow case you’ve been crying into for the last six months, the sweater you wore the night of the break-up.
These materials are the secret side door for entering the land of grief.
Grief’s domain is the hands, it wants to be metabolized through mindful creative action.
When we move our hands with others, stitch by stitch, we say to our grief,
‘ok I’m listening, I wanna hear what you have to teach me’
So we cut our materials up together, reassemble and restitch these potent textiles into a cherished work of art, embedded with all we’re carrying. this is grief alchemy.
we act as if we don’t have all the answers, and that perhaps there’s a kind of wisdom lurking in these fibers that surround us.
Each week, we’ll gather live on zoom to sew together, talk about our materials, learn somatic tools for surfing the grief waves, and be guided by the mystery of Endings big and small.
Additionally, you’ll receive a teaching on a new sewing technique or textile collaging project. This will be recorded thank GOD so you can pause, rewind, zoom in, and take your time.
so much of loss and grief is very abstract. but fabric is tangible. a needle and thread is very graspable.
“Honestly, I just loved the whole experience. It was amazing. I knew I was going to love class, but it just exceeded my expectations. It gave me a good space to process and grow as a person, and was a safe space to explore and get back into my sewing. I just can’t stop talking about it, I've told everyone.”
🖤 Chaney, Grief Threads participant
“Melissa is curating a forum that’s the antithesis to old American ways of being together. It’s real community. It’s non heirarchical and non transactional. There’s nothing to consume. We’re learning to be together in radical new ways. We come together with our shit and just be with it all. It’s a real place to belong. We came for class but got each other! It’s why no one wanted to leave at the end of each class! She’s tapping into ancient wisdom here.
🖤 Lucy, Grief Threads participant
As your facilitator, I’ll be drawing on my experience as an improvisational artist and death-midwife, sharing what I know about uncertain creative action as a balm for grief.
Since 2011, I've been mapping the influence of death and loss on my art-making practices in performance, writing, drawing and voice work. You can read more HERE.