Sparking the Wonder Within

“To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?”
— Katherine Graham

Sparking Art is a re-creation and a blending of my life interests, training and experience. I bring to this entity some of my happiest experiences! In the class Hiking with the Muses, we explore creativity close to the inspiration and serenity of nature, which reflects my experience as a staff member of a retreat, Wellspring Renewal Center. It was at Wellspring that I refined the expressive arts curriculum I designed for families called ArtSelf and Nature, now embodied in Sparking Art for Kids.

I enjoy kids of all ages, including adults! When parenting two young daughters, we were always spreading out art projects somewhere at home. I bring to Sparking Art for Kids training in Parent Effectiveness, Early Childhood and Adolescent Education, Teen Empowerment, Active Listening, Peer Counseling, and Process Work. I believe that children thrive in an environment where they have choices, learn to be self-directed, and where education teaches to and fosters emotional and social intelligence.

My life work has culminated in work as a Creativity Coach. My particular niche in this profession is a blend of coaching for personal growth, creative expression, and healing through art. I use my coaching skills with myself to continue rediscovery of my artistic nature, working in the areas of Photography, Polaroid Transfer Printing (a photographic process), Mixed Media (colored pencil, ink, gouache, acrylic, and other materials) and Illustrated Watercolor Journals.

A Journey with the Muses, SoulCollage, and Creative Companions, use my skills of facilitation, training in group process, coaching certification, participation in expressive arts, and years of study in Creative Expression, Yoga Psychotherapy, Process Oriented Psychology and graduate level study in Expressive Arts Therapy. These studies were at the

Northwest Institute of Creative Arts Therapies in Eugene, Oregon
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA
Process Work Institute, Waldport, Oregon
JFK University, Orinda, CA

Two of my most beloved teachers and friends are my older daughter and my mother. Other teachers who I have studied with are Seena Frost, Jill Badonsky, Virginia Dupraw Anderson, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Olivia Corson, Joya Cory, Anna Halprin, Terry Hatcher, Alexandra Kennedy, Jancy Limpert, Jill Mellick, Misha Merrill, Elise Miller, and Ruth Owen. Links to some of their websites are listed at the bottom of the Inspiration page.

There are many domains and modalities for healing. From 1995 to the present I developed the artist healer in myself to integrate the experience of losing a child. Drawing upon prior studies I worked independently with visual art process, and I also worked with the Art for Healing program. at Stanford Hospital. I continued to heal through grief with the expressive arts in workshops like Dancing Darkness into Light. To nurture the artist healer within, I refer people to the book, Creative Healing, by Michael Samuels, M.D.

Diana Morgan, my younger daughter, was an artist both before and after her diagnosis, finding much comfort in art activities during her illness. In life she embodied Artemis energy, protector of animals, and in Spirit she is a Muse who inspires me to live life consciously. For loss of a loved one, I recommend The Infinite Thread, Healing Relationships Beyond Loss, by Alexandra Kennedy, M.A. She also authored Losing a Parent.

In 2006 I will be teaching workshops and classes in Illustrated Memory Books. For the Self and other Loved Ones, an art process for accepting, commemorating, and celebrating, and Spontaneous Painting, Inviting the Artist Healer to Emerge, a process for quieting the mind and healing the heart.

Educated at The College of William & Mary, I earned a B.A. in Fine Arts and Education (Art Education, Art Studio, and Art History). I have worked as an activist for the Equal Rights Amendment, birthed one daughter in the hospital and one at an alternative birthing center, helped the organic grocery cooperative movement to thrive, and supported an entrepreneur husband in Silicon Valley.

My professional background has included being

Assistant Program Director, Producer and Editor for the Digital Clubhouse Network, Sunnyvale, CA where I helped breast cancer patients tell their survival stories through the digital medium
Events and Program Consultant for Caducea Resources for the Expressive Arts
Teaching Assistant at the U.C.S.C. Extension, Art + Design Program, Cupertino, CA
Assistant volunteer teacher for the Community School for Music and Art (CSMA) in Mountain View, CA
Quality Assurance Engineer for Media 100, Inc., and discreet/Autodesk, Inc., Cupertino, CA where I tested software for video editing, compression, special effects, and web streaming applications.

It is through these experiences and many more that my passion has developed for creating a program for self-discovery, healing, and recovery of joy through art, nature, and building artistic community.

Laurel Aston
Creativity Coach

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”
— Katharine Hepburn