Senior Series- Expressive Arts Collage

Nature in My Imagination: Mapping the Nature of Me Ages 55+ are welcome

Karen Knight, Instructor

Step into your own secret garden of imagination in this soulful, sensory-based expressive arts session designed to awaken memory, curiosity, and joy. Through guided visualization, gentle nature-inspired movement, and collage-making, we’ll journey into meaningful landscapes—both remembered and imagined—and reflect on what nurtures us, what grounds us, and what we long to grow.

Together we’ll explore poiesis—the deeply human impulse to make and create— we’ll explore symbolic storytelling and embodied creativity using image, color, rhythm, and reflection. With
grounding movement and mindful reflection, we will make space for new insights, and open ourselves to awe and wonder.

Creative Outcome:
Creative “mapping” offers insight into what brings joy, what needs tending, and how we are rooted in the natural world. Participants will leave with 2 pieces—a symbolic “Map of Me” and a nature-
inspired place collage—as tangible reflections of their inner world and creative voice.

“Map of Me” Portrait– A symbolic, intuitive layout of your inner landscape—created through metaphor, image, and shape. This piece helps you explore what you’re cultivating in life, what may
need tending, and how you relate to the seasons within yourself. It’s not about being artistic—it’s about discovering authenticity and empowerment through expressive play.
Place-Based Collage – Inspired by guided visualizations and sensory memories (e.g., your “Secret Garden”), this piece invites you to capture the spirit of a meaningful place—real or
imagined—that offers comfort, inspiration, and belonging.

Materials Provided:
• Mixed media collage supplies (magazines, recycled paper, glue, markers, scissors)
• Visual prompts, maps, and poetic inspiration
Please Bring:
• A journal or notebook
• Optional: personal nature photos or imagery, any meaningful collage materials you’d like to bring. (We will have images on hand if needed).

This class is subsidized by our generous donors.

**Refunds and credits are issued only for class cancellations or postponements.

Karen’s Story:

Karen Knight is a local Bastrop-based expressive arts guide who invites you to explore the wild joy of creativity as a pathway to connection, renewal, and delight. With a Master’s in Expressive Arts
from the European Graduate School of Arts, Health & Society, Karen leads playful, nature-infused experiences designed to awaken fresh perspectives and possibilities.
We’ll dance with a sensorial palette of mixed media, storytelling, writing, color, sound, and reflective play—gently guided, lightly held, and wide open to wonder. Karen lives just down the road at Ardor
Wood Farm, where the goats roam, the longhorns graze, and the starry night skies reminds her that nature is the original artist and we’re all part of its masterpiece.

Her work in Cities Connecting Children to Nature and training in biophilic design draws from an indigenous understanding: that nature isn’t something “out there,” but something in here—woven
through breath, rhythm, memory, and imagination. As one class participant shared, “It gave me an outlet to be fully imaginative and creative… I realized how closely related emotions are with nature.”
No art experience needed—just curiosity, presence, and maybe a splash of courage. Come play, and rediscover what’s been blooming inside you all along.

Karen Knight