OAB offers Winter Solstice Lantern making workshop
One upcoming community activity set for this weekend will help brighten and bring some cheer during an otherwise cold and dark season.
The public is invited to celebrate both the shortest day and longest night of the year at the Old Art Building (OAB), which will host a winter solstice lantern- making workshop on Saturday, Dec. 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. with Tracy Smedes-Hepler.
The activity, open to youth and adults, utilizes various colored tissue paper to create unique solstice lanterns with recycled plastic bottles, followed by a short solstice walk around the OAB as a way to usher in the lengthening days. Smedes-Hepler said despite celebrating the winter solstice with her family for so long, it’s the first time she will be teaching the lantern making workshop at the OAB. She said they had several requests from community members about offering an activity that wasn’t particularly focused on Christmas, but as something to celebrate the season itself.
“I want my activities to be what I call low pressure activities,” Smedes-Hepler said. “Sometimes people can feel intimidated by art, and often art that is offered, especially to adults, is art that involves a lot of technique and skill and it’s like learning a new skill. This kind of work anybody can do and it’s very playful and I believe that humans of all ages benefit from play… I did ‘family nights’ at OAB last year, and I think it’s important to gather in spaces as a community. It also helps boost our mental wellness during this time of year to gather together. It’s peaceful and joyful.”
Mental wellness plays a big part in the kind of art education that Smedes-Hepler focuses on and teaches. The darker months also have a huge effect on many people’s moods, so adding things like colors, rituals, traditions, and lights of all kinds helps people to work through those feelings.
“I deeply believe that art and being creative helps us move challenging feelings through our body, it helps those stuck places become unstuck, and especially at this time of year when there are so many challenging emotions that will arise because of all of the grief that we can experience over the holidays,” she said. “It’s so important because we need light to thrive and feel well.”
Smedes-Hepler will begin the workshop in the OAB much like how she starts her family workshops: with an informational video on the subject, but with a focus on the solstice itself. People will then break away to tables to create and decorate their own mini lanterns using recycled plastic bottles and a mini LED tea light. Light refreshments like warm cider or tea will also be offered as well as other possible solstice themed snacks.
Tracy Smedes-Hepler will lead a winter solstice lantern making workshop on Dec. 21 from 4-6 p.m. at the Old Art Building. Courtesy photos
At the end of the project, the group will have the chance to walk around the OAB grounds, which is currently decked out with lights galore, with their mini solstice lanterns in-hand. People are welcomed to sing while on the optional walk, or they can sit back and enjoy the lights from within the building. “The inside of the OAB right now is decked out for the holidays, but it is very strongly themed on lights… The tissue paper is a rainbow of colors that is to kind of drench us in color therapy, and its pre-cut tissue paper into interesting shapes. It’s part of that low pressure vibe where you don’t even have to really think, like collage, stickering or coloring. One thing that I really like to present when I’m doing public workshops is projects that you can also carry into your own home and your own traditions very easily. Nothing I do is going to be so complex that it will exclude people from being able to do it in their homes either financially or skillwise.”
To register for the Saturday workshop, go to www.oldartbuilding. com/events/winter-solstice- lantern-making. For more information on the OAB and other upcoming events, call 231256-2131.
