Art & Medicine Fair at The Portland Grief House

At The Grief House we're testing the notion that - to be able to rejoice or to grieve (which we suspect are interdependent emotional states) a person needs to learn to interact generously with the world.

That's harder and harder to practice in our isolated, automated, virtual, industrialized lives.

We believe, when we see ourselves as artists, makers, and healers - whether our work directly addresses loss or not - we become medicine for unaccompanied grief; we contribute to a map-making project that leads the way back into bigger, fuller human life.

We suspect everyone makes this medicine. It seems likely each of us offer a particular, needed ingredient. We hope that creating places where we can share our unique gifts will help build communal medicine that's potent and helpful for all of us.

We're grateful for the artists, makers and healers who give themselves to this work whole-heartedly and offer it generously.

We're honored to share their work.

What to expect at the Fair:

10am - We'll start the day with a grief and gratitude circle, led by Laura Green, Krystle May Statler and Hilary Rappaport

10:30 - 12:00pm - Candlemaker and ritual tender Hilary will be offering a candle ceremony for grief - www.griefhouse.org/hillary

10:30 - 2pm - Poet Krystle will be at the house to talk about her work and the usefulness of writing in grief work- krystlemaystatler.com

12pm - 2pm - Catie Hannigan will be at the house to talk about her poetry and art - www.catiehannigan.com

12pm - 1:30pm - Jin Sol will be at the house providing energy healing sessions. www.studionunchipdx.com

3pm - 6pm - Artist and knife maker Ryan Smith will be at the house to talk about his hand forged knives and process - rysmithknives.com

3pm - 6pm - Dreamworker and author Tina Tau will be at the house from 3-6 and offering dreamwork sessions from 3-4:30pm - tinatau.com

3pm - 5pm - Energy worker Jojo Donovan will be at the house all day and available to talk about their zines and work and offering energy sessions from 3-5pm - sevenstonestarot.com

10am - 6pm - Kara Crisp - cyanotype printed clothing, medicinal salves. Kara will be at the house all day to talk about her work - /www.amendedheart.org/

10am - 6pm - Grief House goodies - We'll also have Grief House t-shirts, prints, stickers and notecards for sale, featuring the original art of Chelsea Granger - chelseagranger.com. 

Raffle Tickets to support the Grief House will be on sale all day and there will be a plant sale featuring cuttings from the Grief House garden.

Also in the house all day, the art of: Jan Stott - custom woodworking (featured everyday throughout The Grief House), ara oshin - prints, and Santiago Fontenla - hand made pottery.

A few notes about the fair:

• The fair is free to the public. RSVP's are welcome but not required (if you know you're coming - we'd love to look forward to it!)
• We will be emptying the Grief House of her current adornments and filling her walls, shelves and bookcases with art and offerings from our community.
• You are welcome to stroll through our home, see what feels like it's meant for you, purchase and take the work that feels right from our home to yours.
• You'll be invited to replace your chosen piece with a note about where it will live next.
• You are invited to join artists/makers/healers as they may offering short talks about their work while at the house - its meaning to them, their process, how it helps them, what they hope it might offer the wider world. 
• If you're interested in talking with a particular practitioner - check the schedule and come to their talk. You're also welcome to drift through and chat with folks as opportunity affords.

We hope this will be a chance to make our home and family feel larger and more tightly woven. To see each other more deeply and see the world more fully and vividly through each other's eyes.

We're so happy to be part of this community with you. We feel hopeful about how we might heal and grow in it together.