Art &Alchemy
November 2025
What We’re Making:
Junk Drawer Art
Making as Meditation
Before we buy another supply, let’s see what we already have. This month, we’ll wander through our homes like treasure hunters gathering bottle caps, cardboard, fabric scraps, junk mail and other things that have been waiting to be seen. Drawing from assemblage artists, the resourcefulness of folk traditions, and the magic of making-do, we’ll practice transforming the mundane into something beautiful that matters. Because, let's face it...real creativity starts with noticing, not shopping.
When We’re Gathering:
Date: Sunday, November 9th
Time: 2:00-3:30pm EST
Duration: 90 minutes
Where: Online
(Zoom link sent at registration)
Cost: Pay what feels aligned (recommended $10-$20)
Creative Lineage: Who’s Inspiring Us
Our project this month draws inspiration from:
Assemblage artists like El Anatsui (who crushes thousands of bottle caps into shimmering wall sculptures) and Chiharu Shiota (who weaves hundreds of found keys together with miles of red thread to map human connection)
Folk art traditions of resourcefulness: Depression-era crafts, scrap quilting, the art of “making-do”
Contemporary makers who see trash as treasure and prove that creativity starts with noticing, not shopping
These artists remind us that limitation can breed innovation and that the mundane holds magic when we learn to see it differently.
Making is a Meditation
0ur project this month is about shifting from scarcity ("I don't have what I need") to abundance ("Look at all this material!"). When we learn to see our lives as full of creative possibility, we start to remember that we have more than we realize we do and often exactly what we need to get started. Together we’ll be…
Practicing
Noticing.
Resourcefulness.
Creative abundance mindset.
Seeing potential where others see junk.
Unlearning
The belief that we need "the right supplies" to make something meaningful. Consumer culture's grip on creativity. The idea that art requires special items or buying something new.
What You’ll Need
The Usual Suspects: Keep these basics on hand for all Art & Alchemy sessions:
Scissors
Glue stick, white glue, and/or glue gun
Markers, colored pencils, pastels, or crayons
Paper (any kind works)
For This Session
You'll gather found objects from around your home—fabric scraps, buttons, cardboard, old magazines, bottle caps, natural elements, and other overlooked treasures.
What You’ll Receive: A Zoom link, detailed supply list and inspiration guide will be sent when you register, along with a downloadable guide to our favorite craft products.
Your Co-Hosts
Alice Chen is a knitter and sewist who is on a mission to turn every scrap in her craft room into something delightful. She believes in everyday creativity as an act of care: for the materials that want another life, for the landfills we can keep things out of, and for the magic that arises when we work with what we have instead of what we're told we need.
Megan Rossi creates handmade works through Chaparral Made, celebrating the California landscape with natural and upcycled materials. She's a maker who believes that the best art comes from what's already around us - foraged, found, and transformed into modern boho magic. She'll show you how to let your materials lead the way.
You’re inner creative is waiting for you and so are we!
Join Us
Upcoming Circles
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November - Junk Drawer Art
Sun, 11/9 from 2:00-3:30pm EST
Cost: $20
Before we buy another supply, let's see what we already have. We'll wander through our homes like treasure hunters - gathering bottle caps, cardboard, fabric scraps, junk mail, things that have been waiting to be seen. Drawing from assemblage artists, the resourcefulness of folk traditions, and the magic of making-do, we'll transform the mundane into something beautiful that matters. For learning to see your life as material and remembering that creativity starts with noticing, not shopping. -
December - The Unraveling Bowl
Sun, 12/14 from 2:00-3:30pm EST
Cost: $20
As the year comes to a close, let’s send off the shame and striving and allow ourselves to be messy and in process. Let’s turn found objects into beautiful vessels to honor and hold the things we’re ready to release. We’ll be guided by ceremonial object-making, seasonal altars, and the Japanese art of imperfection - wabi-sabi. -
January - Blueprints for Becoming
Sun, 1/11 from 2:00-3:30pm EST
Cost: $20
Bookmaking anyone? Yes please. We’ll look to folk book arts, sketchbooks of explorers, and the notebooks of wild inventors and witches, then stitch together our own creative journals for the new year. For notes and nonsense, for sketches and spells, for keeping track of what calls and what quiets, for dreaming sideways, mapping what matters, and calling. in what’s to come. -
February - Letters to the Firekeepers
Sun, 2/8 from 2:00-3:30pm EST
Cost: $20
Let’s write gorgeous love letters to our creative lineage - the teachers, aunties, authors, imaginary friends, and experiences that have kept our inner flame alive. We’ll take cues from illuminated manuscripts, zine culture, and the practice of devotional writing, keeping in mind that gratitude is its own spell and our words can create magic.