The Designmatters department recently welcomed Alchemist + Writer + Educator, Katharine Hargreaves to ArtCenter for an inspirational “self-innovation” workshop that focused on empowerment, vulnerability, enlightenment and self-exploration in order to open up each participant’s spirit to new methods of overcoming life’s obstacles and tackling lofty goals. In the following blog, ArtCenter students Abigail Ohab and Michael Steinpichler De Souligny give a candid recount of their experience participating in Katharine’s “Fearless” workshop.
We feel the Fearless workshop, led by Katharine (Kat) Hargreaves, was one of the most refreshing experiences in our ongoing attendance to ArtCenter. Kat and the workshop was a delightful, diverse take on how to approach life goals and self-innovation.
First, we all broke the ice with each other using the “If you really knew me…” exercise. This exercise helped attendees personally open up to others and continue being free and comfortable throughout the workshop. This focus on connecting with each other felt vital to promoting ArtCenter’s sense of community, which can sometimes feel very individualistic.
The driving force of our group discussion was coming from the creative side of the brain, and utilizing one’s beingness, ideals and desires to guide oneself into the future. We identified things we are committed to shifting about ourselves and our careers; we asked dangerous questions; we defined our experiments, and questioned what success looks like to us. This was refreshing to do as it took each individual in the classroom on a personal journey. At ArtCenter, we are constantly pressured with the anxiety of developing a career; as a result we fall into a careerist mentality, potentially sacrificing the vision we are truly passionate about. Attending ArtCenter can sometimes feel like running full speed on a hamster wheel! Stress kills the creative process, and Kat emphasized the importance of facing these detriments to support a healthy mind.
What was ultimately unique about the workshop was that Kar did not specify any certain path to adhere to. Every method of self-innovation she was teaching applied to finding success with anything in life. Rather than career-specific choices, Kat’s process was mindfully meditative, and illustrated how one can increase progressiveness mentally and in one’s workload. She did NOT talk about the 5-year plan, which the class was glad to have avoided!
The overall emotion in the classroom was optimistically empowering. We left the workshop feeling confident, calm and excited to approach our future as artists, and as meaningful contributors in a community. Kat has an outstanding, powerful, feminine energy that we are very grateful to have experienced, and we would gladly attend more of these types of workshops.
Katherine Hargreaves works with inspiring humans of all kinds, but especially loves visionary creatives and impactful entrepreneurs who embody passion, purpose, and play. To learn more about her work, please visit her website.