One Step Beyond / teaching at Art Bias/ young adults with special needs, 2025 March

In March 2025, I have led Art Bias’s One Step Beyond classes, guiding participants through encaustic (wax) media techniques. They explored texture, carving, layering, melting, and fusing using tools, alcohol, and shellac.

One project incorporated embedding mirrors in encaustic wax, inviting the participants to reflect on how they see themselves. Another project used magnets and iron filings to symbolize the magnetic emotional forces pulling us together through love and connection. The final class focused on photo transfers, where images were seamlessly heated and fused into the wax. I titled my class series “Expressing Emotions Without Words,” capturing the power of art beyond language.

We colored, melted, carved, laughed, hugged and even cried together at times. It was a profound experience for which I am deeply grateful for. I have learned from this class what all the Zen masters have been repeating all along, and yet people who think too much (myself included) keep forgetting: that being immersed in the process is much more important than the outcome.