Mandalas and Plant Inks Workshop

About the Instructor:

Sara Steffey McQueen, BWS WSI

Sara’s creative and spiritual practices are deeply intertwined. For over four decades, Sara has led women’s circles, ceremonies, and healing work as a Conductor and Representative in the Sufi community. Many of her efforts help fund global tree-planting efforts through Tree Sisters, where she also volunteers.

Sara’s artistic journey began in printmaking and grew to encompass a rich love of paper, especially handmade varieties. Her work often features collage and art journaling, blending visual storytelling with personal archives and notes. A devoted watercolorist since college, she captures landscapes and the flow of seasons from her studio, drawing inspiration from the natural world just beyond her windows. Most recently, she has been making her own paper and paints from personally-grown or foraged natural materials, incorporating natural objects into her designs.

Her pieces speak to the rhythms of Earth and spirit, inviting reflection, connection, and transformation. Sara’s art can be found locally in Bloomington, Indiana, and through her website.

Education:

In all its events, Artists for Climate Awareness provides thematic environmental education, offering practical ways to get involved locally. As such, Bridget O’Brien, MFA painting candidate at Indiana University and grower/processor of natural pigments, will be delivering a short presentation on how she and a colleague grow plants in the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center‘s Color Field and then process them to make watercolor pigments. By growing and cultivating dyes, paints, and mediums, Bridget strives to further synchronize her artistic practice with the cyclical lives of the plants, animals, and habitats that she paints. See Bridget’s biography here.

Artists for Climate Awareness is pleased to offer this workshop as part of its series to help artists learn how to use art as a way to bring social awareness to conservation efforts in your communities.

As such, a portion of the workshop fee will go toward a Contributors membership in Artists for Climate Awareness.

Each participant will be automatically considered a member of Artists for Climate Awareness at the Contributor’s level (equivalent to $35) for one year. Contributors get workshop and event discounts, news, a complimentary "Mother Earth" tee shirt, an opportunity to publish their artwork on our website, and enhanced insider participation.