Wing-making Workshop
Sunday, September 15
1 - 4pm
Location: Gallery at 3S Artspace
Suggested registration + supplies fee $50 (sliding scale price points available)
A Hands-on Creative Ritual for Remembering and Letting Go
Join us in the Gallery for a reflective workshop led by Bess Welden (of the Death Wings Project) and Laura Cleminson (of the Pre-Dead Social Club) for a creative opportunity to honor a death of any kind through a simple art project, using paper and fabric to create a set of mini-wings.
Both Bess and Laura, working within their respective initiatives, are creating opportunities for us all to remove the invisible barriers surrounding death and the acknowledgement of loss. This Wing-making Workshop is built on their mutual belief in the power of community and in creating new rituals for remembering and honoring deaths.
Come solo, bring a friend, neighbor, or family member. There will be an opportunity to share reflections and stories about what emerges through the process.
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Please note: This is not a grief session. If you are currently experiencing deep grief or any sort of active trauma, please consider waiting to join us at a later date.
About Bess Welden:
Bess Welden is a theater-maker, visual artist, and educator living and creating in her adopted home state of Maine. She founded Death Wings Project in 2021 which offers creatively compassionate art-making and storytelling programs about loss and grief. Her play, Death Wings, won the 2020 Maine State prize of the Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights and was co-produced in Maine by Dramatic Repertory Company, The Theater Project, and Meetinghouse Arts in 2023. Her play Madeleines won the 2022 National Jewish Playwriting Contest and will premiere at Portland Stage in March 2025. Bess was a 2022 National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow for her work at the intersection of art and social change. She recently served as Playwright-In-Residence for the 2024 Maine Playwrights Festival. She teaches theater at Colby College.
About Laura Cleminson:
Laura Cleminson is the founder of the Pre-Dead Social Club, a mission-based organization creating opportunities to “keep the die-a-logue alive” as it relates to the thing we all have in common – we’re all going to die someday. She is a death doula, hospice volunteer, active member of the NH Health Care Decisions Coalition (part of the Foundation for Healthy Communities), TEDx Speaker and functional artist. Through supporting people at end-of life she was inspired to establish the Pre-Dead Social Club (March 2023) to work toward removing societal taboos around death and provide opportunities for anyone to gain a better relationship with their own mortality with programs such as: Death Over Drinks, DEADLINES, and We Wish We Knew That! She believes in the transformative power of community and meeting people where they are at.
Thank you to our year-round Lead Sponsors: AC Hotel Portsmouth, Katzman Contemporary Projects, MacEdge, and Raka.
Thank you to our Summer Season Sponsors: BANKW Staffing, Beswick Engineering, and Procon, Inc.