One of my favourite things to do is to prepare & lead a retreat. It is such a privilege to curate quiet creative space where others can take time out to meet with God through creativity.
Retreats & Quiet Days I lead, are a result of distilled prayer and pondering through creativity, to provide a liminal place where others might meet with the Creator.
I write reflections, often from thoughts arising out of my own art practice and offer ways of exploring prayer through a selection of creative ideas, supporting retreatants to prayerfully create & provide all materials to do so.
Creatively enabling others is in my DNA, since I’ve always enjoyed sharing the Gospel creatively. I have worked as a children’s & community worker in the Church of England, involved in Fresh Expressions of Church. I have also trained as a spiritual accompanier; am on the Derby Diocese Spiritual Accompaniment Training Team and have a passion for creativity, colour & contemplative prayer, enjoying facilitating others to draw closer to God.
I have worked with the New Wine Arts Team, Spring Harvest, Cliff Festival, and Riverside as well as at Launde Abbey, Whirlow Spirituality Centre and several Clergy Conferences delivering creative arts workshops that aim to enable others to enhance their prayer lives.
I travel across the UK to deliver Creative Retreats & Quiet Days.
These quiet days are held mostly in silence, beginning with a short reflective introduction, a second after lunch and ending with a reflection to sum up the day.
Please note that to come on a creative quiet day doesn’t mean you have to be an expert or consider yourself “artistic” to participate. Far from it! Instead, the emphasis will be on allowing the power of God’s gift of creativity to draw us each closer to Himself, rather than on a finished product.
This quiet day invites you to explore your own journey with God using a series of creative reflections and silence. Afterwards, we will each create our own “map” as we prayerfully explore where we are now and where we may be going.
Spend some time resting & creatively exploring a theme based on Scripture. Then, through an array of fabrics, threads & stitch, there will be opportunity to either stitch or weave to prayerfully consider & reflect what we have heard.
This is a practical half day, experiential session where each participant will use peg loom weaving to explore personal prayer through colour, texture, fabric and quietness. No experience necessary. All materials provided.
This is a practical, half or full day experiential session where each participant will use fabrics and stitch to explore personal prayer through colour, texture, fabric and quietness. No experience necessary. All materials provided.
The Bible has much to say about our hearts and the heart of God for His people. What is it that your heart most desires? What is it that the Lord requires of our hearts?
Using an array of layered fabrics, threads, and stitch, we will use the heart motif to individually explore what God may want to say to each one of our hearts. Karen will guide you into reflection and encourage prayerful creativity through the exploration of colourful textiles, textures & threads.
Invite God to strengthen your faith & dwell in your heart through focussing on a particular word. Come and learn a little more of this concept, have chance to reflect and consider or choose a word, then create a textile personalised cover for an A5 journal or notebook to encourage yourself to explore with God your unique word. We will use a mixture of commercial & hand dyed felt with hand stitch, beads, buttons & sequins.
A creative experiential session in reflective prayer using felt making & Bible verses. Come & explore the theme of Jesus the Good Shepherd as you learn how to create handmade felt using wool fibres. Karen will enable you to create your own piece of handmade felt and lead you in reflective prayer using verses from the Bible.
