My Services
Coaching
Coaching for artists, artist educators, writers, cultural workers and social entrepreneurs
Gain insight into your practice, through a highly motivational, supportive approach, drawing on Sophie’s thirty+ years working in community development, the co-operative movement, and the arts + culture sector as an E.D/AD, project manager, curator, writer, visual artist, arts administrator and organizer, including a stint at the Ontario Arts Council.
Deepen your impact and capacity with writing, project creation, business storytelling, grant strategies, project management, proposal writing, and community engagement.
Artists and writers -- explore your creative process, develop a focus, dig into the meaning of your work, and push your practice creatively and conceptually. Gain in-depth support as you design a project from concept to realization.
Recent clients include a film institute, an installation artist/fabricator, a musician, a carver, a novelist, a food sovereignty project and a flower farm.
Workshops
Bespoke Workshops
Bespoke workshops for artists, artists educators, and early learning educators: Sophie never does the same workshop twice. Like ecosystems, workshops are continually unfolding, shifting, and changing. Sophie will design a workshop for you based on your context and needs.
Workshops have included Walking + Art: Practice, Process, Power; The Emotion of Lines; Ecological Pathways and Processes; The possibilities and ethics of collaborating with the more-than-human; Connecting with nature and place through drawing; Building relational ‘muscle’ through creative inquiry.
Sophie has facilitated and designed 100s of workshops and engagements for communities, organizations, school boards and daycare systems across the province. Recent workshops were provided for the University of Western Ontario Pedagogist Conference, Kenjgewin-Teg Learning Centre for All, and Early Childhood Creative Collaborations (ECCCo).
Contact Sophie to discuss. Workshops are run on demand, with a minimum of 6 participants. Solo coaching is also available.
Book Studies/Early Learning
The Art of Land-based Early Learning book studies
(six 1.5 hour sessions per book)
Take a deep dive into the two books alongside Sophie. In a collaborative, fun, and engaging process, you will garner more insight from Sophie about the experiences outlined in the books, and learning about her recent work. The process involves engaging in group discussion, hands-on exploration of materials, riffing on the approaches with the children in your circle between sessions, and developing approaches through collegial conversation. Think of this as applied professional development, as you will make connections to what’s going on with the children in your circles as we progress through the book/s. Solo coaching/PD, and virtual classroom engagements are also available.
“Sophie is currently serving as an ‘artist-in-residence’ in collaboration with the Northern Ontario Reggio Network. She is pivotal in the provision of professional learning art and land-based experiences to educators who are engaging children in inquiries into their local ecologies. This collaborative inquiry process offers a supportive network in which to engage with others in creative research projects with children.”
Sophie is my mentor right now with my current position as a program manager and when I was a trainee at 4elements Living Arts; if it weren't for her to take me on I wouldn't be where I am today on my life path as an Anishinaabe and Onkwehón:we woman. As a mentor to me, Sophie helped me develop facilitation and land-based art skills and experience with the project the River School and doing a workshop on behalf of 4elements Living Arts for the Canadian Voice of Women. Sophie is a phenomenal, kind-hearted and versatile coach that gives great guidance and training to whomever she crosses paths with. She has also encouraged me to go above and beyond one's expectations and helped enhance my confidence and because of her influence I have done facilitation, cultural teachings and ceremony for other people and other organizations with Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Miigwech/nia:wen/thank you Sophie and keep doing what you are doing. ~ Shelba Deer, (Red Turtle Woman, Seed Starting to Break Open Women)