Writing Your Roses: Psychomagic, Flowers, & COVID-19 Grief

NOTE: "Writing Your Roses: Psychomagic, Flowers, & COVID-19 Grief" is part of The Gratitude Gathering Retreat, which starts the evening of Nov. 20.

To register for this workshop: click “RSVP”, and you will be redirected to The Gratitude Gathering Retreat Registration page.

Join the co-founders of the Rose River Memorial Project in a nurturing and meditative exploration of the flower that is both the national flower of our country and a symbol of love, grieving and courage across many cultures.

You will handcraft a keepsake paper rose that holds written explorations of the collective unconscious, journeying through a psychomagic experience of automatic writing, meditative indication, conversation, and craft.

Inspired by filmmaker Alejandro Jodorwsky and his approach of healing the community through Psychomagic, this workshop involves journeys through the imagination paired with embodied experience and expression. You will need some sheets of paper, pens or pencils to write with, and glue, tape or staples. Also, if you wish you can purchase rose-making materials so that the rose you craft in this workshop is durable and can be contributed to the Rose River Memorial. There is information and a supplies list at https://www.roseriver.memorial/make-roses.

Meet the hosts:

Marcos Lutyens, Artist, Co-Founder of Rose River Memorial

Marcos is an internationally renowned artist whose work has featured Miró Foundation, the Frye Museum, the Guggenheim, MoMA, LACMA, the Royal Academy of Arts, the National Art Museum of China, the Pompidou in Paris, as well as biennales in Liverpool, Istanbul, Havana, and Venice. He has worked on projects that span the world, including one that lasted 6 months in 7 different international cities simultaneously. His artistic practice targets the psychic and emotional well-being of audiences by inviting participants into meditative experiences that affect the deepest levels of their psyche. Marcos investigates consciousness to make art an embodied experience for his audiences, installing exhibitions of infinite scale and nature into people’s minds. His work has included consciousness research with the third-gender Muxhe, synaesthetes, border migrants, space engineers, architects and urban designers to explore the unconscious, as well as spatially focused art exploring pedestrian flows, social media dialogue, air quality levels, and multispecies communication. Marcos is the author of two books about his cosmology and approach to art and life. He serves as a founding member on the Board of Directors for the Lutyens Trust America.

Tilly Hinton, PhD, Cultural Producer, Co-Founder of Rose River Memorial

Tilly is a scholar, writer, grants and awards specialist, and cultural producer. Current projects include LA River X, I Am The LA River, Storytime for the Apocalypse, and the Rose River Memorial. Previously, she has held lead production roles at Sydney Living Museums and the Greenhouse at Woodford Folk Festival, as well as being the founding curator of Nourish Talks. Her research and public engagement explores the ecological and socio-cultural importance of damaged urban landscapes, and the connections between emotion and place. Through curation and cultural production Tilly crafts community using strategies grounded in exploration, hospitality, beauty, and creativity. Tilly is a higher education grants development and strategic writing specialist, and wrote the Australian Government policy on achieving impact in higher education research, and has coached hundreds of university educators to be recognized and funded for excellence in scholarship of learning and teaching. Her first book, about people’s love for the Los Angeles River, is in development.

About Rose River Memorial

Rose River Memorial is an enormous installation project co-founded by acclaimed artist Marcos Lutyens and cultural producer Tilly Hinton, PhD. This is an artwork created by the nation, with people handmaking and mailing red felt roses to represent the nationwide COVID-19 death toll. An act of collective grieving, the Memorial will include at least a quarter of a million handcrafted roses. Paying attention to the enormity of the pandemic, the process and the finished memorial becomes a focus for all of us to grieve and heal. Learn more at https://www.roseriver.memorial/