Workshops

Rhonda regularly facilitates transformative personal growth workshops as part of her art exhibition programming. Additionally, organizations have invited her to facilitate workshops tailored to meet their participants' specific needs. Workshop topics include but are not limited to journaling, self-care, healing, and working through self-doubt. Rhonda develops original guided meditations, writing exercises, and other tools for use during her workshops and as takeaways.

Check the events section for upcoming public workshops.

Co-facilitators, Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero (front left) and Rhonda (front right), with 'Release & Receive' workshop participants.

Moving Energy

A Self-Care & Healing Workshop
University of Illinois at Chicago, Gallery 400
July 15, 2017
original workshop description
Artist and energy healer Rhonda Wheatley will lead a conversation about self-care practices for moving through tough emotions, raising our vibrations, and shifting our perspectives for balanced, healthier lives. Workshop will include a guided meditation and writing exercises.

Release & Receive

A Workshop & Group Healing Session
Co-Facilitators, Rhonda Wheatley & Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero
University of Illinois at Chicago, Gallery 400
July 29, 2017

Rhonda invited fellow artist and Reiki Master, Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero, to co-facilitate Release & Receive.

original workshop description
Artists and energy healers Rhonda Wheatley and Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero will share tools for letting go of the past and that which no longer serves us and provide energy healings during a group meditation to assist with the process.

Both workshops were part of the programming for Black Light and Make Room, a group exhibition at Gallery 400 that featured Rhonda’s ‘Healing Space’ installation.

Self-Care & Wellness Practices for Emerging Artists

Facilitated by Rhonda Wheatley
LAUNCH Invitational Residency
A Chicago Artist Coalition Educational Program
June 15, 2017
original workshop description
This wellness-focused discussion and open sharing session will help LAUNCH residents identify ways to integrate wellness practices into their lives and into their creative practices and career development. Writing exercises and practical tips for deepening focus and creativity as well as tactics for confronting self-doubt and the “inner critic” (and more) will be covered.

LAUNCH is a 4-day professional development residency for BA and BFA graduates emerging from Chicago-area schools. The program aims to help these promising artists access tactical advice, devote time for introspection about their future, and engage with established, rising, and innovative thinkers in the field as they determine their next steps.

Teaching Artist Summit Workshop Participants.

Self-Care & Wellness Practices for You & Your Students

Teaching Artist Summit
Organized by Chicago Artist Coalition and Hyde Park Art Center
April 2017
original workshop description
Rhonda Wheatley will lead a wellness-focused discussion and open sharing session to help fellow Teaching Artists identify ways to integrate wellness practices into their lives and into the classroom. Writing exercises and practical tips for deepening focus and creativity as well as tactics for confronting self-doubt and the “inner critic” (and more) will be covered.

Teaching artists working across disciplines, contexts, and student populations from throughout Chicago were welcome to apply to the Teaching Artist Summit.

Write it out

A Journaling Workshop
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
March 15, 2017
original workshop description
Join artist and writer Rhonda Wheatley as she leads an exploration into the many ways journaling can positively impact your life. In this free two‐hour workshop, Rhonda will lead you through a guided meditation to connect you with your inner brilliance. We’ll discuss journaling as a means of processing life experiences, envisioning your future, working through self‐doubt, and more. And we’ll get practical with journaling strategies and formats along with prompts and exercises to jump‐start your writing.

Write it Out was a free, public program, as part of Rhonda's solo exhibition, A Modern Day Shaman's Hybrid Devices, Power Objects, and Cure Books at Hyde Park Art Center.

Rhonda with one of her sculptures in the Silos exhibition, at Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College.

Writing to Wellness with Rhonda Wheatley

Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Department of Exhibitions, Performances & Student Spaces
February 2017
original workshop description
Led by artist and writer Rhonda Wheatley, workshop participants will learn to develop a self-care focused journaling practice. Through writing exercises and a guided meditation, attendees will work through self-doubt and access tools for increasing self-worth and self-awareness. Wheatley will also cover goal setting, creativity, dream work and vision work. Participants will leave Writing to Wellness with tools and practices to continue their work on their own.

Writing to Wellness was free and open to both Columbia College students and the public. The workshop was part of the programming for Silos, a group exhibition at Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery, curated by Jefreen Hayes.

Rhonda (left) with workshop participants at Corner.

Creating Yourself, Creating Your Art

Corner, Chicago IL
December 2016 and January 2017
original workshop description
Join artist and avid journaler Rhonda Wheatley as she leads an exploration into the ways journaling can positively impact your life. Much more than merely documenting one’s daily activities, journaling is about cultivating your relationship with yourself. It’s a ritual of self-care on the path of personal evolution.

In this workshop we’ll discuss journaling as a means of processing life experiences, expanding your creativity, and envisioning your future. We’ll talk about tapping into your intuitive flow, and we’ll get practical with journaling prompts and exercises to jump-start your writing. Lastly, Rhonda will lead you through a guided meditation to help you work through self-doubt and leave you with tools to continue the work at home.

Corner is a storefront incubator for public engagement and interactive experience founded by artist Lynn Basa in 2015. Rhonda was invited to develop and facilitate two free, public workshops by artist Dana Major as part of her residency at Corner.

Rhonda (middle) with Wheaton College workshop participants.

Freewriting

Writing Techniques to Generate Ideas & Push Possibilities
Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
Drawing I Class
November 2016
After giving an artist talk to teaching artist Sarah Beth Woods' Wheaton College Drawing I class, Rhonda led an hour-long workshop with writing exercises designed to help students break free of limited thinking and increase the flow of ideas.

Releasing Limiting Self-Concepts

A Journaling Workshop with Guided Meditations & Energy Healing
Beauty Breaks at F4F
September 2016
original workshop description
In this workshop we’ll work to release and replace limiting self-concepts using guided meditations, journaling exercises, and a group energy healing session. We’ll get to the root of some of our unproductive self-concepts and thought-habits, whether we’ve internalized unrealistic standards of beauty or others’ judgments and expectations about our appearance, lifestyle, and/or capabilities. You’ll leave this workshop with the tools to continue the ongoing work of releasing limiting personal beliefs and attaining greater self-acceptance.

Beauty Breaks is a free workshop series founded by artist Amina Ross that aims to provide a counter-narrative to dominant conceptions of black beauty and wellness. Workshops are hosted at Chicago alt-venue, F4F.

Write it Out

A Journaling Workshop
Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
July 2015
original workshop description
Join artist and writer Rhonda Wheatley as she leads an exploration into the many ways journaling can positively impact your life. Much more than merely documenting one’s daily activities, journaling is a ritual of self‐care on the path of personal evolution. Ultimately, journaling is about cultivating your relationship with yourself.

In this free two‐hour workshop we’ll discuss journaling as a means of processing life experiences, expanding your creativity, and envisioning your future. We’ll cover problem‐solving and the importance of venting anger and de‐stressing. We’ll talk about interpreting dreams, tapping into your intuitive flow, and working through self‐doubt. And we’ll get practical with journaling strategies and formats along with prompts and exercises to jump‐start your writing.

Write it Out is a workshop for beginners as well as those who want to get more out of their existing journaling practice. Bring a notebook and be prepared to participate as much as you like; sit back and absorb, ask questions, or share your experiences and insights with the group!

Write it Out was a free public program, as part of Aesthetics of Wellness, a group exhibition featuring Rhonda's sculptures, at Woman Made Gallery.