InHerArt: Women’s Creative Wellness Collective

Empowering Women, Unleashing Creativity, Building Community

Discover a peaceful evening of art-making and community, where you can nurture your creativity, reduce stress, and feel supported—all from your own cozy corner.

Tuesday Nights 6-7:45pm ET on Zoom

DONATION BASED

Life can get hectic, leaving us drained and uninspired. But guess what? You don't have to go it alone!

Join us for a laid-back and playful journey to well-being and connection. For women, coming together in a supportive community can be a game-changer. In these sessions, we'll explore creative methods for stress relief, such as drawing, painting, sculpting, collaging, and writing. These activities will be complemented by soothing meditations and authentic movement practices, helping you navigate daily stressors with greater ease.

You'll be part of a welcoming community where you can share your challenges and triumphs.

Our members say they feel more self-aware, patient, and accepting. So, let's dive into self-exploration, creativity, and play together. It's a fun and invigorating path to a more meaningful life.

Discover the Benefits:

  • Community: Connect with fellow women, reduce isolation, and foster personal growth through shared stories, releasing oxytocin for enhanced connections.

  • Self-Expression: Art making helps you releases emotional tension and process feelings by channeling emotions into creativity.

  • Mindfulness & Stress-Relief: Creating art induces therapeutic flow states, triggering rest and repair responses to help you move through daily stressors with more ease.

  • Personal Growth & Empowerment: Feel empowered to take an active role in your personal development and foster a sense of agency and control through decision making and risk taking in your creative process.

  • Overcome Artistic Blocks: Safely confront creative blocks, silence your inner critic, and gain artistic freedom with support from your peers and art therapist.

FAQ

  • Online Group: Every Tuesday night from 6-7:45pm ET on Zoom.

  • This offering is donation based.

  • There are 8-10 spots available in each group.

  • This group is facilitated by Ella Dufrene, who is a registered art therapist with a Masters in Art Therapy & Creativity Development from the prestigious Pratt Institute.

    Ella's expertise spans from presenting her work in the esteemed Wynwood galleries in Miami to assisting individuals in rediscovering their happiness and overcoming life's obstacles. She has worked with a broad spectrum of individuals, including those with autism, at-risk youth and hospice to those grappling with deeply rooted trauma, life transitions and addictions. Her methodology emphasizes a holistic perspective on wellness, underscoring the healing power of art therapy.

    All of those that know and work with Ella can feel her passion for the healing properties of nature, art and dance/movement. She approaches her day to day and work-life with a zest for life, a playful spirit and a contagiously open mind.

    Ella creates a safe, non-judgmental space where you can explore your creativity and find solace in the company of like-minded women.

  • A set of basic art materials like colored pencils, markers or pastels.

  • Magazines (Can be found in thrift stores or doctor’s offices)

    Assorted markers

    Black pen & notebook or journal

    Colored pencils

    Drawing pencils

    Water soluble pastels

    Oil pstels

    Watercolor set

    Watercolor paper 9x15”

    Drawing paper 9x15”

    Scissors

    Glue stick (or mod podge)

    Paintbrushes various sizes

    Sharpener

    Eraser

    Plastic cup or mason jar for water

    Water towels or rags

  • No formal artistic training is required to benefit from this group. We welcome individuals of all skill levels, offering a non-judgmental space for creative exploration and personal growth.

Testimonials

 

Banksy says: Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Ella embodies this quote. She guided me through my discomfort with compassion, non judgement and curiosity. As a therapist I know the greatest learning happens at the edge of discomfort but when it comes to creating art my inner critic is loud and judgy. With Ella's gentle and direct facilitation and encouraging the group to support each other, that voice dimmed and she gave us permission to play and experiment with ease.

-Inez

Ella’s group was a restorative space for me every week. I got to slow down and open up with others as well as open up with myself. I loved the meditations before starting our art and I enjoyed all of the art that was created each session! We all need time to check in with ourselves, relax and let our creativity flow and that is the space Ella is providing!

— Candis

Meet Your Facilitator

Ella Raphëlle Dufrene is a French-Haitian-American visual artist and art therapist. Ella believes that art is our most primitive style of communication and expression, dating back to our earliest forms of art making in prehistoric cave paintings. Driven by the instinctual knowledge of the innate and powerful healing powers of art, Ella received her Masters in Art Therapy & Creativity Development from the Pratt Institute in 2015.

Deeply connected to the restorative flow and wisdom fostered by Mother Earth, Ella began exploring eco-art therapy techniques, and moving toward an ecological artistic context that emphasizes ritual, ceremony and connection to our Mother Earth. This led her to facilitate her first Eco-Art Therapy Retreat in 2016 in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.

Currently, Ella is based out of Asheville, NC where she works as an art therapist in private practice. She has experience working with people on the autism spectrum, at risk youth, children and adults with special needs and developmental delays, drug/alcohol addiction, psychiatric rehabilitation, eating disorders, as well as adults and children in both individual and group settings. She is a former mentor at Guitars Over Guns and continues to volunteer on her spare time. Ella emphasizes a holistic approach to wellness and utilizes a playful ‘person first’ approach to therapy.

Ella has worked with people who felt disconnected from their happiness and uninspired by the pressures of life. Through the magic and science of art therapy, she’s seen them transform into happier, more curious, more satisfied versions of themselves.  

All of those that know and work with Ella can feel her passion for the healing properties of nature, art, travel and movement. She approaches her day to day and work-life with a zest for life, a youthful spirit and a contagiously open mind.

Ella has been featured in exhibitions in Miami’s Wynwood Art District during Art Basel and in galleries including Jakmel Art Gallery, Performing Art Exchange (PAX), GAB Studios, Art Miami, and Arteamericas. Her art is currently featured at Sculpted Studios in Miami, Fl.