PORT ANGELES — A free workshop on raising quality of life in 2013 is coming up this Thursday with artist and teacher Melissa Klein.
“Create Your Own Mythology: Symbols and Art to Set Your Intentions for the New Year” will start at 7 p.m. at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
This class is a lighthearted and playful 90 minutes, noted Margaret Jakubcin, assistant director of the North Olympic Library System, which is sponsoring the event.
Klein, who teaches at Lincoln High School and has a studio in her home near Sequim, will share techniques for using art and imagery to reconnect with one’s truest self.
“Often, our emotional and logical brains are in conflict,” Klein said. “In spite of all of the best intentions and the logical reasons to do — or not do — something, we fail in some endeavor, whether it is weight loss [or] saving money.
“Emotions overpower, and you grab the cupcake or buy the shoes,” she said. “The key is to get emotions and logic to work in harmony.”
But visual symbols, images and mythology go straight to our hearts.
They can “help us to harness the power of emotions,” Klein said, “and heal the gap between intention and reality.
‘“They can also act as a ‘true north’ to keep you in touch with what you really want in life, instead of what you ‘should’ want, or is perhaps what others think is best.”
When harnessed, “the power of human intention is unstoppable.”
Meantime, Klein’s own art is on display at the Port Angeles Library through Jan. 8.
In it, she uses dreamlike images and explores mythology, hoping to inspire people to look beyond the mundane.
Thursday’s program is in line with others planned for 2013, Jakubcin said.
“We’re going to offer more [classes] in hands-on skills to help people own their lives,” starting with Klein’s workshop and then covering things like bicycle repair.
For more information on this and other free offerings at the Port Angeles Library or Clallam County’s other libraries in Sequim, Clallam Bay and Forks, phone 360-417-8500 or visit the North Olympic Library System website, www.NOLS.org.
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
