Anthroposophical Society in Australia

From Wasteland to Grail Castle: the Soulscapes of Parzival
2023-06-24 17:00 - 18:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
An imaginative soul journey through the Parzival legend
This lecture and artistic presentation follows the journey of the young Parzival soul from his beginnings in the Waste Forest, through his trials of the spirit, to the culmination of his quest at the Grail altar.
Parzival is a story that takes place of different levels of reality, and should be understood as such. He wanders through soulscapes that are like dreams, but living dreams. He moves through shifts in consciousness into liminal spaces, but spaces that act as windows opening into the spiritual world, from which he can learn wisdom.
When
Date: 24th June 2023
Time: 5.00pm – 6.15pm AEST
Cost
$20 donation or amount of your choice is much appreciated.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell
How to register
REGISTER HERE
After registration, participants will be sent the Zoom link by email two (2) days beforehand, and then again one (1) hour beforehand.
Please login for the webinar via your Zoom app and not via Eventbrite.
About the presenter
Dr Fiona Campbell is an artist, lecturer and phenomenologist.
She specialises in the study of evolving consciousness through artistic media and has lectured extensively on the Arthurian, Grail and Parzival themes for almost 30 years. She currently researcher and creative consultant for the Parsifal Project.
She has an PhD on creativity and thinking, and runs masterclasses in the anthroposophic approach to painting and drawing.
Fiona’s artworks can be seen at Painted Space; she also is a founding member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, which promotes the phenomenological way of seeing the world.

Breathing through the night: a painting intensive for Winter
2023-07-10 17:00 - 2023-07-14 18:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A soul-building activity over five evenings
with artist Fiona Campbell

‘Colours are the breath of the living soul’
Dr Margarethe Hauschka

This online series over 5 evenings brings the health-bringing forces of the harmonious breath into our souls and bodies through painting the cycle of the night.
Based on a classic exercise called Painting as an Exercise for Breathing from the Hauschka art therapy training, we will paint the cycle of light and darkness from sunset to sunrise using colour and verse.
This is a deep breathing activity, an artistic contemplative ideal for enlivening the inner and outer chill of Winter. We breath in colour, and then breathe out its complementary in a transforming process that enlivens both the life body and soul. In this way, we bring our innermost being into connection with nature, moving gently between the two.
Who is it for?
For anyone who feels the need for soul nourishment at this time of year. The exercises support our mental health and overall wellbeing by harmonising the breath, easing our tensions and bringing our polarities into balance.
You don’t have to be an experienced painter to find nourishment in this series. You can use pastels, wet-on-wet or wet-on-dry techniques.
When
10th July – 14th July 2023 at 5.00pm AEST
Cost
$160 for 5 sessions, including video recording.
How to register
Register here
Materials list, payment details and suggested readings will be sent after registration.
The Zoom link for the workshop will be sent two hours beforehand. It will be the same link for each day.
For more information
For more information, please contact Fiona Campbell
About the presenter
Fiona Campbell PhD is a visual artist, muralist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She trained in the anthroposophic approach to the arts at Tobias School of Art and Transpersonal Therapy, first as an artist, then as a therapist.
Fiona have been a professional artist for more than 30 years and regularly offers masterclasses in wet on dry painting and art contemplations for festivals. She is also a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, where her focus is phenomenology and is creative consultant for the multimedia Parsifal Project.
Fiona has been involved with Anthroposophy for over 40 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the core principles and practice of Steiner’s work to her classes. You can find out more about her, read about her lecturing work at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College (where she has regularly taught since 1994) or listen to an 2021 ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

Anthroposophical Professional Development Initiative
2023-08-01 - 2023-11-21 | Online
Introducing a new online course
For terms 3 & 4, 2023
What is the Anthroposophical World View?
The aim of these two blocks of lectures and workshops is to present an overview of what is often experienced as an overwhelmingly large and complex body of knowledge, particularly for student teachers and other professionals working in anthroposophically-based groups and organisations.

A closer understanding of how spirit and matter permeate each other lies at the very heart of any truly monistic world view, such as the one Rudolf Steiner gave to the world. It is out of this very understanding that Anthroposophy can be concretely applied in so many practical fields of life.
Lecture series

Term 4 Lecture Series II: An Introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s Cosmology
Download the lecture program

Full course program
Three Worlds – 4 Ethers : Connecting Spirit and Matter
Block 1 (Term 3) explores the links between the physical, astral and spiritual worlds and how nature and the human being are placed within this multi-tiered reality. This also includes the Manifestation process by which spirit incarnates into physical form and substance via the medium of the 4 Ethers, which form the bridge between spirit and matter.

Steiner’s Cosmology: The Cosmic Mission of Humanity and Earth
Block II (Term 4) explores the larger Chronological context, which leads us to the question of humanity’s cosmic origins and future destiny. Where did humanity come from? Where are we going? What is our cosmic purpose and mission on Earth and within the larger spiritual universe? Rudolf Steiner’s surprising answers can throw a profound light on such questions, including the problem of good and evil, human freedom and the longer-term consequences of the seeds we are planting right now, both as individuals and collectively as a humanity. The cosmological picture also provides a context to the currently raging, worldwide battle between Good and Evil and can help us face this battle with renewed confidence and strength in our humanity.

Download the program here.
Cost
Please check the program flyer for fees
Enrolment
Download the enrolment form
For more information

For a 15-minute video introduction
Contact Johannes on: +61 (0) 414 724 587

Telling the Difference
2023-08-26 15:00 - 2023-11-18 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The Oral Art of Telling Myths, Legends,
Sagas, Parables, Fables and FolkTales
An Online Course with Iris Curteis, PhD

Myths, Legends, Sagas, Parables, Fables, & Folktales are often lumped together or confused. They really are very different; they have different relationships to what we could call the sacred-spiritual, they have different social functions, & they require different ‘ways of telling’.
This five-part online course is about getting to know these differences & building practical skills so you can confidently ‘tell the difference’ when you are telling a story. Whether you use storytelling in child or adult education, parenting, community building, social justice, caregiving, or are looking for creative ways to explore your cultural roots, this course will develop storytelling skills, inspire cultural insights and provide a clear, practical introduction to ‘liminal space’, the importance of story openings & closings, why we need them, & how they work.
Seminar Outline
Topic 1 – ‘Liminal Space’; the health and social benefits created through this space for people of all ages; opening and closing the liminal Space; a contract of trust
Topic 2 – Myths; ancient and timeless oral knowledge of beginnings: the sacred that creates the world; divine standards; the foundations of lore and law
Topic 3 – Legends and Saga/Folklore; Actions of demi-gods and human beings placed within human time; a sense of truth; embedded within the ‘culture of place’
Topic 4 – Fables & Parables; the educational, culturising or cautionary tale; the comparison – animals speaking and acting like humans or fictitious people; grasping the unfamiliar idea (compassion for your enemy)
Topic 5 – Folktales: our guide to new ways of thinking; a ‘living experience ‘of expanded reality’, meeting the challenges of the return journey, treasures and new wisdom are gifts gained for the community; wedding the land – the new ancient ecology
Dates
3.00 pm to 5.00 pm 26/8, 16/09, 07/10, 28/10, 18/11
Cost (inc. course material and zoom)

Standard $250;
Individual sessions $50
Prices open to negotiation

To book
Book here!
Find out more
Please contact Iris Curteis
About the presenter
Iris Curteis is a Storyteller and Speech Artist with 40 years of artistic experience. Her background includes studies in Visual Arts, Speech formation [Creative Speech] & Dramatic Arts (Europe), BA & BA hon. (Creative Writing) and a PhD on Storytelling and Community Building [Australia]. Anthroposophy has been her source of inspiration for 50 years.

What is veil painting? Exploring the four elements through gesture
2023-09-30 14:00 - 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
With artist Fiona Campbell
This online workshop uses the four elements – warmth, air, water, earth – to build on the foundations of the wet-on-dry watercolour technique, introduced last April in What is veil painting? And why do we do it?
The workshop teaches classic veiling; participants will create an artwork with a nature theme with guidance from the presenter. The workshop will be recorded and available for three months.
Why we use this technique?
The workshop demonstrates the classic veiling technique, as used in therapy and meditative practices. We use the theme of the four elements to explore how different brush strokes embody different activities and moods, and the effects this has on both painting and painting.
Each element has a different gesture that characterises the phenomenal world of Nature. These gestures provide variations in veiling approaches that go beyond being mere ‘outer’ techniques and point to how we must learn to paint out of our inner soul life rather than out of ‘special effects’.
The workshop also explores the fundamentals of the anthroposophic approach to painting.
Who is it for?
For anyone interested in learning more about this unique watercolour approach to enlivening colour.
For anyone interested in the anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting.
When
Saturday 30 September, 2023 at 2.00pm AEST
Cost
$65 includes video recording
How to register
Book here
How to join the workshop
The Zoom link and a list of materials will be sent to you after you register.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell

About the presenter
Fiona Campbell PhD is a visual artist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She does interdisciplinary research on phenomenology, creativity and cognition and has been a professional artist and arts educator for more than 30 years.
Fiona provides a wealth of professional and teaching practice with this specialist watercolour approach, including 35 years as a professional artist, 10 years art therapy practice and 12 years as a lazure/mural artist.
Fiona has been involved with Anthroposophy for over 40 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the core principles and practice of Steiner’s work to her classes. She draws on Rudolf Steiner’s Colour lectures, his ‘portfolio’ of training sketches for artists and his numerous references to the role of art and the task of the modern artist.
You can find out more about Fiona here or listen to an 2021 ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

“The basis of artistic creation is not what is,
but what might be; not the real, but the possible.
Rudolf Steiner, in The Aesthetics of Goethe’s Worldview

Photo credit: Trees in Sunny Air, © Fiona Campbell

The Two Jesus Children
2023-12-17 17:00 - 18:15 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A pictorial contemplation of the young Jesus,
as differently described in the Gospels
for the 3rd Sunday in Advent

Presenter: Fiona Campbell

This Advent webinar ponders the mystery of the two different portrayals of Jesus in his youth, as described by St Matthew and St Luke. Illustrating the talk with artworks from the great masters, Fiona Campbell explores the polarity of the old and young souls of the two Jesuses, with indications from Rudolf Steiner.
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford, A video recording will be available after the event.
Time and date
5.00pm – 6.15pm AEDT, 17th December 2023
Bookings
Book here!
How to join the webinar
Participants will be sent the Zoom link by email two (2) days beforehand, and then again one (1) hour beforehand.
Please login for the webinar via your Zoom app and not via Eventbrite.

For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell

About the presenter
Fiona Campbell is a researcher, lecturer, visual artist and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition and also trained as an art therapist.
She has special expertise in the anthroposophic approach to painting and and teaching painting for 25 years.
Fiona is also a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, where she focuses on her other two specialisations, phenomenology and creative cognition.
You can find out more about Fiona on her website or listen to a ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

Image: Trabzon, Hagia Sophia Ἁγία Σοφία © Creative Commons

The Four Large Watercolors: Seasonal Painting with Van James
2024-01-07 14:00 - 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Seasonal Painting themes based on
Rudolf Steiner’s originals of 100 years ago

New Life, Three Crosses, Archetypal Plant and Archetypal Man/Animal will be explored in connection with the festival times of year: Christmas/Winter, Easter/Spring, Saint John’s/Summer, and Michaelmas/Autumn. These were the last four watercolour paintings created by Rudolf Steiner in connection with a deepening of his work in Spiritual Science and the significance of the cycle of the year.
Find out more
Contact Nurturers Studio for more information

Working with Colour, Out of Colour
2024-03-02 16:00 - 2024-04-06 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio

A short online course
introducing how to work with colour in painting

Anthroposophic approach to painting
How do we experience colour? And what does it mean that form arises out of colour, and not that colour is attached to form? So how do we paint ‘out of colour’ and not form? To answer these questions, we start with Goethe’s Theory of Colour as our foundation. Using immersive wet-on-wet watercolour, we explore the qualities and gestures of each colour, and learn how colours have a life of their own, qualities that express their very essence, when painted ‘out of colour’.
Why Goethe’s Theory of Colour?
Goethe proposed a revolutionary method of approaching the phenomena of colour, one which integrates the observer with the experience. Further, Goethe was concerned with the qualities of colours, which he called the ‘deeds and sufferings of the light’. By immersing our senses in the colours, we come a deep, intuitive relationship with them that connects us more strongly to both the physical and soul worlds.
This course provides a foundation to the approach to painting used in Steiner (Waldorf) schools and to the anthroposophic understanding of colour itself.
Who is it for?

For Steiner class teachers who would like to learn more about the nature of colour as used in the Steiner School curriculum
For anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of the anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting.

When is it?
2 March-6 April, Saturdays 4pm-5.15pm AEDT
Six weekly sessions plus recording
Cost
$170 AUD/$120 USD
$190 AUD for PD certificate
Bookings
Book here!
For more information
Find out more about this course and others,

About Painted Space Studio
Painted Space Studio offers a comprehensive training program in art, emphasising its potential as a spiritual practice. By recognising art as a bridge to the spiritual, the studio provides individuals with an creative path for harmonising and strengthening their inner being through art.
Painted Space uses the anthroposophic approach to art as its framework, but leads each artistically-striving individual towards the full expression of their own creativity, which goes beyond mere aesthetics and taps into the profound connection between the human spirit and the creative process.
Director: Fiona Campbell

Feature image: Goethe’s symmetric colour wheel with associated symbolic qualities (1809)

Three Crosses Painting Workshop
2024-03-24 09:30 - 11:30 (Asia/Kolkata) | Online
Painting the Easter theme
based on Rudolf Steiner’s original of 100-years ago

On the centennial of Rudolf Steiner’s Easter motif, this online painting session will work with the formative colour story of The Three Crosses by Rudolf Steiner and will explore the connection with the festival time of year: Easter/Spring. This was one of the late watercolour paintings created by Rudolf Steiner in connection with a deepening of his work in Spiritual Science and the significance of the cycle of the year in relation to the human soul.
What is it about?
On Saturday evenings in the US and Sunday mornings in Asia, artist-educator Van James will guide beginners, intermediate and experienced artists through this colour-imagination of the mystery of Golgotha as depicted in colour. This is a practical painting workshops including illustrated conversation and discussion meeting on the weekend of March 23/24, 2024.
When is it on?
Sunday 24 March for Asia/Oceania participants
Saturday 23 March for US participants.
Who is it for?
No experience is necessary (have painting materials prepared and ready).
A recording will be available.
Find out more
Contact Nurturer’Studio for more information and registration or download the flyer.

Sponsored by www.nurturerstudio.com

Feature image: Three Crosses, by Rudolf Steiner

The Second Initiation of Lazarus at the Foot of the Cross
2024-03-29 19:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The Stream of Life Research Studio
presents
A Contemplation for Good Friday
‘What works between you and me, woman?’

Join us on Good Friday for a online contemplation on the mystery of Christ’s last words to Mary, mother of God and John, the beloved disciple, as they stood by the cross on Golgotha, in light of the events at the Marriage at Cana.
We begin with a phenomenological art contemplation on the theme, led by Fiona Campbell, followed by a meditation from Jude on Mary and John at the foot of the cross.
Suggested reading: St John Chap. 19
When
7.00pm – 8.30pm AEDT, Good Friday 29th March 2024
Cost
$20 donation or amount of your choice is much appreciated
Bookings
Book here
Zoom Link will be sent by email two days, two hours and ten minutes before the event!
For more information
Download the flyer to share or contact Fiona Campbell or Jude Neeme-Samson
Fiona Campbell

Malaysia Waldorf Teacher Preparation
2024-04-08 08:00 - 2024-04-14 15:00 (Asia/Kuala_Lumpur) | Online
Painting Grade 1 to Grade 6
with Van James

This course is part of the Malaysia Waldorf Teacher Preparation Cycle 2, but we welcome public and international participants. This course will trace the visual artistic development of the child through their painting and work with color in the primary and elementary school years.
The course will include the importance of the threefold human being, multi-intelligence teaching, and understanding some of the latest neurological research as a basis for the importance of education. Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry watercolour painting of stories and letters, landscapes and maps, figures and naturalistic forms will all be practiced with the intention of experiencing and understanding the purpose and place of art in elementary school education and for adult human development.
This is one of the intermodules for Malaysia Waldorf Teacher Preparation Cycle 2 (Inter Module 4). However, for this ONLINE module, we open up to public and welcome international participants as well.
When is it?
8th – 10th April 2024; 12th – 14th April 2024
9am – 3pm via Zoom (Malaysia time; GMT +8)
NOTE: The workshop is conducted in English. Video recordings with Chinese translation can be provided upon request. Note that it is not a live translation.
Cost
USD 195
The video recordings will be opened for viewing from April 5th to June 30th, 2024.
Registration
Register here

Find out more
Please download the flyer or contact Steiner Education Malaysia.

Feature image: Sunrise, Steiner Training Motifs, by Van James

Working with Colour Chords
2024-04-27 15:30 - 2024-06-29 17:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Zoom online events, Australia
A foundation course in wet-on-dry painting
with artist Fiona Campbell
We explore how colours work with each other and upon each other in harmony, in polarity and as complementaries. It follows the Assenza approach to colour and painting, which is based on Goethe’s and Steiner’s theories of colour.
This fortnightly course also provides you with the foundations of the anthroposophic approach to wet-on-dry painting, where translucent coloured surfaces are continually overlaid with each other, so that new colours and new surfaces arise out of their meeting. From this colour interplay, forms gradually arise.
This online course is part of the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training.
What is the Assenza approach?
Beppe Assenza (1905-1985) was already an established artist when he became inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s work on the nature of colour and his colour theory. Unlike the Wagner and Collois d’Herbois schools of anthroposophic art, he chose to work phenomenologically with colours i.e. out of our lived experience of painting red, blue, yellow, etc. His approach is both free and playful and yet methodological in its exploration that produces an open, atmospheric picture surface. In this way, we train our perceptual faculties while deepening our soul experience of colours in composition.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in exploring the different techniques under the wet-on-dry umbrella.
For artists, art therapists and Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to deepen their understanding of colour (PD certificates available).

This course is core to the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training.
When is it?
27 April-29 June 2024, Saturdays 3.30pm-5.30pm AEDT (10 hours class time)
Five fortnightly sessions plus video recording
How much does it cost?
$230 AUD/$165 USD
$250 AUD for PD certificate
Video recording included in the fee, available for three months.
How do I register?
Register here
For more information
For more information about the course or for any questions, please contact Fiona Campbell

About Fiona Campbell
Fiona Campbell is a visual artist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition and has been a professional artist and arts educator for more than 30 years.
Under the name Painted Space, she runs a schooling course that combines inner work with visual arts training.
You can find out more about Fiona at Painted Space or listen to an ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

If I delve deeper into the characters of the different colours, they show me their dynamic qualities. Out my experience, I can then let the colours guide me.
Assenza

Feature image: New Life, by Fiona Campbell, 2017
Insert image: courtesy of Painted Space

Breathing Out The Winter: A Therapeutic Intensive
2024-07-27 14:00 - 2024-07-28 17:00 (Australia/Adelaide) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents

An Art Intensive For Nourishing The Soul Forces

Let’s prepare ourselves Spring!
This intensive therapeutic painting workshop brings the health-giving forces of the harmonious breath into our souls and bodies as we breathe out the Winter and breathe in the renewed life coming towards us.

Late Winter can be a difficult time: Nature’s death shudder is still with us, but already signs of hope and new growth are appearing in the earth. By preparing our souls for the burgeoning forces of Spring, we nurture the new forces arising in our inmost being and bring them into harmonious rhythm with Nature’s rhythms.

Based on a classic Hauschka therapy exercise Painting as an Exercise for Breathing, this online workshop is an immersive experience using wet-on-wet painting or pastels and is for anyone in need of soul nourishment.

Online guided exercises and contemplation interspersed with working quietly in the comfort of your home with the company of an Australia-wide community.

Why join the live class? Benefits of live participation
When you paint with others, at the same time as them, even though it is in a virtual environment, you are creating community. Think of it as a group of people coming together with the specific intention to build substance, to create something together, to bring something into the world that benefits both ourselves yet also puts positive, creative forces into the world. And we create within a divine-spiritual community. Divine beings look over our shoulders; we create in their company and in the company of like-minded others.The gift is in the giving, in the doing, as much as in the product.
Who is it for?
Beginners welcome! You do not need to be an experienced artist to benefit from this workshop. Participants are guided through the experience with demonstrations.
When

2-5pm ACST, 27-28 July 2024
Cost
$190 AUD/$134 USD including recordings
Bookings
Book here

You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials after payment.

The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell at Painted Space

Feature image: excerpt of painting of the cycle of the plant, Weleda Calendar 2000 © Alexander Winter

Working with Steiner's Nature Mood Sketches
2024-08-31 15:00 - 2024-11-23 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents
The Seven School (Friedwart) Sketches series

This fortnightly online course introduces you to Rudolf Steiner’s approach to painting and his understanding of how the formative forces shape and move the world around us through his own pastel sketches. The course uses the wet-on-dry veiling technique or pastels, if preferred.
The Seven School (or Friedwart) Sketches were first given to Waldorf teachers as part of Steiner’s new impulse for understanding both Art and Nature, to help students explore invisible yet objective laws of Nature. The series leads us from the archetypal nature moods of sunrise and sunset through the four elements to the human world, culminating in a Madonna and Child motif.
What are the Training Sketches?
Theses sketches are part of a comprehensive portfolio known as the Training Sketches for the Artists. Along with The Nine Training Sketches (Nature Moods) and the Goetheanum epochs motifs, they form an important part of this portfolio.
But these sketches are not images of external natural events; they refer to acts that are effective in nature and human, says Christiane Haid, head of the Visual Arts Section at the Goetheanum. She believes that working with the creative forces in and around us can become the starting point for facing tasks in healing the world.
Who is this course for?

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature and Human.

For anyone interested in the foundations of the anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy this course.

This course is a core course of the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training.
When is it?
3pm-5pm Saturdays AEST, 31 August-23 November 2024
Seven two-hour fortnightly sessions. Participants are expected to do some homework between classes. Edited recordings of the sessions are available post-class but live participation is preferred, unless your time zone makes this impossible.
Cost
$300 AUD/$205 USD
$305 AUD for PD certificate
Video recording included in the fee, available for private study.

Book here!

How to join the workshops
The Zoom link, payment details, a list of materials and suggested readings will be sent to you after booking.

Other Painted Space Studio workshop courses

For more information

Contact

‘…and in the creations of the artist t here will appear to us
the traces of his soul experience in the cosmos‘

Steiner

Feature image: Sunlit Tree by a Waterfall No. 6 © Fiona Campbell

A Conversation With Your Garden: Plant Observation And Drawing
2024-09-11 17:00 - 2024-11-20 18:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents
A Series of Workshops on Goethean Observation and Nature Moods

Let’s prepare ourselves Spring!
Spring is the ideal time of year to turn our eyes to Nature and learn her secrets through Goethean observation, drawing and reflection. Spending time up close with Nature in the garden, a park, a local nature reserve or even just with a few pot plants on your balcony is both energising and healing.
(Of course, any time of the year in Nature is good, but Spring and Autumn have particular qualities of change and transformation especially suited to drawing and observation.)
What will we do?
Through the six online workshops, learn to see anew the wonder of your own garden. Each workshop leads us through a process of becoming ‘at home’ with Nature, from quiet contemplation, careful observation, and mood immersion, to sketching, colour work and reflection.
Learn the core stages of a phenomenological process and practice the different drawing/sketching techniques to take us through this process. Techniques include charcoal, pencil, paint and pastel. Participants keep a visual diary to document their discoveries and observations.
By getting up close with our garden in this way, the world around us becomes more alive – living and becoming.
What is Goethean phenomenology?
Goethean phenomenology (also known as Goethean observation) helps us develops new eyes for the world around us. It offers us another way of being in the world, one that brings us into a more participatory connection with Nature and ourselves. We learn to step into the world and feel at home with it.
Who is it for?

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature
For anyone interested in knowing more about Goethean phenomenology and how to practice it.

Suitable for all levels. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy these workshops.
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
When is it on?
5.00pm-6.30pm AEST, 11 September to 20 November 2024
How do I book?

Book here
Please complete the online form to book for this series of workshops. You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
More information
Find out more about this course and others from Painted Space or contact Fiona Campbell.

Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Feature image: Ethereal Space of Plant Growth, Plate I, The Plant between Sun and Earth © Olive Whicher

The Advent of Mary: A Christmas Contemplation
2024-12-01 16:30 - 18:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The Stream of Life Studio

presents
An artistic contemplation on the Marys of St Matthew and St Luke
Join us for this webinar on the 1st Sunday in Advent for an exploration of the lives and spiritual origins of the two Marys
This Stream of Life Studio workshop looks particularly at the Sophianic impulse the two Marys carry in very different ways, and its significance for our human development today. Using a phenomenological approach, we will immerse ourselves in contemplation of four original artworks (paintings and poetry), followed by discussion.
Suggested readings
The Fifth Gospel by Rudolf Steiner
The Two Marys, by Fiona Campbell
When
4.30pm – 6.00 pm AEDT, 1 December 2024.
Cost
Entry by donation: $AUD 20 or whatever you would like to give to support our research.
Bookings
Book here
The Zoom link will be sent out two days before the event, and then again one hour before we start.
For more information, please contact Fiona Campbell or Jude Neeme-Samson.
Download the flyer to share or keep

Feature image: New Life © Fiona Campbell

Three Kings and a Rose Cross
2024-12-14 15:30 - 17:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents
An artistic workshop for Christmas

Join me for a creative afternoon workshop of art and conversation, exploring Rudolf Steiner’s enigmatic Three Kings motif, created by Steiner in pastels for Christmas 1923.
The Three Kings festival will be significant for our future, Steiner states:In the Rose-Cross we have the fourfold human being: in the Cross the physical human, the etheric human and the astral human, and in the roses, the Self. How do we connect the roses of the Christmas tree with the cross of Easter? And how do the Three Magi from the East play into this? What is Mary’s special role here?
Art-making is a way of knowing, of understanding through doing and creating. Working together, we seek to find answers to these questions, while preparing ourselves for the coming Christmas festival.
Join us in person in Mount Barker SA on 8 December or online on 14 December
About the workshop
Artist Fiona Campbell will lead participants through the process of building up the motif in colour, recommending colours and gestures, and providing expert guidance in how to create a beautiful, ,meaningful artwork to take home.
You do not need drawing/painting skills to enjoy this hands-on workshop.
When is it on?
Online: 3.00 pm- 5.00 pm Adelaide (ACDT), Saturday 14th December, 2024.
Mount Barker: 2.00 pm – 5.00 pm Adelaide (ACDT), Sunday 8th December, 2024.
Cost
Online workshop
$40 includes video recording
Mount Barker workshop
$60 with art materials provided, afternoon tea included.
$30 if you bring your own materials
Space limited, so book soon.
Bookings
Book here
You will be sent the workshop details after booking, with a list of suggested materials after payment.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell

Feature image: Three Kings © Rudolf Steiner Verlag

Living Into The Becoming World
2025-02-12 19:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
A Lecture on Rudolf Steiner’s Artistic Impulse For The Future
with Fiona Campbell
Thursday, 13th February 2025 7.00 PM – 8:15 PM ACDT

How art can be a schooling path for the ordering & strengthening of the soul
A pictorial presentation on how Rudolf Steiner’s extensive portfolio of training sketches, motifs, watercolours and blackboard drawings are a gift to all artists seeking an ever-renewing source of creativity. How working with Steiner’s images can help us shift from our habitual ways of seeing the world as form and ‘breathe’ into the becoming and dying away world of Human in Cosmos.
This webinar is the third in the series on Art as a Spiritual Practice.
Watch the first lecture in this series!
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support this initiative.
A video recording wiill be available for three months after the event.
How to join the webinar
Book here
Participants will be sent the Zoom link by email two (2) days beforehand, and then again one (1) hour beforehand.
Please login for the webinar via your Zoom app and not via Eventbrite.
For more information
Contact the organiser.

Feature image: The Birds Fly Through Us, courtesy of Fiona Campbell

Spirit in Human, Human in Spirit: Investigations with Painting
2025-02-14 14:00 - 2025-05-09 16:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Painted Space Studio presents
A course in the spiritual/physical nature of the human being

“In the head the power of faith;
in the heart the might of love ;
in the full human being, all-sustaining hope.”
Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s picture imaginations arose from direct experiences of the spirit. He captured many of these pictures in his pastels sketches and paintings, called the Training Sketches for the Artist. He suggested that working artistically with these sketches would act as an impulse in us to find new directions for the future of art as a path for spiritual-scientific inquiry.
This online masterclass in painting over seven fortnightly sessions examines the human being in connection to the spirit from three different perspectives: the spiritual impulse in the human being, the human impulse in the spiritual world, and the threefold human being as spirit, soul and body.
We use three of Steiner’s training sketches as our starting point for this exploration.
What are Steiner’s Training Sketches?
The Training Sketches can be seen as ‘picture seeds’ and were given to the artists in answer to a request from the painter Henni Geck for a new impulse in art. Henni Geck (1884-1951) was the first painter to use these indications.
Who is the course for?

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand the hidden forces of Cosmos and Nature.

Painting skills and understanding of core anthroposophic principles recommended to get the most out of this course.
Selected readings by Rudolf Steiner complement the practical work.
When is it?
14 February-9 May 2025, Fridays 2pm-4pm AEDT
Seven fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
$280 AUD/$190 USD for ongoing participants
$290 for PD certificate or for new participants enrolling only in this course.
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
Book here!
You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
For more information
Contact Fiona Campbell

Feature image: The Threefold Human Being © Rudolf Steiner Verlag

The inner nature of colour: as pictorial, as luminous
2025-02-14 14:00 - 2025-05-10 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A Painted Space Studio workshop

When we experience the life of colour,
we step out of our own skins and take part in cosmic life.
Rudolf Steiner

Colour as a way to the spirit
This online painting course offers the opportunity for a deeper experience and understanding of the inner nature of colour. Building on Goethe’s Theory of Colour, yet quite different from it, Rudolf Steiner shows us the world of colour as one might experience it in the soul world.
About Steiner’s colour circle
We work in conjunction with Rudolf Steiner’s colour circle and Colour lectures (CW 291, CW 275). In these lectures, Steiner describes the colours as having either a pictorial (image) and or a luminous (lustre) nature. We explore what this means for our understanding and experience of colour that has implications for how we perceive what we call ‘reality’.
In this approach, Steiner lays a foundation for a practical technique of working with colour that leads us to a new form of artistic creativity, a new way of understanding of colour, which is the central of the anthroposophic approach to painting.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and art students looking to find a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For anyone pursuing a deeper understanding of the anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting.
For participants in the 2nd year of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.

Desirable background:: experience of working with Goethe’s Theory of Colour.
Recommended: basic watercolour wet-on-dry or veiling skills (you can use wet-on-wet or pastel if preferred, but wet-on-dry watercolour painting is recommended).
Background readings: Steiner’s Colour lectures Part I: ‘The Nature of Colour’
When is it?
15 February-10 May 2025, Saturdays 3pm-5pm AEDT
Seven fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
$300 AUD/$195 USD
$310 for PD certificate
Video recording and handouts included in the fee.

Book here!

The payment options, Zoom link, and list of materials will be sent after booking.
For more information
Contact Fiona Campbell
This course also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It follows on from Working with Colour Moods. Together, they are integral to the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Feature image: Steiner’s Colour circle

Memes That Matter: Conversations That Count
2025-05-06 07:00 - 2025-11-25 08:00 (Australia/Perth) | Online
Memes That Matter: Conversations That Count
is a social experiment based on two premises: that we know more than we think, and that visual metaphors can tap into this knowledge. To this end, I have created a series of memes that comment on current affairs with an eye to their metaphysical meaning. Memes that Matter is an attempt to explore these meanings in fortnightly meet-ups. Each session will explore a socially relevant topic through the lens of a particular meme and will consist of:

Introduction to the meme and its topic
Conversations in small breakout
Sharing in community

Memes that Matter is a social artwork and operates on a gift basis. It is inspired by Joseph Beuys’ idea of society as an artwork and its conceptual underpinnings: the transpolar politics known as social three-folding, conceived by Rudolf Steiner.
Our first topic will deal with: The irony of it all.
When

Meet-ups start on the 06 May 2025 and continue fortnightly ( 20 May, 3 June,17 June etc).

Timezones

Timezone A / Australia (AWST): 7–8 AM
Timezone B / Australia (AWST): 6–7 PM

The meet-ups start on Tuesday 06 May 2025. You can join at any time.
To register
Find out more
Subscribe to stay in the loop and receive updates (get my latest posts, including written and visual material as well as selected video clips), subscribe!
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Hoping to see you soon, online or otherwise,
Horst

Humor and Rudolf Steiner: A Presentation by Van James
2025-05-11 13:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Save the date!
Register here!

Working with the Four Elements in Nature: Veil Painting Course
2025-06-07 15:00 - 2025-08-02 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The basis of artistic creation is not what is,
but what might be; not the real, but the possible.

Rudolf Steiner, in The Aesthetics of Goethe’s Worldview

This online course uses the gestures of the material states of solid, fluid, gas, and heat (earth, water, air and warmth) to explore the hidden forces of Nature, and how they reveal themselves through the gestures and patterns through Nature’s imprint on the physical world around and in us.
What will I learn?
The course is an opportunity to develop your veil painting skills through developing brush mastery and enlivened perception of the world in and around us. After working with each different element, participants will create an artwork with a nature theme, bringing all four gestures together in one artwork.
Each element has a different gesture that characterises the phenomenal world of the etheric or life world. These gestures provide variations in veiling approaches that go beyond being mere ‘outer’ techniques and point to how the task of the artist is not to paint the visible, but reveal the invisible.
We use watercolour wet-on-dry painting, the preferred technique of any anthroposophic painting training. It is not an easy skill to develop but very satisfying to master.
You can read more about the anthroposophic approach and why we prefer watercolour over acrylics and oils in this short article.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in learning the wet-on-dry watercolour technique.
For artists, art therapists and Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to deepen their understanding of colour (PD certificates available if requirements are met).

When is it?
3.00pm-5.00pm AEST fortnightly on Saturdays
7 June- 2 August 2025
Cost
$240 AUD/$160 USD
$250 for PD certificate
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.

BOOK HERE

The payment options, Zoom link, and a list of materials will be sent to you after booking.
For more information
This course also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It provides the beginnings of a sound foundation in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Contact

Photo credit: Sunlit Tree By A Waterfall, I © Fiona Campbell

Working with Counter Images & Contradictions in the Soul
2025-06-14 15:00 - 2025-08-23 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The first step (in developing spiritual senses and organs of activity) is to direct the soul’s attention toward certain processes in the world around us.
These processes are life.

Rudolf Steiner, in How To Know Higher Worlds

Imaginative exercises based on the preparatory exercises given by Steiner in How to Know Higher Worlds, using painting, drawing and meditation exercises.
This online course provides an artistic entry into his preparatory exercises for the development of spiritual faculties.working with polarities and the counter images of sunrise and moonrise, growing plant and dying plant. This is a path for the schooling of the soul for higher development and it uses two motifs from Steiner’s Nine Training Sketches for the Artist to guide us on this path.
Through exploration of counter-images and seeming contradictions of polarities, we can strengthen both our imaginative faculties and our life forces.
You don’t have to be an experienced artist to find this course enriching but you do need some knowledge of Steiner’s meditative path and be open to new ways of seeing the world.

Background information
With the increasing, encroaching of AI-generated images filling our screens, through film, tv and internet, the essential creativity that lives deep in the soul of every human being is under threat. AI-generated art is not creative. It does not arise out of human creativity but out of machines. Further, it undermines the very essence of what it means to be human.
In the face of this attack on our human-ness, we need to bring a counter-impulse by strengthening our capacity to work with imaginations that arise out of human spirituality and the spiritual in nature.
By working artistically and contemplatively with colour and the formative forces of life, we can nurture our uniquely human capacities to create, to think and to think creatively, We can counter this dehumanising force,
We need to enliven our imaginative faculties to counter the life-destroying forces bombarding us.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and Waldorf teachers looking to find a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For anyone seeking a non-intellectual pathway into Steiner’s meditative path.
For participants in the 2nd year of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.

To get the most out of this course, it is anticipated participants will work on their own between the fortnightly sessions.
Recommended: familiarity with basic watercolour wet on wet, wet-on-dry or veiling skills (you can use pastel if preferred, but watercolour painting is recommended).
Background reading: Steiner’s How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation
When is it?
3PM-5PM AEST Saturdays, 14th June-23rd August 2025
Seven fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
300 AUD/190 USD
$310 AUD for PD certificate (requires 70% attendance and all exercises submitted to Padlet).
Video recording available for three months included in the fee.

Book here!

How to join the workshop
The payment options, Zoom link, and list of materials will be sent after booking.
For more information
This course is a Painted Space Studio course. It is also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.
Contact

Feature image: Counter Colours, Counter Forces exercise by Fiona Campbell

Breathing Through The Cycle Of The Year: A Therapeutic Intensive
2025-08-04 17:00 - 2025-08-07 18:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The soul of the Earth
Lives through the seasons’ changing –
Summer and Winter.

This therapeutic painting intensive evokes the breathing cycle of the year’s seasonal changes through colour, gesture and meditative verse.
Based on a classic Hauschka therapy exercise Painting as an Exercise for Breathing, this online workshop is an immersive, deeply healing experience of the power of the health-giving forces of the earth’s harmonious breath. Rudolf Steiner tells us that the cycle of the earth is a kind of mighty breathing process of earth in relation to the surrounding cosmos (Lecture I, The Cycle of the Year). This lecture is optional background reading for the intensive.
Flowing, breathing colours are highly beneficial for revitalising the burnt-out soul. Find renewal in this special guided intensive over four late afternoons. From Summer’s light, we dive down into the warmth and sleep of Autumn and Winter, before emerging into the life and light of Spring.
Who is it for?
For anyone in need of soul nourishment and renewal. Particularly suited for conditions of insomnia, depression, burnout and long covid.
You do not need to be an experienced artist to participate in this workshop. Participants are guided through the experience with demonstrations.
Online guided exercises and contemplation interspersed with working quietly in the comfort of your home with the company of an Australia-wide community.
Benefits of live participation
When you paint alone, you are doing it for yourself. But when you paint with others, at the same time as them, even though it is in a virtual environment, you are creating etheric substance for everyone. Think of it as like visual prayer, a group of people coming together with the specific intention to bring something into the world that benefits both ourselves yet also puts positive, creative forces into the world.
And we create within a divine-spiritual community. Divine beings look over our shoulders; we create in their company and in the company of like-minded others.The gift is in the giving, in the doing, as much as in the product.
When
5.00pm to 6.15 pm AEST, Monday 4th August to Thursday 7th August.

Cost
$210 AUD/$140 USD
Video recordings available after the intensive

Bookings
Book here
Please complete this form to book for this short intensive workshop. You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and a reading after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the first workshop. Use the same link for each session.
Find out more
Please contact Painted Space Studio

Feature image: Blossoming Fruiting Trees © Fiona Campbell

Working with Steiner’s Training Sketches for the Artists
2025-09-06 15:00 - 2025-11-29 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Introducing Steiner’s anthroposophic training path for painters
with Painted Space Studio

‘…and in the creations of the artist there will appear to us
the traces of his soul experience in the cosmos’

Steiner

The Nine Nature Moods or Training Sketches are the definitive foundation and starting point of Steiner’s impulse for the Arts. Given as ‘picture seeds’ to lead us into the future, they open the door to the new anthroposophic approach to painting.

This fortnightly online course introduces you to Rudolf Steiner’s approach to painting and his understanding of how the formative forces shape and move the world around us through his own pastel sketches. The course uses the wet-on-dry veiling technique but wet-on-wet or pastels are also possible if you prefer.

What will we do?

Starting with the sunrise, these sketches take us on an imaginative journey following the sun, moon and seasons as expressions of the spiritual laws in play between earth and cosmos. We work with each sketch creatively yet with careful attention to the forces they embody, first in pastel, then in watercolour to create a wonderful series of heavenly and earthly imaginations.

Who is it for?

For anyone interested learning about the core anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting.

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to develop their artistic practice.

This course is a core course of the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training. Beginners are welcome, but some watercolour painting experience is desirable. If preferred, you may choose to work with soft pastels only.

What is the importance of the Training Sketches?

Sunrise I, from the Nine Nature Moods series

You can see some interpretations of these sketches here.
These nine nature mood sketches are the starting place for anyone seeking to understand Steiner’s new impulse for the visual arts. But these sketches are not images of external natural events; they refer to acts that are effective in nature and human, says Christiane Haid, head of the Visual Arts Section at the Goetheanum. She believes that working with the creative forces in and around us can become the starting point for facing tasks in healing the world.
The nine sketches are part of a comprehensive 28 motif portfolio known as the Training Sketches for the Artists. Along with Steiner’s watercolours, The Seven School or Friedwart Sketches and many others (the Goetheanum epochs motifs are supplementary to the portfolio), they form the foundation of an anthroposophic art training in painting and drawing. Steiner first gave them to artist Henni Geck in 1922 for the new of painting, just as he earlier developed eurythmy as a new art of movement.

When is it?
3pm-5pm Saturdays AEST, 6 September – 29 November 2025
Seven two-hour fortnightly sessions. Participants are expected to do some homework between classes. Edited recordings of the sessions are available post-class but live participation is preferred to get the most out of the course, including individual feedback, unless your time zone makes this impossible.

Cost

$290 AUD/$190 USD
$300 AUD for PD certificate, conditions apply*
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.

Book here!

The payment options, Zoom link, a list of materials and suggested readings will be sent to you after booking.

For more information

Contact

* PD (Pr0fessional development certificates) require 75% attendance and exercises on Padlet
Feature image: Moonrise (2022) © Fiona Campbell
Feature quote: from Artistic and Moral Experience, in Colour, Part III

A Conversation With Your Garden: Goethean Observation and Drawing
2025-09-10 17:00 - 2025-11-19 18:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Zoom online events, Australia
Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Learn to see your garden with new eyes and learn new drawing techniques!

These six online workshops uses the core stages of the phenomenological process of Goethean phenomenology using charcoal, pastels, shaded and dynamic drawing.
Spring and Autumn are ideal times of year to turn our eyes to Nature to learn her secrets. The cycle of the plant is particularly on display to us, as seed becomes leaf, leaf becomes bud, then flower turns to fruit and finally, seeds return to the earth. (Of course, any time of year in the garden is good, but Spring and Autumn have particular qualities of change and transformation, which are especially suited to observation and drawing.)
What will we do?
Each workshop leads us through a process of becoming ‘at home’ with Nature, using quiet contemplation, careful observation, mood immersion, sketching and colour painting.
Participants keep a visual diary to document their discoveries and observations.
By getting up close with our garden in this way, we learn to step more deeply into the cycles of life.
What is Goethean phenomenology?
Goethean phenomenology (also known as Goethean observation) helps us develops fresh, new eyes for the world around us. It offers us another way of being in the world, one that brings us into a more participatory connection with both Nature and ourselves and helps us develop new organs of perception.

Phenomenology is the way of the future!

Who is it for?

For anyone interested in knowing more about Goethean phenomenology and how to practice it.
For nature lovers who would like to learn a non-confrontational way of drawing plants.
For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature

Suitable for all levels. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy these workshops. Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
When is it?
5.00pm-6.30pm AEST, Fortnightly Wednesdays 10 September – 19 November, 2025
Cost
$225 AUD/ $145 USD
$230 PD certificate, conditions apply
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
Book here

Find out more!
Contact Fiona Campbell at Painted Space Studio

Feature image: The Plant between the Sun and Earth by G.Adams and O. Whicher plate VIII

Passport to Everywhere: Eurythmy Performance
2025-09-11 - 2025-09-16
Pacifica College Eurythmy Tour 2025

Bookings

The Michaelic Mystery: An Artistic Journey Exploring
2025-09-12 14:00 - 2025-11-21 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
This masterclass in painting explores the nature and mission of Michael, the Archangel of our age, in connection with the human life and the seeds we plant for the future. .
Our path of inquiry draws on Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on this theme, starting with The Cycle Of The Year As A Breathing Process, Lecture V and lectures from The Michael Mystery.
Who is the course for?

For students of Anthroposophy who want to experience spiritual science through the arts, knowing through doing.

Painting skills and understanding of fundamental anthroposophic principles recommended to get the most out of this course.
Cost
$280 AUD/$190 USD
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
Bookings
Who is Michael ?
Michael (pronounced Micha-el) is a higher being whose name means ‘who is like God’. He an archangel of Christian, Judaic and Islamic religions and is often portrayed in art as slaying a dragon or Satan or with scales for weighing souls on the Day of Judgement.
He is said to inspire a cosmopolitan or world consciousness in us, at a time when human beings are becoming more and more individualised and egocentric, and our world more and more chaotic. His silent words provide a sure, steady, conscious pathway to bring our own spirit into harmony with World Spirit.
Thinking as a Michaelic person has always to do with endeavouring to implant something of the spiritual into the wider cultural-scientific and social economic life of our time.
For more information
Contact Painted Space Studio

Feature image: Michael and the Dragon, © Fiona Campbell 1999

The Michael age has dawned. Hearts begin to have thoughts. Enthusiasm no longer flows from mystical obscurity, but from the inner clarity that thought conveys. To grasp this is to receive Michael into one’s soul. Thoughts that today seek to grasp the spirit must spring from hearts that beat for Michael as the fiery cosmic prince of thought.’ Rudolf Steiner

Working with Composition: Bringing Ego Organisation into Painting
2025-09-13 15:00 - 2025-11-22 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
An exploration of the role of composition in painting in relation to the ego or “I”as the organiser of our soul life, through painting, drawing and art history observation. The health-giving effects of working consciously with the principles of the fourfold human being underpins this studio course.
What is composition?
Historically, artists have always drawn on the laws of perception to arrange the elements within a work of art, to create balance, focus, unity or harmony in the work. This need for the visual ordering of colour, line, form and space is essential to our feelings of connection to or our aesthetic enjoyment of a work of art. But why is this so?

Why do we experience harmonious peace in a Raphael Madonna yet also harmonious dynamism in a Turner stormy sea?

Do the elements of a work need to be arranged in a balanced compositional way to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye? Or can we also find satisfaction in chaos and unstructured movement? and what is happening within us when we experience this sense of enjoyment with a painting?
Simply, what is the role of our “I” when creating or contemplating an art work? How do bring presence to our paintings?
What will we do?
In this online course, we explore the principles of composition and learn how to leverage these principles to bring the multiple elements of our painting together into unified wholeness. We learn how perception influences our ego organisation and our experience of harmony and balance when viewing both the great masters and our own work.
First, we explore some classic laws of visual organisation, such as the rule of thirds and the golden ratio, by observing how these laws are inherent in famous artworks.
We then learn how these principles relate to the role of our ego as organiser of our soul forces; then how to apply such principles to our own work. Thus, the art work becomes a reflection of the activity of the ego on the fourfold human being, according to the anthroposophic approach to painting.
There is particular focus on the salutogenic effects of consciously working with ego organisation in painting.
Who is it for?
This is a Schooling course but you are welcome to join us!

For artists, art therapists and art students looking to find a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For anyone interested in an artistic understanding of the role of our higher self or I in visual composition.

To get the most out of this course, it is anticipated participants will work on their own between the fortnightly sessions.
Required: some familiarity with the anthroposophic approach to art and basic painting technique. Watercolour veiling/wet-on-dry skills are preferred.
Please note: this is not a step-by-step instructional class so not advised for beginners in painting unless you are adventurous and self-motivated!
What dates are the classes?
3pm-5pm AEST Saturdays
13 September-6 December 2025
The workshops are recorded but live participation is preferred, unless your time zone makes this impossible.
How much does it cost?
$300 for PD or for new participants.
$280 for ongoing participants
Recordings available post-course for private study.
How do I book?
Book here
After registration, participants will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested readings and materials.
The Zoom workshop link is sent one (1) day before the class.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell at Painted Space Studio

About the presenter
Fiona Campbell is the director of Painted Space Studio. She a researcher, lecturer, visual artist and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition and also trained as an art therapist.
She has special expertise in the anthroposophic approach to painting and has been teaching painting for 25 years.
Fiona is also a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, where she focuses on her other two specialisations, phenomenology and creative cognition.
You can find out more about Fiona on her website or listen to a ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

Feature image: Indigo and Umber Study I © Fiona Campbell 2000
