Anthroposophical Society in Australia

Staying Connected Study Group
2026-02-16 19:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | NSW
This fortnightly study group is based on Steiner’s collection of lectures in Staying Connected. In between, through a WhatsApp group, there will be support and encouragement to post poems, interesting relevant articles – or just to reach out and communicate and find support.

Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul
2026-02-21 - 2027-12-04 | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents

An online training in art as a spiritual practice
for the ordering & strengthening of the soul
2026 Enquiries open now!

What is it about?
This two-year online training offers a unique approach to learning painting and drawing, where artistic practice becomes a schooling process for the soul.
This is a path of inner work through creative practice.

A study of spiritual science through artistic practice, where the study is the artistic exercise and the texts are supplementary to these exercises.
A vision of into the tasks and role of the artist of the future – beyond self-consciousness to world consciousness.

Rudolf Steiner was adamant that Anthroposophy should not just be taken in as concepts or theories, which has a hardening effect on the soul, but be experienced by whole human being. Rudolf Steiner states that without the artistic element, Anthroposophy cannot go into the future, for it will go ‘short of breath’ and become nothing but a dead corpse of the living force it should be.

MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE SCHOOLING
Delivery mode
A combination of pre-recorded technical videos, mini-lectures, fortnightly Zoom meetings, individual mentoring, self-directed home study and workshop intensives.
Participants can also proceed at their own pace with the videos, but still benefit from professional guidance and sharing with an international artistic community of like-minded souls.
The course package is a combination of:

six courses (three a year over two years)
six lecture webinars (over two years)
five workshop intensives (two+ a year)
an individual project (can be done in conjunction with a course or workshop)
regular study group
two individual consultations
self-directed artistic work

Who is the schooling course for?

Students of Anthroposophy interested in an creative and experiential path to inner work, meditation and understanding Spiritual Science.
Artists trained at conventional art schools who wish to learn about the anthroposophic approach to art.
Waldorf (Steiner) teachers and therapists who wish to extend their professional practice by deepening their understanding of the anthroposophic impulse in art.

READ WHAT PAST PARTICIPANTS IN FIONA’S COURSE HAVE TO SAY
Duration?
February-December 2026, over three terms.
Enrolments are accepted by term, according to previous experience.
Duration of the course: Total of 110 hrs contact hours + 400-600 hrs approx self-managed creative work at home over two years. (This is approx. 2.5 to 3 hours a week, five days a week)
A Diploma is awarded at the completion of the course, providing all requirements are fulfilled.
Professional Development certificates are also available on completion and for individua modules, 75% active attendance required.
Enrolments
ENROL HERE
For more information
Read more about the individual course options or contact Fiona Campbell
About Painted Space Studio
Painted Space Studio is led by Dr Fiona Campbell, who brings her extensive research and training in the artistic, therapeutic, and pedagogical aspects of the anthroposophic approach to art to all courses. She believes in artistic practice being an holistic practice that engages the human being in our totality as physical, psychical and spiritual.
Fiona trained in visual arts and artistic therapy at Tobias School of Art. She has three research-based degrees, including a PhD in creative thinking and a Diploma in Waldorf Education from Emerson College, England. She has been a professional artist since 1992, a member of the Anthroposophical Society since 1978 and the School of Spiritual Science since 1992.

THIS SCHOOLING COURSE IS AN INITIATIVE OF THE VISUAL ARTS SECTION

In an inartistic atmosphere, (Anthroposophy) goes short of breath; only in an artistic element can it breathe freely. Rightly understood, it will lead over to the genuinely artistic without losing any of its cognitional character

Rudolf Steiner
Lecture III’, The Arts and their Mission,
2 June 1923, Dornach, CW276

Feature image: Black Study I, courtesy of Fiona Campbell

Working with colour, out of colour: a one-day painting intensive
2026-02-21 15:30 - 20:00 | Online
A Painted Space Studio workshop

“A whole world opened and showed me colour as a living being.”
Goethe

This intensive workshop is a must for anyone who wishes to understand the role of colour in Steiner’ education and in Anthroposophy in general.
It introduces you to colour as an experience! We use the immersive wet-on-wet painting technique to help us transpose ourselves into the colour, so that we can say: “I am blue’ or ‘I am at one with golden yellow’. This is an important process for understanding how to work with colour, out of colour, selflessly.
The workshop provides you with basic watercolour painting skills and a grounding in Goethe’s Theory of Colour (which underlies the Steiner/Waldorf school curriculum for the visual arts).
Painting ‘out of colour’
But how do we paint ‘out of colour’ and not form? And how does this relate to the colours in nature, in the sky, the colours of the rainbow? To answer these questions, we start with Goethe’s colour circle as our guide. By immersing ourselves into the colour circle as it moves from warm to cool, light to dark, heaven to earth and back, we experience the full spectrum of colour – and of ourselves.

Why Goethe’s colour circle ?
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 each colour, one by one, we come to a deep, intuitive relationship with them. This, in turn, connects us more strongly to colour in the world around us.
Who is it for?

For Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to learn about colour to support their teaching practice (PD certificates available).

For anyone interested in learning to paint in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach.

This short intensive also provides an introduction to the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training. The Essence of Anthroposophic Art: Veiling the Colours follows on from this course, a further exploration of Goethe’s Theory of Colour but introducing the wet-on-dry watercolour painting technique.
When is it?
3.30pm-8pm AEDT, Saturday 21 February 2026
Cost
$150 AUD
$160 AUD for PD certificate
Video recordings and readings included in the fee, available for private study.
You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials after booking. The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
Bookings
Book here!

For more information
Contact Fiona Campbell

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

Celebrating the life of Ita Wegman: A community offering
2026-02-22 10:30 - 12:30 | Samford Valley Steiner School, 5 Narrawa Drive, Wights Mountain, Qld, 4520
Feature image: Ita Wegman aged 52 in Breslau, 1928, courtesy of WALA Heilmittel GmbH’s historical company archive.

A Conversation With Your Garden (Autumn): Goethean Observation and Drawing
2026-02-25 17:30 - 2026-05-06 19:00 | Online
Painted Space Studio presents

Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows.
Rainer Maria Rilke 1914

Immersing ourselves in Nature as She turns inward …
Autumn is the wonderful time of year to turn our eyes to the changes Nature brings to the garden: the reds and golds of European trees, the bounty of fruits and late vegetables, all mixed in with the evergreens and native plants following their own local seasonal changes.
Whether you have your own garden or like to walk in a local park, a nature reserve or even just tend a few pot plants on your balcony, being with plants in their endless cycles of becoming and dying away is both energising and de-stressing for us. A health-giving counterblance to computer work!
Using Goethean phenomenology to guide us, these six online workshops will help you to become more ‘at home’ with nature.
The six workshops use mixed media and different drawing 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.
What is Goethean phenomenology?
Goethean phenomenology (also known as Goethean observation) helps us develops fresh, new eyes for seeing and engaging with the world around us. It brings us into a more participatory connection with both nature and ourselves.
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?
5.30-7.00pm AEDT, 25 February-6 May 2026
Cost
$230 AUD
$240 AUD PD certificate (75% participation required).
Video recordings included in the fee, available for three months.
Bookings

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.
Contact

Feature image: Autumn Pastel © Fiona Campbell 1998

The Essence of Anthroposophic Art: Veiling the Colours
2026-02-28 15:00 - 2026-04-25 17:00 | Zoom online events, Australia
A Painted Space Studio workshop

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.

Beppe Assenza

This course introduces the iconic veil painting technique so closely identified with Rudolf Steiner’s artistic approach.
We delve into the language of colour using transparent surfaces of liquid colour in free compositions inspired by Beppe Assenza’s playful but meditative approach to painting.
This is the preferred technique of any anthroposophic painting training. It is not an easy skill to develop but very satisfying to master.
Rudolf Steiner developed this technique as a way of of interfacing with the spirit through painting.
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 veiling (wet-on-dry) watercolour technique.
For artists, art therapists and Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to deepen their understanding of colour (PD certificates available).

When is it?
3.00 pm-5.00 pm AEDT, Saturdays, 28 February-25 April 2026
Five fortnightly sessions plus video recording
Cost
$240 AUD
$250 for PD certificate (75% attendance and participation required)
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
The payment options, Zoom link, and a list of materials will be sent to you after booking.

BOOK HERE

For more information
This course is a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It is preceded by the introductory workshop, Working with Colour, Out of Colour. Together, they provide a sound foundation in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Contact

Feature image: New Life Emerges © Fiona Campbell 2010

Inscribing Signs with a Finger Dipped in Light 2026
2026-03-01 - 2026-11-30 | NSW
Towards A Cultural-Spiritual Approach to Dying and Death
Once, we understood dying and death through imaginations, inspirations and intuitions. For many, this consciousness, understanding and reverence of dying and death, and life beyond the threshold, have been lost, silenced and ‘dropped’ from our individual and communal cultural-spiritual life.
By offering a deep study of Anthroposophy/Spiritual Science, our course provides a pathway towards understanding the significance of dying and death in the context of your own life.
If it is your intention is to become a Companion to the Dying, this step is a prerequisite, as it will give you the integrity, competence, transformative knowledge and awareness to support those journeying towards the threshold.
Our aim is to enable you to develop a sincere relationship with Death, an understanding of the individual path of dying and reincarnation, and reverence of the autonomous moment of death.
Our use of the arts and creative activities – visual art, sculpture, music [Music Thanatology], creative speech, poetry, creative writing, oral storytelling and folktale research, and eurythmy – will cultivate and integrate your perception of death as the most sacred, the most individual moment in life.
This insight allows us to develop with you spiritual-cultural approaches and creative processes you can apply with autonomy and integrity both as Companion to the Dying and your own life.
Download the course prospectus

When

Course duration: March – November 2026
Flyer
Please download the flyer and contact us with any questions.
Contact
Inscribing Signs, running successfully since 2024, welcomes your inquiries and expressions of interest for 2026.
Course Convenors
Irmhild Kleinhenz 0444 551 381
Iris Curteis 0487 719 476

In Cooperation With: The Section For Literary Arts & Humanities, The Section For Performing Arts, and The Collegium Of The School Of Spiritual Science,
Goetheanum, Dornach

Feature Image: courtesy of Iris Curteis

Surfaces as Interfaces to the Spirit
2026-03-07 15:00 - 2026-05-02 17:00 | Zoom online events, Australia
“…when we apply the lifeless paint to a surface,
we must get the light behind the surface. We must spiritualise
the surface and create a secret inner radiance.”
Rudolf Steiner

This course explores the nature of painting as a coming-into-being experience that has the capacity to open our souls to the life of the cosmos.
One key difference between most modern art schools and the approach offered by Rudolf Steiner is that we make a clear distinction between drawing and painting, between the qualities of the line and those of the surface.
Why is this so? What difference can it make to paint with surfaces rather than with lines? And what does this even mean?
Painting is a two-dimensional art of coloured surfaces. If we work consciously with this thought, work actively with this understanding, our whole relationship to how we paint (as opposed to what we paint) is changed and transformed.
Working with transparent surfaces creates an interface to our inner world, which in turn leads us to the threshold of our inner being – and beyond. In fact, Steiner states that artists, especially painters, are already working at the threshold of consciousness.
But care must be taken! If we open ourselves too much to the spiritual world, then we may be in danger of losing ourselves to it. Meditative verses can help us here, so we will also work with appropriate meditations during the course.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and art students seeking a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For advanced participants of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.

Required: watercolour wet-on-dry or veiling skills. This is not a demonstrated course so you must feel comfortable with your painting technique.
Desirable: Working with Colour Moods or equivalent experience of working with watercolour painting.
When is it?
Saturdays 3pm-5pm AEDT
7 March – 2 May 2026
Fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
$260 AUD
$270 for PD certificate
Video recordings and other resources included in the fee. The payment options, Zoom link, and list of materials will be sent after booking.

Book here!

For more information
This course also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It follows on from Working with Colour Moods.

Contact

Background reading
A Contemplation on Surfaces as Interfaces to the Spirit, a lecture by Fiona Campbell
‘The Phenomenon of Colour in Material Nature’, In Colour GA 291 by Rudolf Steiner

Feature image: Musical Improvisation © Fiona Campbell 2010

Creative Life Of Consonants And Vowels
2026-03-13 18:00 - 2026-03-16 11:00 | Samford Valley Steiner School, 5 Narrawa Drive, Wights Mountain, Qld, 4520
Heartfire Centre For Speech And Drama
Presents

About the workshop

Feature image:painting© Katherine Rudolph

The Stars, The Pyramids & Ancient Egypt Relation of the Stars to Places on Earth
2026-03-13 20:00 - 2026-03-14 16:00 | Canberra Christian Community, 7 Holtze Close, Hackett, ACT, 2602, Australia

Michael Centre Drama Group
2026-03-19 19:00 - 2026-05-28 21:00 | The Michael Centre, 37a Wellington Park Drive, Warranwood, Vic, Australia

Vic Branch Easter Program
2026-04-03 12:00 - 2026-04-05 17:30 | Aurora Australis, 2 Union Street, Kew, Vic, 3101, Australia

The Prophet: Music Theatre Workshops & Performance
2026-04-13 10:00 - 19:00 | Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St,, Abbotsford, VIC, 3067, Australia

Artists' Call Out: From The Threshold
2026-05-04 - 2026-05-28 | rudolf steiner book centre, 307 Sussex ST, Sydney, NSW, 2070
An Invitation for Artists to take part in May in a forthcoming exhibition in Rudolf Steiner House, Sydney.

Feature image: Darkness and Light (detail) by Käthe Kollwitz

From Page to Stage: Bringing A Midsummer's Night's Dream To Life
2026-06-12 - 2026-06-14 | Samford Valley Steiner School, 5 Narrawa Drive, Wights Mountain, Qld, 4520
Heartfire Centre For Speech And Drama
Presents

About the workshops

Feature image: Scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Titania and Bottom, Edwin Landseer

Emergence: Bringing Creative-Spiritual Impulses into Healing
2026-07-01 - 2026-07-05 | Gymea Eco Retreat & Spa, 128 Boonydoon Rd, Uki, NSW, 2428
Naturopathic Retreat & Conference

1st–5th July 2026

Immerse yourself in a five-day retreat designed for natural therapists seeking to deepen their practice.
This retreat offers a space to reflect, connect with like-minded colleagues and discover renewed inspiration for supporting a more conscious approach to illness and healing.

Download the flyer

Why you should attend
Many practitioners are finding the increasingly materialistic trend in natural therapies professions both unsatisfying and lacking in deeper inner work.
This five-day retreat and conference is designed for practitioners seeking to deepen their natural therapies practice and vocation. It will offer a space to reflect, connect with like-minded colleagues and discover renewed inspiration for supporting a more conscious approach to illness and healing.
Who this retreat is for?
We invite all professional practitioners of Naturopathy, Homoeopathy, Herbal medicine, Nutrition, Traditional and Integrative Medicine as well as practitioners and therapists who have a deep intuition for healing work.
Where is it?
Gymea Eco Retreat & Spa
128 Boonydoon Rd
Uki NSW 2428
Book here!
Find out more
The conference is hosted by the Anthroposophic Naturopaths Guild. For general enquiries, please contact Irmhild Kleinhenz, +61444 551 381 or visit the event website

Feature image: courtesy of Adobe Stock
