Workshop: Derivatives of Nature / September 21

Prior to the workshop on Sunday, join us for the opening of Danielle Hutchens new exhibit BETWEEN SOIL AND SKY at Poet and/the Bench on Saturday September 20 as a preview to the workshop. 

View her current collection in our gallery, including 3 new works as a sneak preview as part of Between Soil and Sky and stay tuned for 8 additional artworks to come. 

Between Soil and Sky is an exploration of life’s natural cycles—growth, change, and renewal. From quiet beginnings underground, plants push into the light and bloom. Seeds scatter, taking root in both cared-for and unexpected places. Some flourish in ideal conditions, others thrive despite challenges. Each ending folds back into the soil, making way for the next beginning.

A note from the artist "I made this collection of work in the spring, after the Palisades Fire. Our house and studio made it through, though we were displaced for a month. We were very lucky to come home since some of our neighbors lost theirs. The view across the canyon– once thick with trees– had been completely stripped bare. For a long time, I carried a quiet anxiety, a kind of breath held. But then, in March, something shifted. I remember a soft exhale, the first one in a while. I felt like I could dream again. I could feel light again. At the same time, the black hills across from us, scorched and silent for months, began to green. Small things– tender shoots, shy buds– started to unfurl. Life, working underground in the quiet dark, was beginning again and in a soft yet vibrant way. This collection is an observation on that kind of growth: how beauty rises out of stillness, how beginnings often arrive quietly. It’s about cycles and earth’s eternal well of creation. A hopeful happiness." ~ Danielle Hutchens

• Food Allergies: Snacks may include nuts, seeds, dairy and gluten. We cannot accommodate modifications or severe food allergies which prevent sufferers from being in the same immediate area as their allergen.
• Our Location: We will host the gathering at our residence in Mill Valley. Due to space constraints of our tiny home, this will be an outdoor event. Please dress appropriately. Note: the address will be given upon RSVP and we ask that you keep it private.
• Refund Policy: Refunds up to 7 days before event (by September 14th) if your plans change.
• Minimum Participation: If for some reason we do not reach a minimum participation required to run this workshop, we will notify you via email of cancellation or reschedule by Wednesday September 17th. Please be sure to add hello@poetandthebench.com to your safe sender list
• Rain Delay: In the case of rain, we will reschedule or change locations. 

We are happy to tell you more about the event– contact us via email. You can also sign up on our mailing list for future happenings if you cannot attend this event.

Danielle Hutchens brings natural elements to her fine art practice, introducing color, texture, and shape from the environment. Gestural marks, collected over time in sketches and memories, appear in various forms, organic and considered. A former career in graphic design also lends a narrative structure to Danielle's artwork. She works from her studio in Topanga Canyon, just outside Los Angeles proper, digging in the dirt with her hands and experimenting with themes of play, feminine and masculine energy and a curiosity for the world around her. As an earth pigment painter, she uses her environment as the palette in her paintings and as a ceramist, her non-toxic stoneware is also of the earth. 

View Danielle's artworks in our gallery.