Classes and Community Events

The Kaleidoscope of Autoimmune Disease: Writing and Visual Art Workshops

Who May Attend

Anyone ages 8-18 living with an autoimmune disease
Caregivers of these folks

Class Description

Participants will use writing and visual art to describe their experiences of living with, or caring for those, with various autoimmune diseases, highlighting the emotional, social and physical relationships between chronic illness, mental health, and healthcare disparities especially for those in communities of color, including Latinx, Black/African-American, Indigenous, and Asian Pacific Islanders.

What to Expect

In this 2-hour workshop, poet Suzanne Edison and visual artist Carol Rashawnna Williams will provide writing and visual art prompts and materials to help you express your experiences living with, or caring for someone, with an autoimmune disease.
The writing/art works will be included in a larger publication.
There will be an opportunity for participants to read and show their work (if they so wish) in a public event to be scheduled either at OBCC or another public venue.
Participants may attend one or more of these workshops.

Panelists

Suzanne Edison

Suzanne Edison, MA, MFA, is a poet, educator, former therapist, and mom to a young adult in remission from Juvenile Myositis (JM). She has been writing about, and publishing work about her journey with JM, as well as teaching writing workshops to teens, caregivers and medical providers for 15 years centered around the many aspects of living with and caring for those with autoimmune diseases.

Carol Rashawnna Williams

Cultural innovator Carol Rashawnna Williams is a professional visual artist, musician, and mother of two. She has spent more than 20 years utilizing art methodologies to pro-actively shift systems in business, education and at the government and institutional levels. She lives with health-related issues tied to environmental and hereditary influences. Carol has won many awards for her artwork and environmental work in BIPOC communities.