“It is not about perfection, but the process.” 

In episode 57, Sham chats with Sonja about her career studying and teaching art including her tips for others on how to feed the creative inner soul and how to think about failure.

Background:

Sonja studied art, history, psychology and educational sciences but is now professionally focused on creating art and passing the creative spark to others. She is Dutch-German and moved to Luxembourg in the 90’s – making her a polyglot as well. She runs children and art classes in various settings and her art which expresses her perception of the world is exhibited widely.

“Take care of creative batteries.”

Show recap

  • Sonja’s path to teaching art was not a natural one. She studied art so she would be allowed to teach it. She found a way to do what she loved most – to study art.

  • She took a detour for a few years – working in marketing, training (even with some European institutions).

  • It all went back to art when she had her son when she started to paint with him. Seeing her in action, friends encouraged her to teach other children.

  • She found a space and started with an initial group of children. It took her a while, but managed to find her way back to teaching and being involved with art.

  • She does not see herself as an art therapist but encourages people to get in touch with their inner artist.

  • She sees the perception towards art has changed and it is integral to stay open minded.

  • With kids she walks them through techniques but equips them with all possibilities to work with their imagination. With the adults, it is often a case of setting up a safe space to work and stretch creativity.

  • As an artist, she walks her talk – she does everything she teaches. She takes care of her creative batteries, she takes care of her inner self with meditation and gives herself time to ponder. She creates with music usually in her atelier.

  • In any capacity, she would advise taking care of the inner soul – is important to be ready to deal with the busy lives we have.

  • Make appointments with yourself and do things that make your heart jump.

  • Sonja sees it as a blessing that she can do what she does.

  • She spends a lot of time creating classes, marketing and seeing to to the business of running art classes.

  • Whenever she runs out of energy, she goes to a list where she has written down the things that feed the artist in her and she looks for what she can do to perk up again.

  • She believes it is important to allow oneself to make mistakes, if you don’t, you may miss the point of finding new original work.

  • She considers the spark moments that happen, when she sees things that she teaches fall onto fertile ground, when she sees things click.

  • As an artist, she finds it a success when someone looks at her art and sees themselves energised or inspired.

  • Creativity is contagious – please pass it on.

“I walk my talk.”

Connect with Sonja

Email sonja@sonjasoyer.com

Website http://www.sonjasoyer.com