Hello there,
I’m writing to you in a wool sweater that still smells of the weekend’s bonfire. A candle burns next to a steaming mug of chamomile tea, rain soaks the garden beds as the bird bath overflows, and I’m wondering if I’ve missed something, like, say, I don’t know…summer?
We’re a month away from the autumn equinox, and change is in the air. For me, this summer’s turning point came last weekend, quite literally in the form of summiting the Olympic Peninsula’s tallest mountain, and I’m so excited to write to you about it soon.
For now, my entire system is glad to embrace a slow and smooth descent into the equinox, savoring summer’s farewell in the form of sungold tomato salads, warm, buttered zucchini bread, sunset strolls after dinner, and surfing barefoot while it lasts.
Another season is beginning to wane—my artist residency at The Hub in Port Angeles, which closes at the end of September. It’s been a season of lessons learned, connections made, and putting myself out there over and over again.
In true Leo rising in Leo season fashion, the purpose of today’s newsletter is to tell you about what I’m doing, and invite you to join me. Turns out letting people know what you’re working on is an essential part of the creative process, one that somehow feels tricky to navigate despite my decade-long career in strategic communications.
So, in the light of this gorgeous full moon in Aquarius, please consider yourself cordially invited to these heartfelt, hand-crafted offerings:
Upcoming workshops
It’s been a blast turning long-held passions and practices into in-person workshops this summer, and translating the themes I write about into experiential and experimental spaces. There are two events left, both taking place at The Hub in Port Angeles:
So You Think You Can’t Dance | Sunday, August 25, 11am–1pm, optional social dance 1–1:30pm-ish
So you think you can’t dance? I invite you to prove yourself wrong! This workshop is designed to build your confidence and equip you with the tools to step onto the dance floor right away. We’ll fuse genres across Latin dance styles (salsa, bachata, Brazilian zouk, cumbia) as well as contemporary and R&B. No prior experience with dance required. In fact, it’s encouraged! All ages, bodies, and abilities welcome.
Note: I began dancing about the same time I began walking. While my journey has wandered from ballet to the barrio to hundreds of places in between, what fills my cup the most is the connections, radical joy, and transformation that dance can bring. It all begins with learning a basic step. This workshop is really shaping up to be an extra special one.
Writing Workshop | Saturday, September 21, 11am-1pm
I’ve enjoyed taking a more emergent approach to program development, and letting learnings from each workshop inform the next. What I know for sure is I’m not leaving my residency without an offering focused on the steadfast and sacred practice of writing! Save the date for now. More info coming soon.
Interested in gathering online in the future? Let me know!
Coming Back to Balance
A Retreat for Inner & Outer Wellness
Sept. 27 – 29, 2024
I’m beyond thrilled to be co-creating and facilitating this retreat with my dear friend
, co-owner of Seaforest Campground and Retreat on the North Olympic Coast.This offering is all about the transition into the inner months, the yin months, the season of deeper emotional and intuitive depth. It is a gentle yet potent time of balance, a generous opportunity to reconnect and re-ground, a call to shift into deep listening with our inner and outer world.
In this retreat, we will connect in slow and deliberate ways with Place—both Self and Surroundings—through movement, mindfulness, journaling, art, ritual, storytelling, and more. We pledge to not be one of those retreats that jam-packs it in, leaving you feeling exhausted at the end.
Together, we will embody rest, slowness, non-judgment, playfulness, deep listening, and connection with the feminine. This is a container designed for those who wear the identity of woman or who seek intentional nourishment of their feminine Self.
We have six spots left—is one of them for you?
Designed by Nature Exhibit
Finally, this week, somehow, I’ll begin working on a series of poems and Nature-based arrangements as part of the Designed by Nature residency theme at The Hub. This, along with work from fellow artists Bayloo, Larry, and Will Frick, will be on display from Sept. 6 – 20. For the non-local folks, I’ll be sure to share them through this newsletter soon after.
All of this work is a long-time coming, and I am tremendously grateful to all of those accepting the invitation, passing along encouraging words and energies, and asking questions rather than leading with judgement.
May we dance within the balance of pursuing our dreams, bettering our crafts, living in the humility of our readiness, and unapologetically sharing our gifts with the world.
There is room for all of us.
There is time for all of it.
Yours,
Iz
A poem for you:
Life does not happen to you; Life happens t h r o u g h y o u. Every cell a channel. Please, do the delicate and devastating work of staying open. Being is brave. Be still to feel the motion. Be silent to hear the song. Everything— muse and music. May I be a bird of hollow bone.
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• Email: izabellazucker@gmail.com
ICYMI: Last month’s writing covered chaos, grief, Leo season, the Hebrew month of Tammuz, and plenty more.
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Just coming back to say I love the poem at the end of this. May I be a bird of hollow bone, a mantra