Art & Mindfulness Workshops
All images shown are participants' work from previous workshops.
An invitation to slow the body, quiet the mind, and listen through making.
About the Art & Mindfulness Retreats & Courses:
This series invites participants into a practice of mindfulness through the creation of abstract, mixed-media works. In a supportive environment, we will explore our inner worlds through color, texture, gesture, and form. Using simple, accessible materials, we’ll experiment with collage, mark-making, layering techniques and intuitive art-making. Through daily guided creative exercises, you will learn to visualize emotion, transform stress, and cultivate balance and joy. Each class begins with a grounding meditation to focus attention and open creative flow, followed by an art-making session and group reflection.
All materials are included. No prior art experience is required and all artistic skill levels are welcome. For ages 16+.
Over the coming months, more in-person workshops (Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, PA) and live online sessions (via Zoom) will be offered. Please check back in for April and May 2026 offerings.
4-Day, In-person Spring Retreat. M-Th, March 23-26, 2026, 6:00-9:00 PM 1353 U St NW, Washington, DC
Ended
300 US dollars
6-week, In-person Course Thursdays, April 9-May 14, 2026, 6-9 PM 590 S Braddock Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
Started Apr 9
325 US dollars
Upcoming Spring 2026 Workshops:
“During the pandemic I took Sobia’s mindfulness and collage workshop online. The workshop was so amazing that I immediately took a second course. Sobia has the rare gift of inviting you into a calming meditative mood, and encouraging creative exploration. She excels at working with participants with varying art experience. Sobia helps you see how to improve, balancing helpful suggestions with letting the participant figure how what to do next." — Cathy A.
About the Facilitator:
My name is Sobia Ahmad and I'm an interdisciplinary artist with a background in public health. I hold an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art (Carnegie Mellon; 2024), a B.A. in Studio Art, and B.S. in Behavioral and Community Health (University of Maryland College Park; 2015, 2016). Drawing on years of experience as a community health worker and an artist, my practice bridges material experimentation, spiritual inquiry, and community engagement.
I worked with the Montgomery County government in Maryland as a Behavioral Health Program Coordinator for a few years. There, I developed mental health education toolkits and outreach programming for diverse Asian American communities while practicing as an interdisciplinary artist in the Washington, DC area. Art & Mindfulness workshops were first conceived as an offering for the communities that I served as a public health worker. Later, I adapted them for a wider audience.
Over the last eight years, I have led these process-based workshops at arts centers, universities, nonprofit organizations, and youth programs, including at MOCA Arlington, VA; University of Maryland College Park; Groton School, MA, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, DC; VisArts, MD, among others. Rooted in my studio practice of working with and alongside people, these workshops use art as a medium for dialogue and self-expression. Thoughtfully designed for those without any formal art training, these workshops have supported participants, both in person and online, since 2018, offering creative refuge during times of stress and uncertainty.
You can read more about me and my art practice here.
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Testimonial
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