Karen Sjoholm, MA, REACE is an artist, educator, and creative life coach with thirty years
of experience guiding intrepid explorers into and through the creative process for personal and professional development. She was on faculty in the Arts and Consciousness program at
John F. Kennedy University from 1997-2016. She served as Chair of that program from 2009 - 2016.
She also offers courses and workshops in the Bay Area including at the Center for Arts and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union. As a coach she has been certified through the Creativity Coaching Association. She is a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant/Educator (REACE) through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association. Her personal creative practice includes both the visual arts and writing.
www.karensjoholm.com
Jung's research on archetypes, symbolism, active imagination, alchemy, and mandalas has been incorporated into the content of my mentoring and coaching approaches.
I seek to create a container of trust where you may explore your gifts and the directions that your unfolding creative process leads you. I do not impose my beliefs or interpretations on your creative work.
Through attentive inquiry you become aware of subtleties in your unfolding process. The embodied creative work becomes an externalization of inner vision that guides the transformation of the individual.
Creativity is an inclusive, embodied experience that connects to the most profound meanings of life. I have a deep belief in the inherent transformative energy of the creative process and a trust in the individual capacity to engage with this energy.
I acknowledge and meet each person where they are and seek to uncover and reveal the inner strengths and creativity that you may not be able to access on your own.
The work of Carl Jung has been influential as a foundation for my understanding of the psychological growth that can be consciously and unconsciously experienced by individuals.
TESTIMONIALS
Karen Sjoholm possess the rarest of gifts; she listens. She actively listens with her heart, with her wisdom and without judgment. Karen’s coaching is based on the premise that your creative process is uniquely valuable and she provides a safe container for you to see and experience the depth of your process without fear. I worked with Karen for many years and I always felt profoundly seen and heard during our sessions. There are many artists in the world with an abundance of talent but Karen also knows that it is when we can finally enter into a space of creative awareness and vulnerability that we can truly become the artist we want to be. Her kindness, her generous spirt and her depth of knowledge helped me to find my voice and create a life as an artist that is incredibly meaningful. Caroline Lovell, Executive Director, Women’s Wisdom Initiative.
Karen Sjoholm seems to have a nearly infinite capacity for empathy and communication and the ability to effectively work with an astonishingly wide variety of people. As an artist and educator, she continues to expand the ways in which artists can discover proactive ways to engage the world through their artwork and through the wisdom and self-affirmation associated with its dissemination. Michael Grady, Professor of Art, Appalachian State University.
Karen helped me to take the necessary steps to define and accomplish my goals of bringing my art work to receptive audiences. This has included identifying and submitting photographs of my work for journal publication and identifying potential galleries for exhibition proposals. She has brought insightful questions and focus to my work helping me to develop in my understanding of what really is important for me as an artist. Karen has held a safe and compassionate space for me to grow while bringing the accountability and practical help that I really needed. Margi Rohde, Spiritual Director, artist.
I highly recommend working with Karen to anyone wishing to deepen their experience of the creative process or bring art making more integrally into their life. With her mentoring, the creative process became a powerful means for processing some intense life experiences and transitions. Karen's participation was indispensable for allowing and encouraging this process to unfold with the richness it has. With her gentle, supportive manner and keen insight she acted as mentor, witness, and midwife for my process. The experience has been immensely rewarding and inspiring. C.W. doctoral candidate, educator.