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Daily creative practice is an expedition into your holy knowing.

Here you'll find tools for your rising.

Daily creative practice is an expedition into your holy knowing.

Here you'll find tools for your rising.

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Daily Creative Practice

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New Illumination

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Advent Dark Journal Event 2023

“I took pause to notice that my soul has turned to the place of comfort that is Advent Dark Journal as I have been aware of the days becoming shorter and colder, that the presence of Advent Dark Journal has changed the way I would ordinarily relate to this time of year, to this season - I no longer dread the coming of winter because I know now that I have this beautiful way to honor the season, rest in the darkness, find rest and restoration and the beauty and light of the connection of all of us to come together in the sacredness of Advent Dark Journal. It truly has changed my life, my way of being in my life and I am so thankful that you have created this.”

Tammy

2022 ADJ Artist

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about

SUZI BANKS BAUM

Suzi Banks Baum dwells at the crossroad of literary and visual arts. A writer, mixed media and book artist, Suzi expresses the holy ordinary. Her devotion to daily creative practice is the super-food for her signature teachings:

  •  BACKYARD ART CAMP

  •  Powder Keg Writing Workshops

  •  Advent Dark Journal

Suzi travels to Gyumri, Armenia to teach the book arts to women artists.

She is the editor and publisher of An Anthology of Babes: 36 Women Give Motherhood a Voice. Her CNF essay, Shoal, won third prize in the Hypertext Literary Magazine Doro Böhme Memorial Contest in the fall of 2021. Her mixed media work appears in Storey Publications 2022 release, Collage Your Life! by Melanie Mowinski. An essay from her memoir-in-progress won The Honeybee Creative Nonfiction Award in July 2022. Publications about her artistic work include Berkshire Magazine, The Guild of Book Workers Journal and Mingle Magazine. Look for her Maxie stories, small works of fiction, published most recently in the Walloon Writers Review. More of her writing can be found in Kerning literary magazine, Literary Mama, Rebelle Society, Studio Mothers, Mother Writer Mentor, Asbarez, Story of Mum, and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

She is the editor and publisher of An Anthology of Babes: 36 Women Give Motherhood a Voice. Her CNF essay, Shoal, won third prize in the Hypertext Literary Magazine Doro Böhme Memorial Contest in the fall of 2021. Her mixed media work appears in Storey Publications 2022 release, Collage Your Life! by Melanie Mowinski. An essay from her memoir-in-progress won The Honeybee Creative Nonfiction Award in July 2022. Publications about her artistic work include Berkshire Magazine, The Guild of Book Workers Journal and Mingle Magazine. Look for her Maxie stories, small works of fiction, published most recently in the Walloon Writers Review. More of her writing can be found in Kerning literary magazine, Literary Mama, Rebelle Society, Studio Mothers, Mother Writer Mentor, Asbarez, Story of Mum, and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

The holy is not for the cloistered only. It is handmade, luminous, ordinary, in plain sight. 

I offer fresh traditions through ceremony and daily creative practice. 

Join Me

Suzi produced Out of the Mouths of Babes for the annual Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. She has written for and performed in Motherhood Outloud at the Unicorn Theater and for Boston production of Expressing Motherhood, and has a long history in theater in New York City. A multi-talented creative, Suzi has run her own couturier business, sewn for the Martha Graham Dance Company and the creative team of the Muppets, and served as a garden instructor for the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School.

Suzi inspires others with creative practices that connect them with their truth toward a joyful and nourishing sense of service to one another, their families, and their communities. Her current explorations include eco-dyed papers, marbling techniques, floral inks, and found word poetry.

In addition to being a student of yoga and meditation, mindfulness, and non-violent communication, she lives and gardens on the ancestral lands of the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe of the Mohican people, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.

A definition of myself.

I’m sprinkled with stars.


Look at my skin, I’m freckled by time.


Every book, billboard, poem, song on the radio, my babies’ cries and vee’s of geese flying over the laundry line are still within me, echoing. Even my father’s voice calling my name in reprimand and the sound of car tires in snow at the lake still murmur within me.


I dream of ice and people and plans. I taste my dream in my mouth, like Nehi Root Beer. I have come upon roadblocks, barriers, abuse, withholding tax, and diverted momentum and still, I am unstoppable.


I am uncontainable joy.

A definition of myself.

I’m sprinkled with stars.


Look at my skin, I’m freckled by time.


Every book, billboard, poem, song on the radio, my babies’ cries and vee’s of geese flying over the laundry line are still within me, echoing. Even my father’s voice calling my name in reprimand and the sound of car tires in snow at the lake still murmur within me.


I dream of ice and people and plans. I taste my dream in my mouth, like Nehi Root Beer. I have come upon roadblocks, barriers, abuse, withholding tax, and diverted momentum and still, I am unstoppable.


I am uncontainable joy.

Ah Life. I so love your depth, vision and courage to pass it on, with great motherly tenderness and sisterly compassion.

You are a holy gift,

Love always,

JULES FROM JOISEY

I would take another class with this instructor in a heartbeat.

September 2023

SNOW FARM PARTICIPANT

Suzi & Mapping Motherhood class reached my head, my heart, my hands. It drenched me with creative stimulation and permission to be artistic and imperfect and honor and express my deepest self.

KELLY DUMAR

This class was beyond my expectations. Suzi's presence is enough to create a space where I want to be! Excellent materials and guidance. Fun too. loved singing, stretching, and being silent.

IWWG SUMMER CONFERENCE PARTICIPANT

Not only has Suzi and the Ramsdell/Powder Keg partnership changed our lives in so many ways and helped us develop as writers, but that is still such a crucial and rare thing for woman to have a private, safe space to cultivate their voices in community with each other. Also, that we frequently have attendees from Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, and New York!

DEIDRE

“Backyard Art Camp was such a gift...a space to tap into soulful energies without pressure but with encouragement, care, humor, and faith that we could each find our way to a river of creative inspiration. Can't wait to return!

MARIA SIROIS

“Suzi -your meditation offering is exquisite. There's something in a rock-a calling forth-a deep connection to what is present. And then, water-to watch and listen to that movement and flow over the rocks. and then, the obstacle-the resistance-and noticing and movement beyond. Thank you for this. What a treasure! Meeting you in the Zen Making Summit has been a delight. Will listen and absorb once again. Your wisdom glows."

JEANETTE

“Backyard Art Camp is for secret poets and artists, wannabe makers, teachers seeking inspiration, and anyone looking for art, ritual, rigor, and joy. "

MELANIE MOWINSKI

“Backyard Art Camp was such a gift...a space to tap into soulful energies without pressure but with encouragement, care, humor, and faith that we could each find our way to a river of creative inspiration. Can't wait to return!

MARIA SIROIS

“Suzi -your meditation offering is exquisite. There's something in a rock-a calling forth-a deep connection to what is present. And then, water-to watch and listen to that movement and flow over the rocks. and then, the obstacle-the resistance-and noticing and movement beyond. Thank you for this. What a treasure! Meeting you in the Zen Making Summit has been a delight. Will listen and absorb once again. Your wisdom glows."

JEANETTE

“Backyard Art Camp is for secret poets and artists, wannabe makers, teachers seeking inspiration, and anyone looking for art, ritual, rigor, and joy. "

MELANIE MOWINSKI

Read

&Listen

WITH SUZI BANKS BAUM

Read

&Listen

WITH SUZI BANKS BAUM

Rise with us

There is power in creative community. We become our own & one another’s best resource.

Join my Rampant Sisterhood and rise with us by subscribing.

Join my Rampant Sisterhood and rise with us by subscribing.

YOU WILL RECEIVE

A printable prompt page rich with images and inquiries for you and your journal. There is a centering meditation that you can load on to your listening device. These gifts will seed your own daily creative practice.

Twice monthly newsletters, news on upcoming events & offerings that provide women with a platform for sharing their truth and value. Seasonal workshops and community spaces too!

Introductions to other rising creative women whose stories and work will inspire you.

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It strikes at the heart of despair that so much of the work and care a woman expends enriching the lives around her and in the world at large is, at best, taken for granted, like sunshine or water, and often ignored.

When women come together with intention, they value and validate one another. I believe what we most miss is something that is an integral part of indigenous cultures-the circles of women who join together to weave and stitch, to work clay or soil, and immerse in the rituals of daily life and spiritual life. We are lifted as a collective. This rising forth becomes a resource for our lives and our communities.

JOIN US & RISE UP TODAY

"Struggling souls catch flight from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it ."

DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES

HELLO SISTER.

  1. I would love to hear how Daily Creative Practice has taken root in your life. Send me a note!
  2. Have a question about Backyard Art Camp or any of my other offerings?
  3. Are you interested in hosting one of my workshops at your location?

Please use the form below to send me a message. I generally respond within 48 hours.

 

With love,

Suzi

HELLO SISTER.

  1. I would love to hear how Daily Creative Practice has taken root in your life. Send me a note!
  2. Have a question about Backyard Art Camp or any of my other offerings?
  3. Are you interested in hosting one of my workshops at your location?

Please use the form below to send me a message. I generally respond within 48 hours.

 

With love,

Suzi

CONTACT ME

CONTACT ME