A Johan Sebastian Bach Humblement – Gerda Wegener, 1936
Gerda Marie Fredrikke Wegener (née Gottlieb; 15 March 1886 – 28 July 1940) was a Danish illustrator and painter. Wegener is known for her fashion illustrations and later her paintings that pushed the boundaries of gender and love of her time. These works were classified as “lesbian erotica” at times and many were inspired by her partner, the transgender woman Lili Elbe. Wegener employed these works in the styles of Art Nouveau and later Art Deco. (Source: WikiArt)
The energy of Summer has renewed both our personal and professional drives alike, encouraging our gardens to flourish and bloom. Our inner child came out to play and share her two cents as we lovingly opened our hearts to her world of play. Now comes the time to balance our goals of growth with her drive for exploration as we get ready to accept the abundance of Fall. May we never stop breaking the mould with exceptional capability. And may we, as creative women, continue to pave the way for each other in the name of our inherent Virtuosity.
Virtuosa Society is celebrating its second birthday this month! In honor of how far we have come, we want to share our own nonlinear journey with you…
Well-versed in creativity and entrepreneurship, founder Katie Harman joined Monica Hammond’s Big Leap Entrepreneur Accelerator Business Incubator to shape the new membership platform for Virtuosa Society.
With two grants from the Klamath Community Foundation, she hit the ground running to begin research for the Virtuosa Society Podcast, and collaborated with Colson Horton to fine-tune branding with elegant vintage florals and logos for a membership based website.
Facing the dichotomy of relentless passion for bringing Virtuosa Society to life and complete nervous system breakdown from burnout, Katie persisted, recognizing her own struggle in the women whose stories she tirelessly researched to bring to light in the Virtuosa Society Podcast.
She openly shared her struggles on the Health Interrupted Podcast and let her vulnerability foster a new idea: gathering women to share the “spaces between highlights” to navigate the nonlinear life of a creative with the power and support of community.
Katie continued to persist as her research for Episode 4 of the podcast uncovered the previously unknown burial place of filmmaker Frances Lascot. This further validated the purpose of the Virtuosa Society Podcast and the importance of bringing forgotten women and their acts of creativity and bravery to the forefront. This real-life superheroine continued to persist through motherhood milestones and perimenopause, granting herself grace along the way.
The website came to life after months of development, just in time to spread the word about Virtuosa Society’s very first event: the inaugural Maestra Masterclass. After coaching Katie through burnout with her values ladder, celebrated singer and researcher Sofi von Trapp shared her wisdom and guidance with fellow Virtuosas in a quiet and powerful gathering at the Aerie Retreat.
Winter of 2023 ushered us into the new year with a fresh new perspective. If we as women are staving off burnout at every turn, how can we live in a way that lets our creative gifts thrive instead? The answer was simple and ever-present: surrendering to the cycle of the seasons and nature’s intent.
A new year always means new opportunities and challenges alike, beginning with a slower pace through the quiet Winter months and constant reminders of new year’s resolutions. Aimed with the newfound grace of an acorn preparing to become a tree, we focused on nourishing our metaphorical soil by taking time to reflect on the previous year and plan for the next.
Spring, a new season, was celebrated with a new inaugural annual event: The Garden Party! We gathered to create vision boards and dream about our goals together over a nice cup of tea. As we nourished our seeds and worked on our pace for the year ahead, Summer swept in with a celebratory group hike around the Lady of the Lake trail in Klamath Falls, complete with seasonal faire and gifts for every woman who took this journey with us.
We at Virtuosa Society took a little Summer break to revamp our website and mission: to nourish souls with uplifting conversation, ignite minds with creativity, knit collaborations together and champion purpose-filled contributions from female creators in a safe, supportive, and accessible environment.
The next Maestra Masterclass was held in Fall 2024, led by speaker and radio host Georgene Rice, who encouraged us to share grace on even ground and make the most of our conversations with others. More gifts and seasonal faire accompanied this magical afternoon at the beautifully decorated Collman Dairy Barn as we gathered once again to celebrate the community of creative women around us.
As the harvest once again cycled into hibernation, our momentum for seasonal events turned inward for repose, inviting Virtuosas and all other curious eyes to take part in our Winter Reflections journaling event as we processed the years both behind and ahead of us as the quiet months settled in once again.
This year has been our most clarified yet, with new goals and challenges accompanying the seasonal cycle as they so reliably do. We have been guided by Mother Nature to navigate our personal, professional, and political lives with the loving pace of Spring, playful energy of Summer, and the upcoming Fall harvest of abundant success.
In every effort to recognize the Virtuosity of every creative woman, we have been working to make our offerings as accessible as possible to all. The beauty of living with the seasons is that once something grows to fruition, new seeds will soon be ready to continue the legacy of creative success with the next cycle. We as creative women have come to better appreciate that all good things grow with time, and that our unique stories are indeed superheroine powers of our own that keep us rooted and thriving.
In the spirit of celebrating abundance in our personal lives this Fall, you may see less of our posts here at Virtuosa Society in the coming months. As we navigate big changes in our personal lives, we hope that you too will be accepting your well-earned abundance in a way that serves your own creative wellbeing.
Our blog and Instagram posts may taper off for a season or two, though our seasonal perspective and drive to serve creative women everywhere will never falter. We thank you for being a part of the Virtuosa Society story and mission, because we will never stop celebrating yours.
Xoxo Katie + Caia
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