The story behind The Quiet Studio"I created The Quiet Studio because I couldn't find it myself."
joanna mcowen
Joanna Mcowen
Professional Australian ArtistTEXTILE DESIGNERCreative Wellbeing FacilitatorWellbeing & Engagement CoordinatorPublic Arts Exhibition CuratorMeditation Guide · MelbourneThere have been chapters of my life when I needed somewhere quiet to land. A place that wasn't about fixing or achieving. Just a gentle space to slow down, make something with my hands, and remember who I was beneath all the noise.
"I kept looking for it. I couldn't find it for myself. So I built it."
As a professional artist, I have run and facilitated creative workshops for many years. And what I discovered quite early, and quite consistently, is that the workshops were never really about the art.
Drawing on years of work across the arts, events and wellbeing program design, and my own studies in Leisure, Health and meditation, I began to understand what was actually happening in those rooms. Creativity, when held gently and without expectation, becomes a doorway back to yourself.
We live in a world of extraordinary disconnection. Of performing and scrolling and managing and showing up for those that need us most. I know that world intimately, and I know how quietly exhausting it becomes.
The Quiet Studio is my response to that. A small, carefully held gathering where you can put something beautiful in front of you, breathe, and find your way back to the part of yourself that still has hope, and curiosity, and dream. The part that got set aside somewhere along the way.
I know what it feels like to need exactly this. That is why I made it.
who am iA Little About Me
My name is Joanna.
I am a professional artist and curator, creative facilitator, meditation guide and wellbeing and events professional, based in Melbourne.
For more than twenty five years I have worked across the arts, community engagement, events, exhibitions and wellbeing space, creating experiences that bring people together in meaningful ways.
Alongside my professional work, I have spent many years exploring creativity, mindfulness, reflection and the ways people reconnect with themselves through simple, everyday practices.
People often tell me they feel comfortable quickly in my company. Creating spaces that feel welcoming, calm and inclusive has become one of the most important parts of my work.
The Quiet Studio brings together everything I have learned.
The Quiet Studio is for the woman who spends much of her time caring for others, meeting responsibilities, and moving from one thing to the next.
The woman who may have lost touch with her creative side somewhere along the way.
The woman who doesn't need fixing.
Who doesn't need another self-improvement project.
Who simply needs a little space to breathe.
If that sounds like you, I would be delighted to welcome you.