Summer School

Explore the Death Arts Through Material, Process, and Practice

A summer series of short-format creative intensives exploring death, grief, ecology, ritual, caregiving, memory, culture work, and transformation through hands-on making.

Each course centers on a specific project, artistic process, or material exploration led by guest faculty from across the death arts.

Whether working with cyanotype, textiles, writing, natural materials, printmaking, conceptual art, performance, ritual objects, or other creative forms, participants are invited to engage big questions through the act of making.

More information coming Spring 2027.

Join the Interest List

What Is Summer School?

Summer School offers focused, project-based learning experiences designed for curious makers, artists, caregivers, and death workers.

Each course explores a particular question, theme, or aspect of the death arts through hands-on creative practice.

Rather than broad surveys or long-term study, Summer School courses invite participants to immerse themselves in a specific project, process, or way of making.

Themes We May Explore

Future courses may explore themes such as:

  • Caregiving roles through art mapping

  • Grief and remembrance through conceptual art

  • Ecology and eco-grief

  • Ritual and devotion

  • Death and transformation via art history

  • Archives and memory

  • The body / death / and ephemeral art projects

  • Place and belonging

  • Seasonal practice

Each course approaches these themes through a distinct creative process or project.

Learning Through Making

At the heart of Summer School is the belief that some forms of knowledge are best encountered through the hands.

Participants might find themselves:

  • Creating cyanotypes while exploring caregiving and memory

  • Working with natural materials while reflecting on ecology and impermanence

  • Developing personal rituals through creative practice

  • Exploring grief through writing, drawing, printmaking, or textile work

  • Building objects, images, or offerings connected to a specific theme

Every course begins with a question and unfolds through the process of making.

Guest Faculty

Summer School courses are led by guest artists, death workers, educators, ritualists, and practitioners whose work bridges creative practice and the death arts.

Each instructor brings their own methods, materials, and perspectives, creating opportunities to learn from a wide range of voices and approaches.

No two Summer School offerings will be alike.

Who Is This For?

Summer School is for:

  • Artists and makers

  • Death workers

  • Caregivers

  • Creative practitioners

  • Curious beginners

  • Anyone interested in learning through making

No specific artistic background is required unless otherwise noted.

Coming Summer 2027

The first season of Summer School offerings will be announced in Spring 2027.

Join the interest list to be the first to hear about guest faculty, course topics, and registration dates.

Join the Interest List

FAQs

  • Flowers on a Table meets 2x/month from April - June for a total of 6 classes.

  • Price to be announced when registration opens

  • Due to the nature of our work and the petite business model of Nine Keys, there will be no cancellations and no refunds for past sessions/payments.

    Your payments support the arts.

  • The nature of this particular group is meant to build & encourage consistency. Through consistency we develop intimacy and connection with others. Therefore registration will close on the day of the first class.

  • If you can't make it to all meetings, that is okay, though consistent participation is highly suggested.
    There will not be any recordings for missed events. Magic lives inside that present moment togetherness.