Creative Class: The Traditional Japanese Art of Bonseki - Seasons in Sand

About This Event

This 1-day workshop will introduce participants to the meditative practice of arranging white sand, stones, and small tools on black lacquer trays to create ephemeral miniature landscapes. Ticket required, discount for members, Museum Friends, and students.Learn more and register here: https://www.denverartmuseum.org/.../creative-classes...Rooted in ancient Japanese and Chinese traditions and connected to the appreciation of suiseki (scholar’s stones), bonseki embodies themes of ephemerality, seasonal awareness, and poetic reflection. Through guided demonstrations, hands-on practice, and quiet viewing (haiken), students will learn both introductory and intermediate techniques for shaping landscapes such as winter skies, blossoms, and birds in flight. The workshop will incorporate seasonal poetry, a tea and sweets service, and group reflection. In addition, participants will have the rare opportunity to view selections from the instructor’s personal antique bonseki collection, including traditional trays and tools, offering a tangible connection to the art form’s history and refinement. The class resonates with Japanese aesthetic traditions within the Arts of Asia collections at the Denver Art Museum.About the Educator:Sara Linden is a contemporary bonseki artist and cultural preservationist based in Arvada, CO. Her work showcases the traditional Japanese art of ephemeral sand painting through poetic seasonal compositions. Her practice blends knowledge gained from years of formal study in chadō (tea ceremony), kadō (ikebana), and bonseki, including intensive training in Kyoto. She holds instructor-level certifications in Ikenobo ikebana (Waki Kyōju Sankyū, Instructor 3rd Grade; Junkakyō) and foundational chadō ranks (Nyūmon, Naraigoto), reflecting deep engagement with classical Japanese aesthetics and ritual. Her work is regularly exhibited at Boulder’s Canyon Gallery and was featured internationally in Kyoto in November 2025.As the first international practitioner i