This program has now started and registration is closed!

A stillness this way comes, perhaps even a freeze. We go inside, early sunsets, art tables set, knitting needles warming by the fire, kettle on. There’s chocolate somewhere. Things squirm in the deeper soil, and a snowy owl camouflages with shades of whites as we cut paper into shapes, stretch linen in elliptical frames, and brush a rainbow of pencil shavings into our hands. We hold our art to keep warm. We are fully present with our art process in the quiet season, as towers and snow fall just outside our windows.

What happens when we sit with other artists through the winter and nerd out on death art themes? Let’s find out!

What is Dead of Winter?

  • a biweekly whimsy centered meeting space through the winter for artists who are drawn to death themes

  • one meetup is called Fireside and the other is called In Studio - each have their own objective

  • Dead of Winter is a little something different than online skill building spaces/healing focused spaces

  • Dead of Winter is a respite from ‘achieving something.’

  • a thought provoking experiment of inspiration for artists, designed by a death midwife who is an artist

  • a mingling spot for makers to get down with other makers and find mutual inspiration and camaraderie

  • a special treat for artists, makers, crafters who love death themes in art

  • a perfect Winter Solstice gift for the artist you love!

Join Narinder for an immersive 4-month journey through winter as we weave death-themes through current societal landscapes by way of art history discussion, a lil death education, guest presenters, shared making space, show and tell, and camaraderie.

2x/month | Fridays @7PM ET | live virtual gatherings | guest teaching artists

a dedicated space for your creative & cozy self

Finally, a space for artists (who love a death themed art chat) to simply gather together. This is a warm space to talk about your art or listen to other makers talk about theirs. A meeting space that is a grab bag of inspiration and good company. Dead of Winter In Studio is tea time.

Dead of Winter In Studio

Wintertime is a wonderful season to become even more present with our art practice. We may feel slowed down and less hustled to complete projects because the coldness draws us inward. It’s almost as if the quietness of winter gives us a chance to really lean in and listen to what our art wants to say. Dead of Winter keeps us inspired.

Be Present with Your Practice

What happens when a death midwife/educator and artist leads a space for makers? They lead with death education! Narinder will bring one specific death and dying related element to each Fireside space. We will weave the specific death related topic with art history, where we see this death symptom in the collective and how it merges with our art. Dead of Winter Fireside is inspiration station!

Dead of Winter Fireside

What’s included in this program?

    • 2x/month meetings

    • Guest teachers

    • A ton of inspiration

    • Consistent community space through winter

    • Fireside: 2nd Friday of the Month - 2hrs with Narinder or Guest Teacher for learning about death & art

    • In Studio: 4th Friday of the Month - 2hrs with Narinder for community sharing space & art making

  • If there’s one thing I’ve seen time & again - it’s that community amplifies magic and impact. So let’s gather regularly to share about our creative process and possibly form relationships with other artists for collaborative art making reasons!

Bi-monthly Sessions: Every 2nd and 4th Friday, from 7 PM to 9 PM ET, gather for an intimate exploration of art, death, and life’s many facets.

  • Fireside:

    • The first session of the month is called Fireside where we will delve into unique aspects of death such as the deathbed phenomenon and natural dying processes. The discussion may turn to how these topics overlay empire collapse. We’ll explore these themes in art history contexts and sketch out how they can relate to our work or can inspire our art processes.

    • Two Fireside gatherings will be lead by guest presenters, both established death work artists skilled in creative expansion and studied in art history.

  • In Studio:

    • The second session of the month called In Studio, and it is a hands-on, collaborative virtual studio meetup. It’s all about you and your process. Bring your latest project—whether it’s half-formed, messy, or a masterpiece—and just be with it. No rush, no pressure. This is a space to share your thoughts and processes in a relaxed, community-centered environment.

    • In Studio, we create space for genuine conversation—where your voice is heard, and your creativity thrives. Gather ‘round and let’s talk—about your process, your art, and what’s bubbling under the surface. We’re here to listen, to share, to inspire each other in ways we can’t even predict. It’s casual, yet intentional, playful but profound (in that special Narinder-way).

Dead of Winter starts November 8th

Registration closes on November 7th.

Limited spaces available.

Listen to Narinder talk more about
death work, art, and Dead of Winter.

About the facilitator

Narinder Elizabeth Bazen (she/her) is a Death Midwifery trainer and Enchanted Life Guide whose work and creative passions are deeply intertwined. Above all else, Narinder is an artist deeply devoted to exploring the mysteries of a world that is both beautiful and devastating.

Dead of Winter is an offering to this complexity—the holding of both the beauty of art and the magnitude of death. Rooted in her experience as a death midwife, Dead of Winter provides a unique, biweekly space for artists drawn to death themes.

This offering marks the next stage of Narinder’s journey—integrating art more fully into her death education. By weaving the creative process into conversations about dying, she hopes to deepen our collective appreciation of the magnitude of living.

Through this integration, Narinder is answering the call to explore how art can help us better understand death, and in turn, live more fully and consciously.

Guest Teachers

Melissa (she/her) is an artist, dancer, quilter, movement guide, grief and death doula, and recent graduate of the Nine Keys Death Midwifery training.

As a facilitator, she helps people heal their creative lives and explore their relationship to their bodies and mortality. Her background as a professional dancer has shapeshifted through the years into creating experiences for others to get more in touch with their own way of moving and expressing. As a creative grief coach, she leads a seasonal online workshop for grief processing through quilting and hand-sewing–reimagining healing spaces as ones where our bodies, hands, and intuitive impulses guide the way. Melissa leads virtual and in-person dance classes and intuitive movement workshops, and is the host of the podcast Witch Sweat, a radio show at the intersection of art, death, movement, and spiritual self-inquiry.

Connect with Melissa here:

www.melissaword.com or @melissawordstudio

Meghan Allynn Johnson (she/her) is an artist and death worker specializing in connecting community members to death and grief resources and sharing in the tenderness of life's endings through creative workshops and artworks that she calls 'living portals.'

She is the co-founder of the Madison Death Collective, an online resource for grievers, the dying, and the dead, and her artwork has been exhibited in New York, NY; Johannesburg, South Africa; St. Louis, MO; Chicago, IL; and Madison, WI. 

She recently completed the Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship, and has a BFA in Studio Art from UW-Madison, and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Art. She has published work with the David Krut Print Workshop in Johannesburg, and her artwork is included in the text, Singular/Serial: Contemporary Monotype and Monoprint (Kernan, Oresman, Einstein). Meghan is based in Madison, WI.

Follow Meghan and the Madison Death Collective on Instagram here:

@meghan.allynn.deathwork | @madison.death.collective

Upcoming Meeting Dates

  • NOVEMBER

    11/8 @ 7-9PM ET

    11/22 @ 7-9PM ET

  • DECEMBER

    12/13 @ 7-9PM ET

    12/27 @ 7-9PM ET

  • JANUARY

    1/10 @ 7-9PM ET

    1/24 @ 7-9PM ET

  • FEBRUARY

    2/14 @ 7-9PM ET

    2/28 @ 7-9PM ET

Dead of Winter is the artist’s favorite introvert friendly,
death-art themed, den of inspiration. Tis the season to be cozy with our crafting.

FAQs

  • Dead of Winter meets 2x/month on the second and fourth Friday of the month.

  • This 4 month program is an investment of $450. In an effort to offer ease, you can also register with a 2 month payment plan ($225/month)

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

  • 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 upon the first session on November 8.

  • 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 Dead of Winter events. Magic lives inside that present moment togetherness.