January 2024 Meeting

Hello McKinney Creative Community!  Let's gather and share what is new and good!

All creative souls living in McKinney, Texas and surrounding areas are invited to connect with other creative folks through our potluck gatherings. Whether you are an artist, writer, musician, dancer, actor, sculptor, potter, jewelry maker, fiber artist, photographer, chef or you just want to share your creative juices, you are welcome!  This is a potluck event so bring a dish or drink to share! Please bring your own colored pencils or crayons and mixed media paper for a fun exercise witgh Dawn!

Our guest speaker this month will be Dawn Fernandes. Dawn has taught the “Create New Beginnings” restorative art program designed by Prison Fellowship for a few years in the Dallas County Jail, at transitional homes in Dallas and Plano and most recently in her

own home for widows and their friends. Although the program was originally designed for women who

are incarcerated, Prison Fellowship recently created a devotional booklet of the program so that any

person can go through it on their own and get the benefits of processing emotional issues using art. The

program is Bible-based and includes prayers, brief scripture readings, discussion, and simple art projects.

Each stand-alone session normally takes about ninety minutes to complete and focuses on a particular

topic. The topics include: Vulnerability, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Emotions, Empathy, Shame, Self-

Doubt (Identity), Pride, Accountability and Courage. Dawn has also created a project about

Perseverance. Dawn will be sharing the project on Self-Doubt (Identity) with the McKinney Creative

Community at the January 8th meeting. This project is designed to help individuals overcome lies from

their “inner-critic”. Each person who attends the session goes home with their piece of artwork and

hopefully a better understanding of what is going on inside their own heart.

Bio:

Dawn Fernandes is a native Texan who now lives in McKinney, TX with her husband and three

stepchildren. Since childhood Dawn has always been attracted to the idea of serving others through art.

She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Graphic Design for Print from ORU in Tulsa, OK. For the past

ten years, Dawn has worked as an accounting & client administrative manager for a small online

business that helps consumers get auto loans (myAutoloan.com). In her free time, Dawn volunteers for

Prison Fellowship and for various ministries associated with her church. Dawn enjoys painting with

acrylics as a hobby and various other art forms including swing-dancing (which is how she met her

husband).