Just a warning, lots of text ahead. Check the bottom for a TLDR.
My mom has always been the kind of person who bounces from hobby to hobby. For a short time, she'll be extremely invested in whatever the activity of the year is -- beading, metalworking, needle felting, knitting, pastels, rock painting, etc. She is also an extremely talented artist and inevitably excels at whatever her current hobby is.
Well, last fall she got into painting with acrylics and started watching tutorials on YouTube. After a little while, I noticed that she kept dropping this one woman's name (in this thread, let's call her Dara Daniella) in conversation. Her painting took on a very different quality and style from her previous artwork. A few months in, she casually mentioned that she was paying to take an online course from this Dara Daniella lady. All fine. No alarm bells yet.
I started to notice that she was spending a lot on higher-quality art supplies and bigger and bigger canvases. Again, all good. I was happy that she had found something that made her happy. Then she dropped that she had paid to take a year-long course with Dara Daniella so that she could become a certified teacher of her trademark painting style. At this point, I started wondering if this was more than just a regular painting course, so I looked up Dara Daniella online.
What I found really freaked me out. Dara Daniella isn't just teaching painting, she's labeling herself as a spiritual guide and mentor. She has a bunch of different theories about how to use painting to address mental and emotional illness, despite not having a degree in art or psychology, let alone art therapy. She has published several books through her own printing press and still labels herself as a published author. She touts her association with several "high-level women's groups" that, upon closer inspection, are also run by her or her followers. She has a TON of followers, all of whom seem to be women around my mom's age who are looking for some kind of guidance. They seem to worship her. My mom sent me a video of one of their webinars, and it started with a woman reading a few of Dara Daniella's poems to a captive audience of online listeners before Dara herself finally joined the chat to applause.
Dara has this idea that all of the women who follow her and her painting technique are destined to meet. They are drawn together by "threads" that run through the cosmos. For a lot of the women, who are recent empty-nesters or divorcees, I'm sure it's very reassuring to think that they have a whole group of friends out there who are being pushed toward them by the eternal goddess or whatever bullshit Dara's pushing.
She borrows a lot from Native American culture and imagery, despite being wonder-bread white herself. She leads her followers through vision quests and drum circles and has given herself a Native American name which she uses when it's convenient.
Okay, so all of the above seems pretty fishy to me. Dara's followers seem to take all of her life advice without questioning any of it. My mom has been led on several "vision-quests" to seek truths about herself and has changed her life based on what she has found. Dara Daniella has taken over her life. It is impossible to have a conversation with her without her bringing up what Dara Daniella says about the topic at hand. My mom regularly sends me links to Dara Daniella's website and blog so that I can use her wisdom to improve my life.
This class to teach Dara Daniella's painting method is crazy expensive. Several thousand dollars up front, plus the additional cost of two different week-long workshops that my mom has to fly to in California. None of it is refundable. My mom sees herself as creating a business out of this, but I just don't see it. If she does successfully get clients to teach the "Dara Daniella method" to, won't they just move on from her to the source itself? Why would they pay her to learn Dara's method when they could just as easily pay Dara? To me, it seems like a way for Dara to get more clients for herself. Not sure if this constitutes as an MLM, but I thought I would check in with y'all to get your thoughts. My mom is sinking several thousand dollars into this with the idea that she will earn all the money back teaching this lady's crap.
I tried to bring up my concerns with my mom back in February, but she shut down the conversation right away. She said that it may seem weird from the outside, but as someone who is taking these courses, it all feels right and makes sense. This also set off alarm bells for me. There was no change after our conversation. My mom has struggled with her mental health in the past and I know this course is making her happy, so I feel torn. Am I sticking my nose where it doesn't belong? Am I right in being concerned, or does this seem like a run-of-the-mill art course? At this point, I really don't know if I should push the issue. I would love any and all advice.
TLDR: My mom took a painting class from a lady who teaches a weird, cult-y brand of spirituality, psychotherapy, and acrylic painting. My mom is now paying thousands of dollars to learn to teach this method to other people. Is this something I should get involved in, or is it none of my business?
Submitted May 31, 2019 at 09:32PM by garlicknotguns http://bit.ly/2JQTkU9
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