Grief Circle: Introduction to Sound, Clay & Tea Circle with Clare Benson & Suzanne Toro

Clare Benson is an interdisciplinary artist based in the desert borderlands of the southwestern US, the original homelands of the Tohono O’odham People and the extended homelands of the Pascua Yaqui Tribes, now called Tucson, Arizona. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from University of Arizona. As an artist, her practice embraces materials and processes that are tactile, repetitious, embodied, and slowed-down. She has taught for over six years as a university professor in the arts; spent a year in Arctic Scandinavia working alongside space physicists and indigenous reindeer herders; and since 2019 has worked in funerals and death care, serving as a primary point of contact for bereaved families. Her current research and teaching interests find reverence in the shared space of creative and grief practices, ritual, and the power we have to build meaning through change.

Suzanne Toro is an author, speaker-storyteller, wellness practitioner, and sound + electromagnetic energy therapist. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Arizona State University’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Her practice weaves together 25+ years of experience in business, education, design, culinary arts, and wellness, with a deep focus on embodiment, ritual, and inner transformation. She has led national and international workshops and retreats across diverse settings ranging from corporate environments to remote jungle communities. She guides participants to cultivate balance, self-reliance, interdependence, and inner peace. Her training includes Ayurveda, herbalism, Tibetan Dreaming Yoga, Eight Limbs of Yoga, ceremony, psycho-spiritual Chinese medicine, and medical nutrition therapy. She is the author of Bare Naked Bliss…Loving From Within and Sun Play.

Suzanne’s current work and teaching explore the intersections of creative practice, birth | life | death transitions, and retaining inner peace. Suzanne honors the power of the pause and embodied presence to support healing, deeper awareness and ultimately transformation.