WEAVERBIRD NEST
EXPERIENCE
NEST BUILDING & MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE
PORTLAND, OREGON
You have a story that deserves to exist in the world.
Maybe it's been living in your body as tension, grief, or a quiet knowing that something needs to be expressed. Maybe you've tried to make sense of it in your head and found that thinking isn't enough. Maybe you simply long to create something real — something you can point to and say: I made that. That is mine.
This is for you.
THE EXPERIENCE:
Over three months at Blackbird Studio, you will move through a guided artistic process — from gathering raw materials to contributing to a 12-foot suspended weaverbird nest installation. But more than building a nest, you will build something in yourself.Through writing prompts, reflective practices, meditative open studio hours, and hands-on making, you'll learn to move what's been held in your mind down into your hands and your body — where healing actually happens. Your story won't stay abstract. It will become physical, permanent, and beautiful.The entire process is documented through photography, film, writing, interviews, and audio recordings — and these become living elements of the final installation. Your voice, your narrative, your presence woven into a large-scale work of art that will outlast the room it's built in. PROGRAM INCLUDES:
11 group sessions:
Meditative open nest-building hours, Sunday afternoons *optional
Creative assignments and a step-by-step experiential storytelling framework
Full multimedia documentation of your work and the collective installation and permanent recognition as a contributing artist
INVESTMENT:
contact Debbie for pricing. 503-309-3371
Space is intentionally limited. This is not a class. It is a co-creation.
WHAT YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH:
A practice for turning personal narrative into creative expression — one you'll use long after this experience ends
A felt sense of what it means to move emotion through the body rather than around it
Deep creative community with others doing the same courageous work
A documentation of your creative journey — photos, film, and audio recordings produced throughout the project
Your name on the plaque as a contributing artist of the first-ever Weaverbird Nest
The experience of completing something — of seeing your story held inside something undeniable and made by your own hands
TESTIMONIALS
Debbie Baxter has created a much needed offering; The Nest Project. Debbie is completely accepting of wherever the participant is in their journey.She's accepting and honoring of exactly where you are while at the same time being skilled at gently encouraging someone to go deeper. She does this in a completely non-judgemental way. Debbie has tremendous respect for each person's process. My participation in The Nest Project left me feeling more healed and like a layer of the traumas had been lifted off.
What a gift!
— LINDA
The Nest Cohort 1 three month virtual residency offers a structured, immersive & supportive environment. Debbie, you have curated an amazing offering.
I'm giving myself permission to take up space, heal, and develop in ways that are empowering thanks to your guidance and coaching. Producing & sharing multi-level art & experiences in community with you and the group is remarkable.
— ABENAA
My experience with the Nest Project has been profoundly transformative—an unfolding of healing, truth, and identity that I didn’t realize I still needed. Over the last several weeks, I’ve had the honor of working alongside an incredible group of survivors. Stepping into that space—a nest built from branches, vulnerability, stories, and shared strength—opened parts of me I thought I had already tended to. It reminded me that healing isn’t linear; sometimes it takes community, connection, and courage to reach the wounds we’ve tucked away.
Working with Debbie has been one of the greatest gifts of this journey. Her compassion, presence, and intuitive understanding created a space where I felt safe enough to unravel, reflect, and rebuild. She held space for every version of me with gentleness and respect, guiding me with wisdom that helped me see myself clearly for the first time.
Through this project, I began reclaiming my will, my words, and my energy. I started untangling the past wounds that once forced me to shrink myself, to fit into a mold that was never meant for me. I learned to experience life on my own terms—to be who I want to be, to unlearn the conditioning of my past, and to sit with every part of myself long enough to forgive, soften, and rise. In facing my deepest traumas, I found strength I didn’t know I had. I learned to honor my story instead of hiding it, to see resilience where I once saw damage, and to acknowledge the power in every step I’ve taken.
Holding a photo of little-me in my hands during the Nest Project, I kept thinking about how far she’s come… how hard she fought to grow into someone who finally feels safe, loved, grounded, and whole. Being part of this project cracked me open in the best way—inviting healing I didn’t even know I’d been avoiding and reminding me what transformation looks like when we allow ourselves to be held by community.
For so long, I believed I wasn’t “good enough” or pretty enough. But now I know: I am enough. I refuse to dim my light any longer. I will shine brightly through the fire that lives within me. I am not too much. I am enough—and I am powerful. I have finally unleashed the fire inside me, becoming the woman my soul always knew I could be.
I am deeply grateful for the vulnerability, the connection, the art, the messy middle, the healing, and the version of myself who kept going long enough to feel this kind of peace.
— KATY
I was first drawn to the Nest Project through my committee, wanting to show up as a positive leader and encourage their engagement. But I was also deeply moved by Debbie’s story and curious about how this process might help me heal parts of my own past trauma.
I thought I was coming in to explore one thing, but I ended up digging into something much deeper. The experience brought me into a root trauma and helped me uncover deeply rooted patterns woven throughout my life.
Through this process, I unpacked years of unmet needs — maternal neglect, self-neglect, and partner neglect. Holding my younger self in the nest and meeting her with love, compassion, and nurturing was profoundly impactful. The Nest Project helped me love myself in ways I didn’t even know I needed, and it’s something I will carry into how I parent my own child.
Debbie was a steady presence and a compassionate witness to both my hurting and my healing. She guided the process with so much grace and care that I felt safe to go exactly where I needed to go. This experience allowed me to connect to myself on a level I had been craving without even realizing it.
The Nest Project shifted something in me — it helped me reconnect with parts of myself I had long tucked away, and it gave me language and softness for my own story. I’m deeply grateful for the healing that came from this work.
— LAUREN
More About Debbie Baxter
Founder & Creator of The NEST Project
What began in 2016 with a self-portrait inside the first nest she built alongside her son, Zavier, has grown into a global movement dedicated to transforming trauma, loss, and pain into collective healing.
Debbie’s work is rooted in her own story. She grew up navigating a childhood marked by instability, grief, and the absence of a nurturing mother. Those early fractures shaped her understanding of safety, longing, and the places where we carry unspoken hurt. The NEST emerged from her search for a sanctuary she had never been given: a place where she could feel held, honest, and whole.
Through installation, portraiture, and somatic practice, Debbie creates spaces where others can experience that same sense of refuge. Her process invites people to meet their own histories with tenderness, to be witnessed without judgment, and to reimagine vulnerability as strength. What began as a personal exploration has become a shared pathway toward restoration, connection, and healing.
