“Through reflecting on the concrete reality of our immediate experience, and through giving voice to our perceptions, intuitions, and “felt-sense” of things, we create ourselves anew”. – Marlene A. Schiwy from: Taking Things Personally: Women, Journal Writing, and Self-Creation As the new year gets underway, I find myself wondering what to do with the collection … More Creating the Self Anew: The Art of Journalling
the seed is splitting there’s still time to climb the spiral staircase just breathe transformation happens ready or not I find the liminal times around twilight and dawn good for automatic work. I let my hand loose, and try to stay out of the way of whatever wants to emerge, sometimes with eyes closed. Then … More Liminal I
Some of the people who have attended my Art for Wellbeing classes over the years have a unique and idiosyncratic style. Over terms of weekly attendance, they determinedly pursue their vision to the exclusion of all suggestions and themes offered by me, or influences of others attending. In doing so, an important collection of work … More Bodies of Work
One and a half fun days of printing for five groups of children to create covers for their story set in Victorian times. They voted for ‘The Runaways’ as their title (also the name of one of the first all-female rock bands!), so I made a lino stamp that was strong enough to be used … More Printing: Week Four
One of the main priorities the school has for their Victorian project is to increase collaboration skills in the class, as well as the other Creative Habits of Mind (Imaginative, Inquisitive, Persistent, and Disciplined). As the creative practitioner working with the teacher and class over five weeks, I have tried to make the activities as … More Collaboration: Week Three
Week two of working with children from a primary school in Llanrumney on their Victorian project. Emma, their teacher split the class into six groups so that they could collaborate on a section of the story they devised last week. The day was divided between writing, creating artwork, and drama, beginning with character development. The … More Character Development: Week Two
I’m really excited to be working with Year 5 & 6 and their teacher Emma at a primary school in Llanrumney. Over the next four weeks, we’ll be developing a story set in Victorian times through the mediums of role play, script writing, story writing, and painting and printing. One aim is for the children … More Creative Schools: The Victorians
More photo poems for the Arts Council of Wales/NHS Creative Cwtsh commission. I haven’t been strict about the 5,7,5 syllable structure with these, but they are inspired by the Haiku form. Also, having fun with cut-up collaging of letters: In Japanese poetry, kigo (季語) is the word or phrase used to indicate the season and it is often … More Photo Poems
My colleague Caroline and I were invited to a primary school in Butetown to help the Year 6 children make willow lanterns. They will be carried in a Halloween procession for the community organized by Butetown Arts & Culture Association and Wales Millennium Centre. Caroline demonstrated how to construct the lantern structure from withie or … More Lantern Making
Lots of visitors for our first Open Studios event since November 2019. It was wonderful to share conversations stimulated by the art and find out about visitors’ art making experiences. It was also very useful to get feedback, and to be able to sell our work. An ambient soundscape by John Rea, based on sounds … More Artist Open Studios Day
Sarah J Featherstone 