The Warli or Varli are an indigenous tribe of western India. I became aware of their paintings at an exhibition by Usha Dapur Kar, exploring her heritage, animism and storytelling. Usha told me that she has obtained funding to travel to India to learn more about Warli painting that is thought to originate from 3000BC. Warli artists – mostly … More Warli Painting Workshops
I’m facilitating a new 11 week course for adults at Llanover Hall. This week, participants explored shapes and colour, beginning with the three primary colours, mixing to create new hues and tones and jotting down how each one made them feel. We spoke about the psychology of colour and its power to effect mood, and … More Art for Wellbeing
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
“It is not easy to paint. It is very strenuous. But it’s something you’ve got to do if you have the urge”. – Janet Sobel. This exhibition at The Gallery of Everything on Chiltern Street features over 30 astonishing works on paper by the acclaimed/reclaimed figuratist, impressionist, surrealist and abstract expressionist artist Janet Sobel (1893 – 1968). Like … More Janet Sobel: 20th Century Woman
Work from the Cynefin project is being exhibited in Llandough hospital until the end of August. The gallery co-ordinator, Molly Lewis and I arranged the paintings and photographs onto four boards and hung them in the corridor of the hospital where they can be seen by staff, patients and visitors as they pass through. It’s … More Cynefin: In the Gallery
The after-school Creative Writing and Art course at Llanover Hall finally started again on Thursday after months of lockdown with three new participants and three returning, aged between 8 and 11. A while ago, a friend (see her blog here), showed me how to make an eight page mini book, and it was great to … More Dragon Bloom and Other Magical Tales
Kids love monsters; they never tire of stories from myth and legend. At the beginning of the Story telling and Art course, we travelled around the world, exploring stories from many different cultures, finding out about the spirits and mythical creatures that populate these tales. We encountered trolls from Iceland, dragons in China, a host … More Mythical Monsters
These past weeks I’ve been aware of the abundance of fruits and vegetables in the hedges and at the allotment, and also of the wonderful harvest moon on the 14th. For the first sessions of the Creative Wellbeing courses, new people have come and some who had been coming for a while have left to … More Creative Harvesting
Two important exhibitions in London last weekend: Natalia Goncharova Retrospective at Tate Modern, and Lee Krasner: Living Colour at Barbican. In Goncharova’s famous painting, The Cyclist, the figure is willfully heading in the opposite direction to that indicated by the pointing authoritarian finger. It suitably sums up Goncharova’s spirit. A leading figure of the new … More Palingenesis, and the Art of Everythingism
Sarah J Featherstone 