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 … Continue reading Artist Open Studios Day
creativity
Summer Workshops
A busy week of workshops at Llanover Hall and Wales Millennium Centre. Yesterday, a full class for the Storytelling and Art session for children aged 8-12. I asked them to count down from ten and write the first three words that came into their mind. Then to choose the word they liked best and do … Continue reading Summer Workshops
Dance and Film: Cynefin – Week Five
This week, dancer, actor and teacher, June Campbell-Davies came in to work with the children on our Cynefin Project along with Marcus and Nick from Redbrck Production Company. Following introductions, June told the class about her parents' experience of coming from Grenada in the West Indies to the UK post-war, part of a Dance Troupe … Continue reading Dance and Film: Cynefin – Week Five
Breathing Space
Recently, I have been working with the charity Valley and Vale Arts on their Social Prescribing project Breathing Space in Pontypridd. It is a free, weekly, person-centred creative session for adults experiencing stress, anxiety and/or depression. Short mindfulness exercises help individuals to relax and find their creative flow. The work created can be about a real … Continue reading Breathing Space
Story Mapping
The after-school story-telling and art sessions have evolved into the children writing their own story in weekly installments that I type up and read back to them the following week. They still listen to folk or creation tales from different cultures each week, and these tend to inspire elements of their own story. Week one, … Continue reading Story Mapping
Voices on the Wind
For the past five months, I've been a creative practitioner in a primary school, working with a storyteller to produce a record of the stories about the local area surrounding the school. We have covered a vast time period, from the Bronze age, right up to the mid-19th century. I have been using printmaking with … Continue reading Voices on the Wind
Natural Abstracts
Some stunning paintings made in response to two stories from Africa today on the Children's Art and Storytelling course that I am running at Llanover Hall Arts Centre. 'Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky' - a Nigerian folktale, and 'The Lion's Whisker' - an Ethiopian Folktale. Elements by Jim age 9 … Continue reading Natural Abstracts
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
For the last week of this five week cycle of storytelling and art from around the world, we travelled to Russia to hear about the enigmatic Baba Yaga. She is a many-faceted figure, variously seen as a Moon, Death, Winter, Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, or archetypal image.[4] After discussing some of Baba … Continue reading Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
Folktales from India
Children's Storytelling and Art Course, Week four. The children were interested in the concept of having two heads after hearing the Indian folktale about a bird with two heads that can't agree. They drew pictures of themselves with the head of something or someone they would or would not like to be attached to and … Continue reading Folktales from India
Stories from the Dreamtime
For Week 3 of the Children's Art and Writing course, the children listened to three stories from the Dreamtime creation myths of Aboriginal culture: How the kangeroo got her pouch, Barramundi, (how the fish came to be in the waters), and a Kunwinjku Dreamtime Story of the long-necked turtle and the echidna, telling why they live … Continue reading Stories from the Dreamtime
Sarah J Featherstone 