When the tutors first met to plan this series of workshops, they explored their points of connection by creating ‘Hand Maps’. These ‘Hand Maps’ became a friendly, low-key way for a group of women of different ages from Wellbeing Exeter to begin to get to know each other too. Drawing around their own or each other’s hands, they wrote things they liked in each finger before doodling and chatting about their similarities.


Tutors artist Megan Dowsett and storyteller Sara Hurley both like: working with paper, nature, inspiring creativity, word play, and stories.

For three weeks the group explored different art techniques, and experimented with catching words and stories to make a personalised, concertina book with pockets

The group were asked to think about a place or time in nature where they felt good, peaceful, or happy. Whether it was a view from a window they saw every day, or a memory of a once-visited wild place, this memory became the thread they used through the weeks as they worked with colour, texture and words.

Initial confidence in being creative or arty was hesitant, as it often is when people first come to a creative workshop. Despite repeatedly hearing the familiar phrases, ‘I’m no good at this kind of thing,’ or ‘I’m not creative at all’, everyone embraced ‘having a go’. They used ink-tense for the colour-scapes of their books, screwed up their paper for texture, and let go of ‘getting it right’ as they printed leaves onto tissue paper.

“For me, there’s so much noise in my head, and when we were doing that, it just stopped.” (participant)

They jotted down images, senses and feelings from their place and chose some of them to add to the concertina book. Together we wrote a group Kenning, inspired by a theme shared by several members of the group – “It’s time for me, isn’t it?” (participant)

It was brilliant to witness a group of strangers making new connections with each other, leaning into their time together, and flowing with their natural creativity. Women who were facing life’s challenges were able to forget them for a short time, and feel good about what they were making.

It was a short course, but they left with their books in hand. They were ready to write, and to begin collecting things to fill the pockets, things to gather in a small, special place of their own.

 

Who am I?
(A group poem)

Romantic rambler

Blotchy painter

Thorny beauty

Magically uplifting

Straggly trespasser

Prickly lover

Perfumed bloomer

Reliable Rose