Thursday 30 April 2015

Week Three


A woman in red sits reading on a picnic rug.





Will she have to eat all the cakes herself?
What does she keep in her handbag?
What are her secrets?


From small visual cues our imaginations ran riot. Stories, travels, relations. We sent her round the world and back again, writing postcards as she went. I think she is in Australia at the moment; she went on a whim. She’s that type of woman.
Her story flowed like a river and we had a go at getting to the essence. We retold her life in 100,50, 20 words….


Free spirit, leaving. Starting afresh. Australia. Building bridges.


Emotions, moving, mother and child to new life, wondering worldwide.


Empty glass, an unopened letter. Plane leaves in a week.


Can make my life brand new in Australia.


We were then transported by a soundscape and floated down a river. Each individual journey was shared and shaped by a randomly chosen word. We collectively created a story from these words:



Looking from above at the picture by the stream
the baby cries whilst the bird nurtures its young.


The secrets of this place
and people as we follow the stream
and it turns into a river


But, a question…
where are we?

We are certainly being transported by these sessions and the collective imagination in the room is amazing to witness!

Thursday 23 April 2015

Week Two


It seemed fitting that we would take it in turns to record our experiences of the sessions; so this week Shelley has written from her perspective...
This week we indulged in some storytelling around bicycles and journeys. Everything from the distinct feeling of gravel in grazed knees to a mathematical equation written in tea leaves was covered and uncovered on another glorious sunny day.
Participants taught us of how a visitor's journey duration would either ensure or demure their likelihood to use the best china in the house upon arrival. What's more, given the sense of an increasing bond in the room, we all left feeling as if the key to the glass cabinet were being located in apron pockets in each of our homes.
Exploring these lived experiences within the group helped us to create an excitement of the senses as we depicted the common themes of the gaining of independence, liberation and motion in loose breakfast tea leaves.


We listened to an appreciation of the bicycle by Roger-Pol Droit which - by gentle turns of the group's handlebars - became the personal story of a shiny new bike that began in the garden and ended in a river bed.
Having mapped the dynamics of the groups in these ways, we are looking forward to exploring a whole new chapter next week when we look to take participants on a journey of their own devising. Full steam ahead!

Thursday 16 April 2015

Week One

RE: MAPPING. New Ways of Thinking About Ourselves

First select your cup according to your mood.

Welcome to the page for this new and exciting project! Here I will be recording moments and thoughts from the workshops as they unfold. I hope you will join me on this incredible venture by keeping track of the work as it progresses here. It is very early days and there are still places available for people to participate. Please visit here or email info@lizclarke.org for further details.


'When delightful rain falls always use the amazing umbrella'....

A useful piece of advice indeed! How else to begin our very first session than to share a nice cup of tea? We sampled tea from around the world, swapped stories about our Nanna's china and created tongue in cheek, sanguine and sublime sayings to put on  the tags of tea bags using our random text generator.

Oh Gosh! How exciting!

We think we could be employed by a certain herbal tea company with our efforts! Our instructions for making the perfect cuppa turned into 'How to Make Tea Mindfully' which became a beautiful reflection on being thankful for the small things.
We shared a sensory experience of smell, touch and taste which moved our work in unexpected directions making it a fabulous first day. The participants gave so much energy and enthusiasm to the sessions, and the work naturally meandered on exciting tangents. We have so much material already from our first day. I can't wait to see where our process takes us!

Thanks to everyone who made us feel welcome at the library and to everyone who gave so much to making the day a success.

Jasmine Tea

the giving of life
turns a sea urchin
into a discovery of underwater

rebirth

the moisture to the flower
is charming and capturing

patience reveals
the mysterious
hidden underwater coral reef

gentle, beautiful and colourful
the fascinating flower
fed by the moisture


Now...


Taste the flower