Pages

Saturday, 29 November 2014

Art Collectives

Struggling to go it alone?

Get together with a bunch of like-minded people, decide on your premise and then make it happen.

From time to time mention will be made of The Stromboli Group set up to support the making, showing and selling of original works of contemporary art.

                               Laura Orsini   &   Nadia Masotti
Drop into Volcano Coffee Works Cafe to see The Stromboli Group's first show of work, The Botanical Garden, with the added bonus of being able to taste the best coffee in London, Volcano Coffee, roasted in small batches just metres away in the same building.


Saturday, 22 November 2014

Winter Open Studios

5-7 December 2014

Here are two particular South London favourites that combine both the possibility of looking at and buying the creative conjuring ups of many talented craftspeople, plus unique and atmospheric locations.

                                        Spindrift_Square    Beep Studio   Havelock Walk
    
Pullens Yards, Victorian live-work spaces just off the Walworth road near Elephant and Castle and Havelock Walk further south in Forest Hill and if you jump on a 176 bus both easily do-able  on one day!

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Getting into the zone...

It is very hard indeed to settle and find the stillness and focus needed for creating when life is growling all around, snapping at our heels.

By now most of us are familiar with the wisdom that to eat and sleep well, to exercise and relax, to practice mindfulness, all contribute to that healthy mind and body state that helps ward off a lack of productivity.

These pages of podcasts found on the Mental Heath Foundation website deal with all of these issues very nicely - thank you!


However, a word of warning. All the above will need to occur as compensation for the excesses (unintentional and deliberate), the risky adventures and the myriad of not so sensible moments that, as a Bold and Curious being, we will inevitably also be experiencing.

After all, it is said...life, it's all about the balance!

Thursday, 13 November 2014

The stories that make us

Following on from the art and craft of oral storytelling comes the art of translating our experiences into language. Through our carefully selected words we create a world that we present to ourselves and others as our reality.

Becoming aware of the spin we lend our tales is incredibly useful in developing our self-awareness and self development.


Lyn French, art therapist and A Space Director writes about this in The stories that make us, a blog on the Iniva website that also links to a Resources Page where it is possible to download free resources based on a project undertaken with this theme, and also to resources connecting to the Emotional Learning Cards, a collection of really wonderful themed visual art images aimed at stimulating creative exploration in therapeutic settings. 

Monday, 10 November 2014

Oral Storytelling

The Moth

Life-affirming, therapeutic, informative and occasionally extremely hair-raising. There is nothing more magical than a story told well.



It seems to satisfy a deep primal connection to a form of communication that existed long before our technological age, in its very simplicity a link to the past. A coming together of a community, of families, that suspended intimate moment at bedtime. A chance to switch off from the visual and yet the flow of words conjuring up a whole universe of images and emotions through the skill of the telling. 


The Moth is a not-for-profit organisation launched by George Dawes Green in 1997, set up to promote the art and craft of story telling. On their website it is possible to hear some of the many wonderful true to life stories they have presented live to audiences over the years.