Meet your inner artist workshop
Looking back at one of the therapeutic workshops that took place at Fox Yard Studio in Stowmarket in Sep 2024 as part of the Creative Business Event, featuring talks and presentations of artists’ stories woven into the rich fabric of the day.
What an opportunity to meet various artists, listen to their art journey and marvel how each one of us engage differently with art. Each artist has a unique, intimate way of conversing with art, extracting a unique meaning from the interaction. Thanks to the kind agreement of the creators of the artwork, I offer you an insight into the mysterious process of art and into the intimate transaction that transpires between the individual and their artwork.
After a series of insightful talks, (the free transcript of mine you can read here)the scene for a deeper sharing has been set. What followed was an artistic workshop with a wet-on-wet watercolour painting technique, which allows the experience of free painting by delving into our subconscious. The aim was to connect with our inner artist and explore some of the following themes:
- What were the first impulses that made you create artwork?
- What role does art play in your life?
- What does your art want to say?
Creating new life's landscape
My friend Claire and her daughter Eliza recently lost a very precious person in their life. Claire’s husband and Eliza’s dad passed away very suddenly after a period of serious illness. Without further intruding into their lives, I’d just like to say how touched I was that they both came to the workshop wearing John’s t-shirts. Although I have not met him in person, John was very much present and accompanying them in their artwork.
Claire created a beautiful landscape where the two worlds united into one– the rich, solid, fertile earth and blue world of misty sea beyond the horizon transitioning into the light filled sky. I feel the homeliness and safety of the cozy cottages situated on the green lands, enveloped in the soft light from the skies above.
Eliza had a caregous, hands on approach to art. She wetted the paper with a sponge and then boldly applied rich colour, using various experimental techniques – such as brush flicking, salt sprinkling- bravely inspiring others to follow in her footsteps. Her second painting had two distinct parts- a flower on a deep blue background and a flower on an emerald green background, separated by a thick line. Two entirely different worlds of colour, the flower shining bright.
Both myself and Eliza have lost John. Art and being creative helps us both cope with complex feelings and emotions. It helps take us away from it all feeling so raw & painful.
World of colours
Bev Montegau, an experienced stain glass teacher and a diffuse glass artist told us during her talk that she is predominantly interested in colour and light. Reminiscent of the process of creating the diffuse glass jewellery, colours are layered in this painting as veils of dissolving pigment, creating landscapes of colour. The warm light from behind, creates a feeling of depth, as if you had the painting stuck against a glass window. You can ‘walk’ through the colours, get lost and find yourself in a new colourful landscape.
Bev now runs workshops with glass at the Sakura Studio, Stonham.
Expressionist landscape
Tom’s painted confidently with strong, bold colours and arrived at a landscape early on in the process. He used even more pigment to intensify the colours and then made little air bubbles into blue stars. When looking at his landscape, what strikes me most is the vibrant colour combination and almost graphic quality of the bold shapes. It reminded me of German expressionist paintings. Not that I remember much from my art history lessons, so I googled their characteristics. They were described as ‘bold, intense, contrasting and emotionally evocative.’
What emotions do they evoke in you? I feel there is something enchanting in the landscape, with the sparkling lights blinking through the greenery. I feel an intense warmth but the landscape remains a mystery.
Tom Coomber had recently a successful solo exhibition at Fox Yard Studio
Follow on Instagram @coombertom
Finding joy again
There is a story to Ruth’s painting. She started with the blue and warm yellow colours. Then in the process of turning the painting around (which is a part of the subconscious technique), she discovered a sandy beach from her childhood where she spent many summers with her grandparents, playing, feeling safe, joyful and free. So she added herself into the painting doing cartwheels on the bright summer day. I felt it myself -the sense of joy, playfulness and complete freedom.
What is even more fascinating that Ruth found later a black & white photo of herself doing cartwheels on the beach which she kindly shared with me. I can’t stop smiling.
The past and the future
Gianina saw her painting as a mountain which was cut in half, making the roots visible. However, it became a metaphor for hiding/covering something up. The tree also has two distinct parts, representing her past and future separated. The painting has a burning red energy which transforms the past into the future.
‘I am the tree. Although I have a lot of energy (bouncing around), I am rooted everywhere. I am part of a network, connected to others with roots underground.’
The image was also reminiscent of the ‘eye’ absorbing colour. Being able to see what is there, becoming transparent.
Gianina Dragomir facilitates workshops with Mandalas of Light monthly at Broomhill library, Ipswich. She will be running a workshop on Self-love jointly with Lisa Flowers EFT practitioner at Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket.
Ioana often uses experimental techniques and it’s fascinating watching her playful & creative approach to art. This time she worked with dripping and dissolving paint. We looked at the image from various sides and she discovered a deep and beautiful meaning.
These are the tears of joy and sadness that god sends on people.
Jiayi Chen: The secret language of Nushu
In earlier presentation and during the creative session, the artist Jiayi Chen shared her knowledge of the history and meaning of Nushu. In her artwork, this secret language was represented in symbols and as a strong feminine theme, connected to womb and a female line.
Nushu, also called “Women’s Script,” is a unique language created and used exclusively by women in Hunan Province, China, for centuries to communicate Chinese in a world where they were excluded from education. This secret language is like a miracle born from tears and sunshine. It is a unique language as gender script, bequeathed from generation to generation of women, undetected by men and outsiders as a fading script that only women knew how to write and read (text quoted from Jiayi’s post).
As a secret text, Nüshu was written in calligraphy as poems or songs on paper-folded fans and handkerchiefs. These hidden letters were passed down from generation to generation as a way for women to share their stories, express hope and solidarity, and affirm their dignity in the face of daily struggles (full article here)
Beyond photography and film, Jiayi Chen channels her creative energy into immersive performance art that celebrates Nushu, the only female script exclusively used by women. Reimagining this lost language, she empower women and amplify their voices in a world that too often silences them. Jiayi Chen has recently been awarded the Best Production from the Asian Arts Fringe (text quoted from Jiayi’s post).
Cao Luyin: The sea of the soul
I was very touched by Luyin’s performing art during the presentations. She was weaving a single rope out of tissue paper, relating to the ancient tradition of binding feet. In her explanation, it represented the power of men over women who could hold their tiny feet in their palm.
Her gentle yet powerful artwork reminded me of a visual poetry.
The Sea of the soul
’ While creating it, I imagined my consciousness diving deep into the sea of the soul, where it merges, collides, and grows.
Rachel Wagner: Connections
Rachel presented a moving dance and visual performance which was connected to her recent work: Mum, I don’t want to dream of you anymore(2023).
Her artwork carried the theme, the expressive gesture of movement, weaving in the relationship with her mum and other women in general.
Her handcrafted embroidery book (which was exhibited in Fox Yard studio) is dedicated to the artist herself and all girls who grew up in traumatic mother-daughter relationships. As she grew older, the artist increasingly noticed her personality issues reflecting her mother‘s influence and suffered from recurring nightmares of being chased or mistreated by her. This self-loathing made her realize that her mother was the biggest obstacle in her self-discovery journey. Thus, she turned to this book for self-healing. Titled “Dream Dispeller” in Chinese, the book documents various conflicts between the artist and her mother during her teenage years, each accompanied by a piece of handcrafted embroidery. The silk threads used represent the entangled mother-daughter relationship, and the process of embroidering brought her a sense of calm and repair (quoted from Rachel’s text).
I am very grateful to the artists for allowing me to post their images with an insight as to what their artwork meant to them. Leading a workshop at this event felt like excavating treasures on the beach after a high tide. Watching a creation in progress is like watching the waves of the wild sea come roaring to the shore and with each foaming surge, bringing more and more shiny pebbles to the surface of the glistening sand. And just walk and revere in the natural beauty of the jewels shown to you.