I’m creative in the way that I think, live and work. The participatory projects and events that I run are always creative, using methods such as role play, walking, collage, drawing, interpreting found object collections, inventing games and visual mapping.
I practice in Art for myself and with others, as a way to make sense of experience, to explore personal issues, and generate fresh ideas. These various practices come and go, sometimes waiting in the wings for months, then only making a momentary appearance. These days I am making more time for visual art as my main practice. In September 2024 I began a post-grad visual arts course at the Art Depot in Norwich. See, for example, this poetic illustrated book ‘Being with Trouble’ produced on the course.
Some other groups or courses have included:
- A creative shamanic retreat on Iona with Kate Walters.
- The Creativity for Life group, using Tom Mansfield’s Cards for Life as a weekly prompt.
- Norwich Writers Rebel – the only local branch of the writers that support Extinction Rebellion, attending their workshops and open mics (mostly organised by Rebecca Stonehill)
- Listen to the Landscape – a 13 week course at the Norwich Theatre, engaging with climate stories using writing, voice, music, movement and cyanotype photography.
So, these are some of the things I do:
- Writing poetry and creative non-fiction, including visual and film poems.
- Taking photographs, posting on Instagram and Flickr.
- Drawing and painting with inks, watercolours and coloured pencils. Making collages. See a recent visual art selection here.
- Diagrammatic illustrations to explain ideas, e.g. putting them together in visual handbooks and toolkits.
- Singing, songwriting and playing guitar, and other instruments.
