The Right of Writing - Give Me back my Mo-Jo

Hello :-) - it's 2020 - very hard to believe. Classes are staring in D.V. in February after a hiatus for the exhibition which went down amazingly well...and then I /we all had to do the end of the year...and then the start of new new one.  It's been hard for many people, but the good news is that creativity is very happy when life is making us THINK. This year, I have two methodologies: 1 on 1 - this is a request I have had for a while and will now implement.  These classes will be tailor-made for  individuals on request. I will combine a half hour theory and then 2 hours practice. On 11th February I will begin another ON MAKING BOOKS THERE IS NO END - a   5-6 week course at the MoJo Studio. Please note - all materials are included - including a visual diary and how to use it successfully.  This course is designed for those beginning their creative journey, as well as those who have reached a creative block.  Classes will also be held at Eye4Art in Umhlanga...

Workshops are on-going, but my photographing is not! These are the last photo's taken at a workshop held during the Letters to Spring exhibition.  It was fabulous class - just the right size for a one-off GIVE ME BACK MY MOJO! Things come out - as they are want to... but thats ok - thinking about 'blocks'  is the first step in accessing truly creative thinking.

No time to blog and keep up to date with social media - too busy with classes and the upcoming exhibition at eye4art - very exciting. The classes are feeding me as much as the participants and close bonds are being formed - many of which I feel will linger for years to come. AND I've forgotten to photograph sessions - o my...here is a golden 'oldy'from the last book making class.  This was a Babel collaboration (on-going) between 6 of us in three hours. We then took the chapbooks home to finish. Learning to work collaboratively is a new thing for a lot of artists/writers - especially ON TOP OF!

One on one sessions are always more complex and intimate than a more informal, large class arrangement. There are things to be said for both. Individual sessions, by their very nature employ a more narrative/art therapy approach as one paints and unpacks things/thoughts which are perhaps constantly on ones mind (with or without knowing it), but which are never addressed in words - or colour - or anything: or if they are, in a way which is without cohesion. With the Right of Writing approach, identifying - and yielding to the liminal space, allows it to become less anxious as we acknowledge its shadow presence with us - all the time.   As one is able to freely verbalise and visualise through words, poetry and art, thoughts which are trapped behind doors we just have not had the EXACTLY RIGHT opportunity to understand in this way, and tentatively they can find their way towards the sun. Whats more, the participant is NEVER alone. We are joined by our humanity: I am with yo...

Catherine - thank you for letting us into your beautiful space - all 9 of us!We have a wonderful core group (#4) of MoJoians - the results of the first class of Module 1 were SO creative.

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We had a great evening - and I think by the end, brains were a little boggled?! The group melded beautifully and the nurturing environment enabled us all to step into the liminal space - the first breath, arms flung back before we all take a leap off the high-dive board. We know what we know, we know what we don't know, but its time to feel and become familiar with the spaces in-between. The class of participants - we were 3 short, so we have to work a way to get the others to do Workshop 1. First results after workshop 1. Don't be fooled - these will be VERY different by the time you see them at the end. Thanks again Michelle and Zelda - Zelda - that mushroom soup was the best I've ever tasted.I look forward to the next bowl of delicious!!  A closer view: - I won't tell you how we got here, thats for you to come and see for yourself.

SO! I presented the Introductory class to two different audiences. One session was directed at professional women for whom art as therapy/art used as revelation are new, and the other was given to artists. Two completely different reactions I must say! The reason to hold two pilots was to ensure that each audience is catered to and to see how material must be slightly altered depending on participants. I won't give my findings say, but man! It was enlightening :-) - in a GOOD WAY!!  I do these classes at the same time, and never cease to enjoy the process. Photographs were were permitted by the participants for these sessions. Sorry - didn't get everyone in!

A final product for the Introductory Class - a Self Portrait - but watch this space :-) - I'm looking forward to an EXCITING afternoon!

For my book on Visual Poetry (I am as invested and involved in these modules as the participants) - see:  http://newalexandrianlibrary.blogspot.com The following were the other books produced. Although there is a similarity between the books because they all contain the same inserts and the same format, that is where the likeness ends. Each artist added their own unique vision, content and information. Ann Marie Nason Janina Masojada Jaqueline Freer The 'books inserted in the books' were a set of 16 - 20 chosen visual poetry experiments which were collated into a chapbook.  The history of this unassuming art form was also discussed and debated.  These discussions were not from purely an academic point of view.  The entire reason for these courses is to give vent to creativity which seeks a voice, an image or a word. Its all about making flesh what are just ideas and thoughts, and taking the time to access them. During the second session, work was pr...

So! things got a little more complicated as each participant worked through their understanding of WHY and HOW I was using language as the subject matter in visual, creative studies, and what the relevance - if any of what such usage was.  We had a very fruitful discussion on the value of language in all its various forms as being the most accessible point of cultural entry and a very relevant departure point for creativity.  Unlike, for example,  a module dealing with landscape, or portraiture, language (the written word/prose/poetry/the letters of the alphabet/units/symbols/concepts/etc)  can be adjusted/manipulated/built up or destroyed and remade more than any subject matter a creative person wishes to access. Janina called my history lesson a 'skid' as I attempted to situate current visual poetry in a historic setting. I liked that :-) - 5 weeks to attempt a subject this broard, even at lightning speed, is just, well...impossible. Janina At this junct...