10-week
courses

Rare Workshop Fusion
In 2005, artist Judy Willoughby attended a day workshop I was teaching on fairy tales. Afterwards, she approached me with the idea of joining forces to put on a collaborative workshop experience in which we take on the same subject matter but from our different areas of expertise. I had admired Judy's work for some time and this seemed a unique opportunity to explore new ground as a facilitator with a partner whose approach towards the creative process, though using a different medium, felt in sympathy with mine. The experience felt rare and exciting and we've worked together ever since, aiming to stage a workshop each season.

Who is it for?
This unique multi-disciplinary workshop is for writers and artists of all levels of experience. Each activity is designed with beginners in mind, to support them in taking steps into new creative territory but established practitioners often find the exercises, as well as the solidarity, useful in refreshing the system.

Workshop Themes
Each two-day experience is characterised by its own theme, something that both lends itself to the written and the visual arts, that has the potential to be interesting from the point of view of aesthetics as well as content, and something that offers the individual scope to explore their inner-life and produce a series of works that make manifest this inner-life. Past workshops include dreams, fairytales, secret gardens, self-portraiture and objects of desire.

Workshop Structure
Day one tends to be 'Writing Day' in which the workshop theme is initially presented and discussed. Participants are then invited to engage in simple guided writing activities that facilitate the creation of personal narratives,
in either poetry or prose, which explores the given subject matter. Day two,
usually 'Painting Day', invites participants to use their written imagery as
a starting point for visual expression. After a series of warm-up techniques intended to free up the more wary artist, individuals are supported in transforming the elements of their textual pieces into new and visible
forms.

Processes and Possibilities
Each activity is designed to be simple but processes that are taking place beneath the surface are evidently rich and complex. Through making these transitions from one artistic discipline to another, we come to see our subject anew. Unseen metaphoric and aesthetic properties of each of our images are revealed, enabling fresh questions to be asked and suggesting fresh directions for the work to take. This shift between art forms, or between sensory modalities, or between looking, reading or listening, seemingly allows for different parts of the self to be in conversation with one another, particularly the conscious and the intuitive. So for the writer to experiment with visual art forms and for the artist to experiment with words and language, doors to previously untapped sources of creative material can be unlocked, and new insights into one's subject gained.

Price: £65 for the two days. £20 deposit secures you a place. All art materials are included in the price.

Location: Courses are run in Wiveliscombe / Milverton and Taunton Area

Date: Please contact Briony for details of the next two-day workshop.

weekend
workshops

introduction to
memoir writing

introduction to
fiction writing

workshops in
creative writing &
the visual arts

creative writing
workshops for artists
& art students

creative writing
workshops in
museums & galleries