My usual group of trusty creatives were my testing ground, asked just to turn up with glue, scissors and a restricted amount of collage paper. Our already short 3 hour session was reduced to 2 hours so I sent details of the lesson whilst the latecomers were arriving in the car. Immediate enthusiasm and thumbs up emojis… when they all arrived straight down to work.
I had no idea what to expect but in no time at all some strange and quite beautiful flowers emerged. Running out of time we all created a mini vase in a flash. The modern and extremely cool Ikea working area was the ideal setting to photograph ‘our modern and extremely cool’ paper vase full of paper flowers. I think you will agree that the final product looks quite amazing.
Why do I get so excited about these totally improvisational collective creative sessionss? I particularly love the invaluable creative power that comes out of collaborative projects. Students chat and relax whilst letting their hands do the work. Inhibitions fade as they look at, and, encourage work made by others, having a lot less time to form negative judgments of their own efforts. The conclusion is always positive and inspiring and there is an incredible magic that seems to cover up any mistakes and let only the beautiful shine through. Collaborative art has many plusses and one that I really appreciate is the volume of art that can be produced within a group as opposed to working alone. The conclusion is almost always and invariably an incredible sense of having created a masterpiece, self doubt disappears and is replaced by optimism and contentment.
Thank you Simona, Pia, Francesca and Deborah for always being enthusiastic and willing to give it a go. This time the mini workshop worked out better than ever and we really did create a masterpiece!
Dawn x
