Engraving
by Francois Boucher after Antoine Watteau, Woman on swing seen from the back,
1728
On the warm evening of 20 April,
I had the chance to facilitate a workshop during the Late event of the Wallace
Collection in Marylebone.
The specific theme of the night
was Europe : A Bridge to the Continent. All the
activities and performances were bearing a connection with Europe, which
mirrored the collection.
I soon came up with the idea of a
creative writing activity. I have had a keen interest in linguistics for a long
time and learning new words is a constant thrill and one of my most
enjoyed mental food.
I also wanted to offer an
activity where participants would feel free to write whatever was coming
through their pencil and from where they would leave with something: a
new word, but also hopefully a little sense of thrill and calm after a few
minutes of simply indulging into writing.
The event took
place in the landing of the gallery’s staircase, within a striking architecture
and bathing into a soft light.
The activity was based on
European words with no direct translation into English (around 50). The
participants were invited to pick a paper where a word – in one of the many
languages from Europe – was written. From there, they could create a personal
piece of writing. The words were written vertically so that the participant
could write an acrostic – where each letter of one word forms one letter of
each line.
This allowed the merging of
words from other European languages with English words. The choice of acrostics
is the reason why the workshop was called Am
Stram Gram Pic & Pic Acrostic, which is
a play on words in France, just like Eenie
Meenie Miney Mo.
Also, I had
displayed cards with details of works of art from the Wallace Collection, from
which the participants could draw inspiration, if necessary.
I was grateful to present the
activity with my friend Kelly Roberts, who is a drama facilitator, spoken words
artist, poet and part of the Shut Down Collective. She shares the same passion
for words as I do and is always keen to engage in workshops that bring people
into a creative zone.
We were lucky to receive so many responses
and eager to read each of them. It was indeed a beautiful sight when people
were unfolding their paper, discovering the word, having a seat and taking the
time and the headspace to compose, pouring their ideas and then being open to
share it with us.
The pieces were displayed
throughout the evening on a screen and I have been collecting all of them into
a book. I am currently finalising the editing.
📖 Coming up soon!
I am also hoping to facilitate
this activity again in another context, gathering a variety of written pieces
and sharing a privileged moment of creativity.
Finally, I would simply
like to thank Nancy Ncube (L&P producer of SDD) for her constant support
and her attention to my project, as well as Rosemary Cronin (artist and curator
of the event) for her feedback and for offering me a chance to share my
practice.
