Workshops
The Red Shoe Workshop
The Red Shoe Workshop, which began in 2008, is perhaps my most popular workshop and continues to be taught in many centres throughout South Africa.
The intention of this workshop is to empower women of all ages, by giving them a creative voice.
Based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of The Red Shoes, the workshop allows women to identify that which is important to them and gives them the tools with which to express it.
A highly innovative method of sharing stories and expressing emotion, this workshop has a particular relevance in disadvantaged communities, for not only do participants learn new skills that have income earning potential, they are empowered by the realization that they can transform their pain through the process of creativity.
More than anything else, this workshop helps women to believe in themselves and their ability to create a brighter future.
Level: All levels of ability
Duration: 3 Days
Next three-day workshop:
Venue: Upstairs Gallery, Artec, Port Elizabeth, E.Cape
Dates: 4th - 6th May 2012
Contact me if you wish to attend this creative workshop or to arrange one in your area.
Variations on the Red Shoe Theme
1. University Workshops
I currently run custom designed workshops for several departments at Rhodes University, which explore the theme of identity and enable students to think and express these thoughts creatively. These workshops have been immensely popular with both lecturers and students, as due to the pressures of modern living and packed academic timetables, this component appears to be lacking in many people’s lives.
2. Community Workshops
Red Shoe Workshop
After holding my first two community Red Shoe Workshops, I realized how powerful this workshop is for those who are unemployed and living in dire circumstances. It opens the participants up to a world of possibility and shows them that they are capable of making something beautiful out of the difficulties they have faced in their life. The safe and supportive environment within the workshop space, combined with the story-telling element, has the effect of uniting and bonding the group, due to the newfound trust and understanding.
Embroidery Workshops
I have developed a programme of creative sewing workshops that build on the foundation that is laid in the above workshop. The intention is of further develop the women’s skills, in order to enhance their ability to support themselves.
Product Development
I offer a variety of creative sewing workshops that teach community members how to translate their embroideries into marketable products.
Afro American Patchwork
This sewing workshop is designed to help students break free of the rigidity of traditional patchwork. It will encourage spontaneity, improvisation and a playful approach to colour and fabric. Though still rooted in tradition, the work that emerges from this workshop will have a fresh and individual feel.
Students need not have a prior knowledge of patchwork or quilt making.
Contact me if you wish to attend this creative sewing workshop or if you would like to arrange one in your area.
Duration: 2 Days
Level: Beginners - Intermediate
Bags of Fun Workshop
In this workshop, we will make practical, but stylish fashion accessories. These will be richly textured, embellished bags, for either day or evening wear. Techniques will include quick machine appliqué, embroidery and simple beading. This is a fun way to learn new skills and make something you can use or give as a gift. The workshop will be spread over two sessions. The first full day will be given to exploring decorative design and in the second session you will construct your bag/s.
Level:Intermediate
Duration:2 Days
Next Workshop coming in January 2012
Drawing Workshops
Weekly drawing classes for beginner and intermediate ability adults.
The classes are designed specifically for those people who have the desire, but lack the confidence to draw. Often people believe that it’s just not possible to learn, because they haven't been blessed with a natural talent, but I have found that anyone with average eyesight and coordination can learn to draw. It is a fundamental skill and an important form of expression, in the same way that speaking and writing are.
I offer a range of classes from those for the complete beginner, where we go through all the basics, to a more intermediate level where we focus on specific themes and techniques.
We work in a range of mediums, including pencil, pen, ink, charcoal, coloured pencil crayon, chalk pastels, collage and mixed media, which can include watercolour and acrylic paint.
Learning to draw can be an enormously rewarding pastime and an extremely therapeutic activity. My classes are well structured and each lesson builds on the one before.
The atmosphere in the classes is safe, relaxed and informal.
These workshops start in January and go throughout the year until mid December. Students may join at any stage.
Contact me if you wish to attend this workshop or to arrange a workshop in your area.
Creative Journalling
The purpose of journaling is to stop, see, observe and become aware of the world we live in, as well as to document and record our responses to it. Daily journaling activates the creative juices, unblocks and creates flow of our thoughts and ideas. It can be an intensely satisfying experience to watch one’s journal transform into an artwork that records our individual world.
The aim of this workshop, therefore, is to build and sharpen awareness of both inner and outer worlds, i.e. to become more aware of the details of one’s environment and at the same time to be conscious of oneself in it.
It develops the participant’s ability to record, interpret and add meaning to the experiences of their life, which is an extremely useful skill for artists, writers and the like, but is also essential for university students needing to document their fieldwork experience.
Essentially the workshop focuses on the following:
- Developing observation skills and sharpening awareness.
- Interpretation of observations through both objective and subjective lens.
- Discovering and developing skills in the use of different media suitable for creatively documenting the observations.
For the purpose of the workshop, students put together a journal that focuses on and documents the theme and subjects of the individual course.
