Creativity & Joy

Join us for a joyful, creative celebration! You are invited to a special day-long event that will be a chance to use creativity to reconnect and playfully express our journeys of emerging from the pandemic. Renowned artist David Shrigley will kick off the day with a short talk about his art practice, and then throughout the day attendees will be able to take part in interactive activities that will creatively explore the themes of joy, reconnection, embodiment and emergence – and get out of our heads and have some fun, together.

PROGRAMME

David Shrigley: Art, Happiness, etc.

A short talk by David Shrigley about his practice and responses to life and the universe – understanding the valuable spectrum between happy and sad.

David Shrigley OBE is a renowned British visual artist well known for his drawing practice though his work is varied and often conceptual. His work is humorous and razor sharp in its everyday observations with a seemingly effortless ability to capture the zeitgeist and give voice to what many of us struggle to express.

Talk: Pathway to Wellbeing and Happiness

A brief intro to the Sidmouth School of Art concept, community connections and Sidmouth Wallspace.

Louise Cole has a background in community and international development spanning special education, voluntary and local authority settings. She brings a strengths-based collaborative approach to creative change making. Louise is a Director of Sidmouth Coastal Community Hub CIC and Trustee of Sidmouth School of Art.

A choice of workshops:

Staffs of Unshackled Emergence

Join artist Anna Shiels to create a personal, ceremonial ‘staff’ depicting your emerging inner self, from an assortment of crafting materials.  Whether beautiful or flamboyant, disorderly or ridiculous, at the end of the day we’ll invite you to proudly hold your decorated staff aloft as we parade to the beach for our joyful, liberating, closing ceremony. Watch out Sidmouth!

Anna Shiels is a visual artist, puppeteer and co-director of CoCreate Dorset CIC, an arts and wellbeing organisation based in Bournemouth. The team work co-creatively with their participants, using a range of artforms to support creativity, wellbeing and connectedness. www.cocreate.org.uk 

Slow Art in Nature

Explore haptic knowing through mark making, using our bodies and natural materials with artists Gavin Blench and Natasha Duggan.

Natasha Duggan is an Artist & Expert Vascular patient. She is an Advocate for AHSW, LENs & Flourish-MedEd. There’s nothing she loves more than making spaces for creative expression and building connections with the environment.

Gavin Blench is a painter living in South Devon, living with progressive multiple sclerosis. With many years’ experience as an artist and teacher (with a large variety of groups) and was artist in residence for the Dame Hannah Roger’s Trust for many years. Winning a number of awards for his work, he is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Arts and Place at Dartington Hall and is interested in the embodied mark and creative health. He is a South West champion for the Lived Experience Network, and part of the advisory group for AHSW. For this workshop he is keen to stress that you don’t have to consider yourself as “an artist” or “a good drawer” to take part. The focus is about experiencing moving from the body and having satisfying fun with mark making.

Do Your Dance

Come and find your unique joyful movements, that only you can do!  Be lead through a series of simple and playful exercises to unleash your inner dancer and find confidence in your body’s glorious moves! No experience needed, just a touch of curiosity & the urge to dance like you have never danced before!

Chloe Whipple is the founder of Do Your Dance! A dance club which has emerged from the desire to provide a safe and playful space, to let your body fully express its joyful, sassy, powerful self. Chloe trained as a physical theatre performer and has worked as a theatre maker, performer and producer over last decade.  Alongside this she has experience in festival programming & theatre and dance facilitation for children & adults.  

The Orchestra of the Absurd

A surreal, spontaneous collective musical performance using line drawings and found objects. Bring something noisy from home and join the silliest orchestra on the planet (possibly). Together we will make line drawings of our journey through the pandemic, and then, conducted by AHSW General Manager, Hannah Mumby, the group will use noisy objects to perform the drawings, like a musical score! Chaos and hilarity is guaranteed.

Hannah Mumby is General Manager of AHSW, and is also an illustrator and artist – her creative practice focuses on helping organisations and communities find new perspectives on the stories they are telling.

Free Reiki Sessions Throughout The Day – Reiki with Ree

Ree invites you on a peaceful and tranquil journey to reacquaint yourself with your soul by offering 6 exclusive chakra balancing Reiki treatments throughout the day. These treatments will be 20 minutes long, diving deep into connecting you back to your body and feeling balanced with a chakra cleanse.

Ree Humphries recently started her Reiki practice, where she is on a quest to help heal humanity and bring people back in touch with their souls through the healing powers of Reiki. You will not only feel the benefits of this treatment from within but Ree will also provide you guidance in taking ownership of your healing so that you can live life to your full potential.

Reiki with Ree Website  | Instagram @reikiwithree87

Who is this event for?

This event is for people aged 18 and over who have an interest in creativity – some familiarity with creative practice will be helpful, but is not essential.

What will I need?

Attendees will be asked to bring the following:

• An item/object from home that is small enough to fit in their bag, which represents something about their experience of the pandemic
• An object from home that can be used to make sounds (if participating in the ‘orchestra of the absurd’ workshop), e.g. something that rattles / clangs / dings / rustles / anything you can think of, that isn’t a traditional instrument!
• A bag to carry all of this with you on a short 5 minute walk to the beach at the end of the day, and shoes suitable for walking on a pebble beach
• A coat or umbrella – because even though it will be July, you never know!
• A packed lunch or money to buy lunch from a local cafe.

Food and Drink

Tea and coffee will be provided. Attendees will be asked to either bring a packed lunch or head out to support local independent cafes during the lunch hour.

Accessibility

We will be putting together an accessibility pack about the venue (Kennaway House) which will shortly be downloadable from our website. It will include floor plans and information about facilities within the building, which has level access throughout. If you have any specific access requirements or questions, please get in touch with Hannah at info@ahsw.org.uk or by calling/texting 07931 765911.

Tickets

Tickets cost between £15 - £40 and are available at https://www.ahsw.org.uk/event/creativity-joy/

The booking deadline is 20th July 2022.

There will be 60 places available at the event.

We have a limited number of ‘Concession’ tickets available for people who would be unable to pay the members/regular price. These cost £15. We do not want ticket price to be a barrier to you attending the event – if you find that no concessions are available, please contact us.