Delivering this week’s underlined project workshop at a Hull-based Memory Café was great fun, with some fantastic work produced and wide-ranging conversations. As a group, we shared experiences of time in Scotland, the efficacy of midge-repellents, what type of paper could represent water, and how to make a weir! We started the session by looking at the work people had produced in September’s workshop and discussing the visual qualities of my responsive piece based on their collage. This led into a discussion of collage techniques in general, during which we looked at the work of Kurt Schwitters and Henri Matisse, paying particular attention to the quality of edges, use of scale and the various types of material used. People then chose a place that meant something to them, and discussed what it was about the place that made it important to them. We then reflected on how we could communicate these places in an imaginative or abstract way, perhaps thinking about making important things bigger than expected or connecting unexpected objects from the same place. Everyone then set about making their collages, in an atmosphere of concentration and conversation. Some fantastic work was produced, from colour coordinated shopping bags in a shopping centre scene, to an individually styled bluebell wood cut delicately to produce a relief effect on the background, and walking boots approaching Ben Nevis, not to mention a quirky bridge with people looking over it!
Thanks to everyone who took part and contributed to making this such an enjoyable experience.
See below for some of the collage work produced by workshop participants. All the work produced from the memory café workshops will form part of the underlined project exhibition to be held in Hull Central Library, later this year. Watch this space for more information!
Useful Links:
Click here for more information about booking a workshop
For more about Memory Cafe, and support for those affected by Dementias visit www.alzheimers.org.uk
