In this blog artist Andrea Chappell reflects upon recent work delivering nature-based outdoor creative activities across Moray as part of Combine to Create.
My residency is focusing on creative activities in outdoor settings over the course of eight months, in partnership with Nature 4 Health (N4H), Naturally Useful and the Saorseilian Wildflower Meadow.
Over the course of five weeks, in conjunction with N4H Branching Out group, I’ve explored ways we can visualise our sensory responses to the environment.
In the Sanqhuar Woods we’ve mapped sounds using mark-making, textures using relief printing techniques and colours using yarn wraps, creating a collective record of the weekly sessions in visual form.
“I often look at this, but never in this way.”
“Its very meditative and forces you to look really closely.”
Unexpected responses to familiar things prompted a second glance at the everyday…creating visuals that depict this group that gathers in the round, to share food over a fire, observe the changing nature around and within themselves, to create the narrative for a collective story to be passed on.
Slowly a more detailed picture emerged over the course of the activities that supplemented the N4H twelve week programme. Trust has been fostered through these collaborative acts, repeated with care and calm in an otherwise fragmented group that joined seeking individual paths through challenging times.
These weekly sessions have offered an unlikely outcome— employment for a member of the group with significant textile skills, in a role and environment suited to her needs, from a relationship that was built during this residency that now continues to nurture and develop in a commercial creative practise.
“So many opportunities have been irrelevant for my skills, or inappropriate to my needs, it’s just amazing to have made this connection this way.”
Emma Wyatt (new employee)
Andrea Chappell is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice continually evolves, from graphic designer to printer to kiltmaker and on. Andrea is driven by a passion for crafts, collaboration and telling stories of people and place.
Find out more about Combine to Create on our project page.
