The Lisen Profile Travel Journal
8th July 2011
Dear Carole, Diane, Eileen, Ian and Jo,
I hope that this letter finds you well. Many thanks to Diane, Eileen, Ian and Jo for attending this week, I’m sorry that the workshop didn’t work out quite as planned. It seemed that taking the journey from the old to the new library didn’t fit as we had less time; however us taking the journey and talking about it was the main part of that workshop. Maybe we could take it at another time that is better for people? Anyway it was good to have a good rant at each other and attempt to set the world to rights!
So this is the last week of part 1!
In the first week we looked at the exhibition that brought us together in the first place. We looked at how the artist had created a situation where people took journeys to observe and document a place.
In the second week we met at the allotment to explore how we travel around a place. How we observe things on our journeys; how we notice certain things and not others; how we each record what we see differently. Looking out for certain shapes and materials proved a really interesting way of exploring our environment.
Week three saw us visit the Foxhill art for health exhibition at the Clock Tower Gallery, exploring the journey of an art group and the benefits of coming together in a group and being creative.
And last week we met in Parson Cross to look at how moving the location of an important centre in an area could affect people journeys within that area and how they feel about the area. We talked about the importance of local journeys and all had a turn on the soapbox to have a good old rant about modern life!
In between each meeting we have been using the postcards to record past journeys, current journeys, favourite destinations and fantasy journeys. These, combined with the journeys we have explored in the workshops, have been building personal record of how and where we journey. We have also continued our shape records in order to explore the areas around us differently. The differences in outcomes of this has proved very interesting, from Jo’s descriptive written shape journal to Ian’s photographic journal that directly feeds in to the work that he is currently exploring.
Workshop 5: Wednesday 13th July 2011
This week we will meet again at the LEAF allotment. This will give us a chance to reflect on the project and have another look at the allotment with Allotment Soup in mind.
We will first discuss our postcards from across the 4 weeks.
· This week is the last week of this section of the project. We will use this week look at how we can bring together some of the elements we have explored so far:
· We will each have a map of Sheffield onto which we will mark lines we have travelled. Over the top of these we will paint, draw, collage and note down shapes we have observed, things we have seen and talked about, places we have been and what we have seen there, comments we have made and what we have got from this project.
· We will then look at the maps and talk about the things that have been most relevant to each of us, the ideas we would like to use in the future, what aspect of journeys could inform each of us in our work.
Task
Please continue your shape records as we will use them this week. Also please think about what has happened at each location at each of our meetings. I will ask you to draw or note certain things onto the map.
I look forward to seeing you all again next week. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Ruthie