On Saturday I led a group of creative artists on an art trip to Moor House Natural Nature Reserve in Upper Teesdale. We were invited to participate in the reserve’s 60th anniversary celebrations by Heather McCarty, Lead Outreach Advisor for National Nature Reserves Delivery North Team. I was keen to participate as this is the land of my maternal ancestors and I have never been onto this remote part of the reserve before.
As you can see, the event was well attended by people of all ages who are dressed for the winter weather despite the fact that it is mid-May. I discovered that the cold wind penetrates through even five layers if you stand still for more than a few minutes but at least we did not have to contend with the swarms of midges that come out once temperatures start to climb.
Different activities were arranged for different groups during the course of the day such as sessions on; haymeadows, scientific littter and sphagna. We artists were taken on a guided walk by one of the reserve’s volunteers who talked to us about the flora and fauna that thrive in this seemingly barren landscape.
Our brief was to soak up the atmosphere and produce art work inspired by the day. Below are my early musings which will evolve into a poem for my new collection ‘From the land of my ancestors’ during the course of the next few weeks.
The land of my maternal ancestors
is windswept, water-logged, remote
tundra that reminded them of their Viking
homelands where the climate
was influenced by such icelandic currents
as those sweeping across the snow-clad summit
of Cross Fell today, in mid-May 2012.
When the wind drops I stand still
experience the silence as my feet
seep into the peat bog. For a moment
I shift to a younger part of myself
reconnect to deep-rooted genetic memories.
I scan the barren crags dissected
by burns and sikes hidden
beneath layers of moorland heather
soak up the feeling of being
on the roof of the world.
I do not stop to appreciate
the mosses and grasses,
the grouse, curlews and lapwings
but I have seen into a deeper
part of my self.
As the wind strikes my left cheek
I come back to the barren landscape
that reflects my family’s history.
I shrug my black woollen hat
over my ears and plough my way back
through the blanket bog like a sheep
lost on a bouncy castle.
My musings continue but I think that’s enough to give you a sense of where the poem is going.
June Redfearn, another artist who took part in the day was inspired to paint one of the sikes and would like to share the following thoughts with you.
‘I last visited Moor House over 50 years ago and felt very priveleged to be able to go there again for the 60th anniversary of the Nature Reserve. There is a great appreciation for all the work and research that has been carried out over the years through the Nature Conservancy and later Natural England on Moor House Nature Reserve. To me, the place is so remote and yet so beautiful in terms of its landscape and flora. I found Rough Sike with the dark limestone outcrops and the woodland and moorland background an inspiration for my painting.’
Find new Shakespearean Sonnets
I am currently working on sonnets with the Turrets youth theatre group who are aiming for Special Olympic Edition Bronze Arts Awards. Their latest challenge is to produce a new Shakespearean or English sonnet form Shakespeare’s 154 sonnet titles. To make the task easier I have grouped the titles according to end rhymes. The students’ first task is to read through the titles and select those of interest to them. You can do this by googling Shakespeare’s sonnets and scrolling through the lists. My selection includes:
Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest
Thus
is this cheek the map of days outworn
When I do count the clock that tells the time
A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted
The last two were also chosen by several of the students.
The next stage of the exercise is to form the selected lines into a 14 line sonnet of 3 quatrains and 1 couplet with the rhyming scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
I created a found poem this way for one of my M. A. assignments a few years ago. At the time I chose to study the work of Christina Rossetti and came up with the sonnet Life out of Death which is written in a more modern pattern while keeping to the original rhythm and rhymes.
Life out of Death
(after Christina Rossetti)
Her tree of life dropped from the root;
She bore me under the rose.
Thou keepest thy sweetness till the twilight’s close,
Barren through life, but in death, bearing fruit
True best is last, true life is born of death.
She, woman in her natural grace,
A spirit with transfigured face.
My love of you was life and not a breath.
Welding one whole of two divided parts,
Remember me when I am gone away,
To die, then live again.
None knows the choice I made and broke my heart.
Ah, pleasant pebbly strand so far away,
My spring will never come again.
This poem was described as: ‘ a strong piece of poetry and one which, as a found poem using the work of Christina Rossetti, has allowed the poet to investigate and explore her rhythms, imagery, tone and key motifs.’
It could be improved by rewriting the archaic language in more modern terms. This was something that the students immediately felt that they would like to do with their Shakespearean sonnets. I look forward to seeing their new versions this week.
You can use this exercise to explore the work of a poet of your choice, developing a found poem from the ones you enjoy reading and rewriting them in your own poetic voice and style, either traditional or modern.
Scrapbook your family history
Family Tree Scrapbook Page
‘Create a scrapbook for your novel’ was one of this year’s writing tips mentioned in a previous post. I would like to introduce you to the idea of creating a scrapbook of your family history.
Family historians usually gather boxes of documents, photographs, memorabilia, certificates etc. but don’t know what to do with them thereafter. Scrapbooking is one way of compiling them into a coherent whole and involving younger members of the family in the process.
One of my students did just this for her personal project during the ‘Creative Writing Skills & Techniques for Life Writers’ course. She focussed on one branch of the family and engaged her grandchildren in designing their family tree, creating photograph collages etc. The end result was a large A4 level arch file of documents, diary excerpts etc. woven together to tell the story of a family holiday taken by different generations of the same family. The pages were customised by the grandchildren as shown in the photographs. During the process many family stories were shared and can be retold in future via the stimulus of the family file which will be passed down the generations.
People of all ages love to leaf through such files. Their attention is caught by colours, stickers etc. which make for a more interesting page.
Scrapbooking is a delightful creative activity which provides the opportunity for a different freedom of expression than more traditional recording methods. It enables you to get in touch with your inner child and explore your creative talents.
Scrapbooking techniques which lend themselves to creating a story from your family history research include: collage, commemorative pages, decoupage, felting, journaling, quilling, stenciling and creative timelines. It is also useful to think about creating a colour theme or repeating a symbol throughout the pages as a background thread to draw the whole together.
I have seen students paste in swatches of material from significant garments such as wedding dresses or christening gowns. The addition of textiles allows one to appeal to the reader’s sense of touch. While we are on the subject of the senses, don’t forget that it is possible to spray scraps of paper with your favourite perfume. The pages will retain the scent in the same way as pressed flowers do.
If you’re looking for a new way to make your family history into an interesting read I propose giving scrapbooking a try. I’m trying my hand at this to produce a visual timeline for my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. My husband and I have had a laugh while hunting out old photographs from birth to the present day and finding humourous captions to go with them to tell our story.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you more sample pages to whet your appetite for scrapooking your family history.
Scrapbook page
Text and stickers
Inspired by Gaudi
As I mentioned in my previous post, the first architectural features to impact upon me in Barcelona were the trees. No matter what the species, they were all like those shown in St. Augustin’s square, with sinuous branches stretching up to three times the length of squat trunks. I’ve not witnessed such weird growing shapes before and deduced that they have evolved this way as they are competing with the surrounding buildings for light and air. Oddly enough they often echo shapes found in Gaudi’s architectural designs which are said to be inspired by the patterns and structures found in nature.
Since my weekend visit to the city I have been working on a poetic response to the buildings that I visited during my stay and had to include a reference to Gaudi’s chimneys. It seems to me that he gave free reign to his imagination on the rooftops, creating a unique skyline which must have seemed futuristic in its day. What surprises me is that his patrons allowed him to exercise such creative freedom.
Whilst browsing the books in the souvenir shop at La Perdrera, I came across a copy of Li by David Wade. This booklet explains the dynamic forms found in nature and has given me added insight into Gaudi’s designs, particularly the chimney decorations. Here is my poem so far. It has a working title of Inspired by Gaudi.
Barcelona’s topsy-tury trees
disrupt the patterns of my mind.
I struggle to cross-match them
with known species
of sycamore and lime.
I register the squiggles
and scrawls of a lattice
of limbs which stretch
their skeletal forms
seven storeys high,
consider whether their predecessors
were the source of inspiration
for Gaudi’s creative designs
or some other resonance
more serpentine;
a Medusa whose sinuous curves
are discerned in the stone
seats, arches, pillars and facades
of la Perdrera, parc Guell
and la Sagrada Familia.
But how to relate to the pallau rooftops
procreated by chimneys
whose crystalline camouflage
encapsulates a mosaic of memories.
I decipher the confusion
of fossilised impressions,
slough off my outer skin,
shift into original form
to assimilate this reptilian world.
Although I intend the poem to be read as 5 line stanzas, and have attempted to achieve this appearance through a series of edits, it insists on being published in one long sequence.
Gaudi’s Barcelona
Parc Guell Viaduct
I spent Easter weekend walking around Barcelona, visiting the architectural creations of Antonio Gaudi. First off was the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral which is still under construction and looks as though it will never be finished.
Disappointed by the camouflage of cranes and bubblewrap around the spires, not to mention the crocodile of visitors wrapped around the outside, we made a brief refreshment stop at the ubiquitous Starbucks before pressing on to Parc Guell.
Originally conceived as a ‘garden city’ this was a surprising use of space, ornamented today by a variety of musicians and a handful of artists. Walking from one end of the parc to the other did not take very long but looking back from one viewpoint to another gave the illusion that one had covered many miles.
Expressing form and space in a unique way is one of Gaudi’s signature tradmarks, another is his use of shapes inspired by studying nature. The steps up to the parc bear the inscription: ‘All comes from the book of nature’ in several languages.
Born to a family of metalsmiths in 1852, this upbringing is said to have influenced his concept of spatial design.
An outstanding feature of the parc is the serpentine seat which is supported by a pillar structure not unlike that of the viaduct but demonstrates another aspect of his artistic style, the trencadis or mosaics made from shards of tiles in Moorish patterns.
The Serpentine Seat
Words associated with Gaudi’s work time and time again are: undulating, meandering, contorted, sinuous, serpentine, and snakeskin-patterned. In fact he seems to have had a preoccupation with the reptile kingdom. Snakes, dragons, serpents, lizards and chameleons are regular features of his work.
La Perdera
This led me to the idea that La Pedrera, which the Catalonians refer to as ‘the stone quarry’ is more like Medusa’s lair than an appartment block. I let my imagination wander along these lines and am working on a poem based on a hero rescuing his love from the Arabian guards (the ornamental ventilation towers) on the rooftop.
As a poet, the lessons that I can learn from Gaudi are to: - come up with an innovative construction- use ornamental methods based on the shapes, colours and geometry of nature- depart from the traditional designs of the day.
Gaudi was also fortunate to secure the backing of wealthy industrialists who allowed him to give his imagination free reign.This in turn has provided Barcelona with a legacy of buildings which resemble the skeletons of the organisms which he studied.
I was fascinated with the skeleton of a sponge, though I don’t know how I would express its intricate latticework in words. However, I was pleased to see that another architect has drawn inspiration from La Pedrera and designed a facade with the reverse image of Gaudi’s appartment block onto a department store in a nearby street.
The view gives you an idea of the long walk back. I cannot recall spending so many hours walking the streets of a city (6+ per day) but there is so much to take in as Gaudi is not the only architect to have left his mark on the buildings. Among my favourites is the peach coloured one in the Ramblas adorned by Chinese fans, parasols and a green dragon.
Oriental building on the Ramblas
Family History Event
Family History Event/Colburn Children's Centre
For the past two days I have been engaged in a Family History Event at Colburn Children’s Centre, The Broadway, Colburn, Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. This was a free family event called ‘Story Factory’ which involved families in researching and recording their family history. I delivered this event in conjunction with family history research tutor, Helen Robinson. At lunchtime each day we were joined by professional story-teller Roop Singh.
On the first day we focussed on starting family history research and putting together a memory box as a way of collecting family stories to pass down the generations. Overnight families selected objects to bring in to share their stories with other families on the morning of the second day. During story share we heard from Anna (age 4) who told us about her teddy, her tidy up cup and swimming badge. Her sister Sophie (age 2) showed us her favourite toy and an egg she had decorated herself. It was the first time she had spoken so confidently in front of others.
Anna and Sophie’s parents shared their original idea of transfering family photos to fridge magnets as a constant reminder and talking point about family activities. Although they had already done some family history research and recording of their own, they also took part in creating a family story book with the help of the girls.
Oliver (age 5) brought a number of treasured possessions to the story chair and told us why they were special to him. He and his family have started a family-themed memory box. His sister Poppy (age 2) introduced us to her favourite doll called ‘Baby’. Together they made paper people and a family tree for their story book. Helen had already worked with them the previous day to show them how to build a family tree using lego people.
Before lunch Roop produced an Indian puppet family and used them to tell the story of a young boy growing up and doing different jobs to earn money in India. His message to the children was how useful it is to be able to read and write and do sums in order to find a job.
Although the two days were quite a challenge as our audience were younger than expected, we quickly adapted to their skills and abilities. Focussing on story-telling rather than writing skills and arts & crafts activities to produce an image-based story book meant that the whole family were able to work together to produce a family history record that they can use to tell and retell their stories.
Parents were given advice and guidance on how to continue both researching and recording their family story and we had an enjoyable and rewarding two days. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to participate in childhood activities that I used to play with my grandparents such as Kim’s game and making paper people.
A Worthy End
W.E.A. Creative Life Writing Group
Make the end worthy of the beginning was my third writing tip for 2012. A worthy end was found for the penultimate session of the W.E.A. Creative Life Writing Group in Darlington this week. Members of the group presented their projects to an audience of peers. Although not everyone has come to the end of their project, as some are engaged in writing lengthy pieces, the challenge was to present a chapbook version.Several of the group chose to format their stories along the lines of the different life writing genres explored during the Autumn term.
Sue chose the epistolary style and wrote letters to the grandma she never knew. The inspiration for this came from the exercise on unsent letters. Sue commented that the writing she has produced for this project is a distillation of all previous courses in a wide variety of subjects, history, geography, etc.Gillian combined her memories with a collection of objects in a memory box to pass down the generations. The picture below illustrates the two objects mentioned in her first chapter (The anemone hat and the Child’s Story Books) while Stella (to her right) tried her hand at diary/journal style of writing to produce a ship’s log of her journey through France on a canal bought renovated by herself and her husband. Dulcie combined all three styles in a scrapbook collection full of family certificates, photographs, census records, diary excerpts etc. - a worthy end for all her family history research.
Other members of the group are compiling non-fictional accounts based on chidhood memories and recent experiences in overcoming both physical and mental health problems. One learner tackled a fiction project and is rewriting her second novel set in the sixteenth century and I am working on a new collection of poetry based on family history.
‘An inspirational course. I achieved more than I expected and it was so enjoyable.’ Susan
‘It has been a positive and motivating experience.’ Jean
‘Very much on the way to achieving goals thanks to excellent teaching and cooperative group.’ Vesta
If you would like to join a creative writing group to inspire and motivate you to achieve your writing goals, please contact me via e-mail on julema@tiscali.co.uk or telephone 07808 063944 New courses start in Darlington and Richmond, North Yorkshire in April.
