Sounding Silence and the Winter Walk
Today I went on a workshop at Wavehill public garden and cultural centre in the Bronx, NY called Sounding Silence and the Winter Walk. It was led by one of my favourite pedagogs, Nicolás Dumit Estevez. Nicolas is a truly empathetic leader, and surrenders to the shared moments people create in the act of being. This walk was no exception. The experience mustered ideas for me of the idividual and the collective and ceated a space where creative ideas flowed through me as we crunched our way thorugh the freshly fallen snow, holding hands to help each other through, and stopping in a circle to share 4 oranges between the 12 of us. There were no phones, no photos, no talking and it created a unified and focused situation within which to contemplate the self. This workshop was an infuential part of my development process for a piece that I am to perform in a couple of months in Australia called Along The Well. You can see that performance on this blog in March.
"Join Winter Workspace artist Nicolás Dumit Estévez in an experiential workshop beginning with a mute stroll around the Wave Hill winter landscape. Also in silence, use the sounds, impressions and mental images collected on the walk to create an individual or collaborative mixed-media artwork in the warmth of the art studio. Oral communication is reestablished toward the end of the session, in time for a conversation on the work generated and on the overall experience. Hot ginger tea and cookies will be served. All workshops with Winter Workspace artists begin in their Glyndor Gallery studios with an introduction to their creative process. Unless otherwise noted, art materials are provided. Ages 10 and older welcome with an adult."
