This past week has marked a year since I was in France, with Nomadways, working with an amazing and inspiring group of people talking and learning about storytelling. At the outset of the residency, we were each given a small notebook to keep track of our days, make notes, write, draw and dream in. I…
Tag: France
New Experiments – sharpening my saw
We had a 4 day weekend here recently – something that I don’t often allow myself to embrace fully. This huge luxury of free time! What would I do with it all? I rolled out a new 4′ X 6′ paper on the wall of my working space and started looking at the next 3…
Two more energizers
Further to last post, I thought I could include a couple more ways to get a group moving: Silvia‘s energizer was fun and got us moving. I don’t know what to call it and so name it: Silvia’s energizer The group stands. Starting with one arm, shake it vigorously while counting to 16. Switch to…
Two energizer activities from Stories We Tell
While we were in Bernay-en-Ponthieu we did a variety of different energizer-style activities at different times to perk us up or shift the energy of the room. It’s high time I put some here, wouldn’t you say? The first one was offered up by Meriç: ‘The sun shines on…’ This game is very similar to…
Other projects – words and games
Well, scheduled posting is a great thing. While it seems like I’ve been here all week creating new posts about our time in Bernay-en-Ponthieu, the reality of my life has involved a lot of cleaning my basement. The flood has now been diverted, thanks to a lot of help from a dear friend, and my…
Sound Story
A new experience for me in Bernay was creating stories that had no words or images in them. On day 4 of the workshop experience we listened to a traditional/historical story of the Bernay region, and without speaking, we took a piece of paper and each drew our favorite part of the story. Still without…
Bernay Stories
This was one of my favorite writing activities while we were working together in Stories We Tell with Nomadways. We were released into the community in small groups to explore and collect ideas and inspiration for 3 different types of stories. Our group worked together to find sounds and sights for each other’s stories, and…
Scavenger Hunt Story
We did this workshop in the afternoon of the first day in Stories We Tell with Nomadways. It was on the schedule as ‘team building’ – it was, and so much more. The charm of this was being in a country that was not my own, in a sweet and bucolic small town steeped in…
Update from the bucket brigade…
I’ve been back in Canada a little over a week now, settling in to regular life again with a few bumps along the way – the biggest one being that my basement has been taking on water for 8 days now. Crazy. I’ve got a sump-pump running down there to keep things as dry as…
Post Bernay-en-Ponthieu
I’m here, settled back in the apartment with Mom in Paris. It’s been a whirlwind. The time in Bernay has been full of all kinds of growth and change – much of it will take time to really understand and articulate. We did more in a day than I could ever have imagined and the…
Day 8
Today we did a comic workshop in the morning…a page based on a childhood anecdote.
Day 5 commences…
This morning our first job was to re-imagine a fairy tale from the perspective of a different character. We were assigned our tale and broken into groups. We had a chance to discuss things, then we headed off to different corners to write our tales. This is mine: As a young child, she was abandoned…
March – in Like a Lion
I am here in the North of France, in Bernay-en-Ponthieu, with Nomadways in a two week residency with 20 other people from all around the world exploring storytelling. We began in earnest yesterday morning – the days are packed with different activities, and punctuated with delicious food. I can safely say that I have never,…
Looking forward, looking back
It’s been an unusual winter for me. I’ve had several shifts in my health over the last couple of months which have precipitated long stretches of sitting/laying on the couch. I’ve been doing some drawing, trying to keep up with contracts, but in all honesty it’s been difficult to get it all done. Anyone who…
Big news!
I’ve been sitting on this since Sunday. I’ve been accepted to join an artist residency in France in February/March 2017 in Bernay en Ponthieu with Nomadways.eu for a workshop by the name of Stories We Tell: Stories We Tell will invite artists and youth workers from various corners of Europe to meet and exchange on…