early on in the planning of this project, we discussed taking the workshops to where the people are. we tried this at the church, and this garnered interest, but no new participants at our sessions.
since last i wrote, we have taken our selves and materials to the bitterne men’s shed – a thriving community of men, mostly older, who were very busy with their own carpentry activity. some showed tentative interest in coming along to one of our sessions another day, and we were also invited back for when they have their art shed up and running. a couple of men did some drawing – the usual story of last drawing when at school – and were pleased with the results.
last saturday, we held a workshop at october books, to accompany the exhibition of work that is currently on show there. it is just a mile or two from our usual stomping ground, and three of our regular drawers attended – as did 6 other men (one from the bitterne men’s shed) who were keen to find out about the project, and who have shown active interest in coming along to the next workshops. time will tell.
following feedback from the regulars (as they will now be known), i decided to run a more structured session – not timetabled to the minute (anyone who knows me will tell you that is not my style …), but instead, i did include the option of taking part in a directed activity – the results of which contributed to a group outcome. everyone who came along took up the offer, even though other, more freeform, options were available.
this project was partly conceived in response to the ‘one man, one bench’ phenomenon that i observed during lockdown and beyond, and it was interesting to me that as the men arrived and started their drawings, they sat at ‘one man, one table’. i quite blatantly rearranged the tables in a circle to encourage a more sociable atmosphere – as the afternoon progressed, conversation bubbled quite comfortably. i wonder how that would have been had i not moved the tables … we will never know.
