Now I know, we all can draw: Art is expression NOT perfection

Five of us gathered in a room for a half day art session, Sunday 27.09 in Bergen, Norway. Christine, the artist, was leading the day. The art session was organised to help us prepare for the project's art workshop. We all wanted to experience doing art and feel at ease with it, before we practically take part in the workshop or formally lead participants. It was also great for our Ambassadors to experience and embrace it.

“We are going to draw five different things. I will name what you will draw, and you have to take 30 seconds to get done with it…then we move to the next.” Said Christine the Artist. I could feel nervousness in the room. We all looked at each other wondering what it is we would be asked to draw… Milfrid took a deep breath and started giggling. “Draw a pig…. a house…. a monkey….a mouse, a tortoise…” said Christine. We joined Milfrid’s happy and anxious giggles as we drew……sometimes silently concentrating on our particular drawing process, sometimes giggling and pipping through to see each other’s drawings. It was such a fun process! It brought so much of our childhood memories…., “when we used to draw freely”. But we were all curious about what Christine would think of our drawings afterwards, wondering….

Christine took a round looking at each of our drawings. Spot on! “So it is easy to tell what we have drawn?..wow!” She was right about every drawing she named. Her feedback on our drawings calmed us. We all loved our drawings even more afterwards. “Art is not about perfection; it is an expression of what the mind remembers and how it remembers it” said Christine as she concluded this session. This was the second activity of the art workshop we had for the day…

Christine’s lecture on art

Before the above activity, Christine had given us an interesting lecture on art. We learnt things like:

Expression of music through art…….”What kind of music is expressed through this art piece? Guess!"

It is amazing how faint art can be….yet full of meaning. Any thoughts about the art below?

How would you interpret this painting?

A Visit to Bergen Kunsthallen

We ended the day with a walk to one art museum in Bergen – Bergen Kunsthallen. Most of the art displayed there was by Joar Nango, a Norwegian-Sami artist. There was endless variety of art in the museum: sounds, collected items, music, sculptures, paintings, storytelling.

My conclusion after this wonderful art day is: “Art is in everything! Our minds are continuously expressing art without us necessarily noticing”. This said, I know that The Drawing together Project is practical and easy to do. It will bring out unique personalised expressions of people’s experiences on relationships. I can’t wait to start drawing again!

After experiencing art, ourselves, we are ready to start recruitment. This week, we will meet to role play different ways of recruiting. This is mainly to prepare our ambassadors to get ready to make contacts and pass them on to researchers for further explanation.

By

Masego