I recently had the opportunity to join a newly formed group for local people interested in art and creativity. The Artists on the Green Collective is made up of about 12 local people who all enjoy a creative practice. Some are trained or established artists, and make a living through teaching art and/or selling their work. Others enjoy a creative practice as a hobby, keen to develop skills and be inspired by others. Our mediums of choice include painting, drawing, street art, pyrography, sugarcraft, and of course yarncraft (that’s me!).
We meet monthly to share ideas for community projects, hear about each others’ creative endeavours and discuss exhibitions and shows. We have also started a Sketchbook Circle, which has opened up an opportunity for me to explore a more creative approach to yarncraft. I’m going to share my experience with this through this Sketchbook Circle blog series, beginning with the theme of “anchoring”.
What is a Sketchbook Circle?
A Sketchbook Circle is a collaborative creative project. Each member of the circle buys a sketchbook and decides on a theme. The theme is a single word which acts as a prompt, and is open to interpretation. We start by creating a piece of work in our own sketchbook based on our theme. When we meet we share this with the group and then swap books so that we have a new theme to work on that month. Once everyone has contributed to every book, we’ll receive our original sketchbook back, full of the group’s creative responses to our theme.
My theme: Anchoring
The prompt word I chose was “anchoring”. The big theme of my life in recent years has been the sense of disorientation that follows bereavement. I lost three of my life’s anchors in a relatively short space of time. This happened off the back of Covid which uprooted so much I took for granted about my life. These experiences have at times left me feeling adrift, unsure of what to hold on to and how to keep afloat. I’ve needed to become much more conscious of what survival and healing means during life’s tough times. It is these ideas and experiences I wanted to explore through my sketchbook.
The purpose is the process
The process of creating something for the sketchbook was challenging. I knew I wanted to use yarn in some way, but I’d never done anything before that wasn’t from a pattern. My inner imposter voice shouted loudly throughout, that I wasn’t an “artist”, everyone else would be doing something beautiful and my efforts would just be embarrassing – who did I think I was that I could take part in something like this?
But I was able to remind myself that the purpose was the process. Doing this creates an opportunity for expressing something important to me. It allows me to take time out of all the busy doing to just be with the ideas, feelings and materials. It helped that the group was warm and encouraging, and quickly established that this was not a competition, but just an opportunity for creativity in whatever form that takes for each of us.
My response to “Anchoring”
In my interpretation of “anchoring” a little paper boat is caught up in a stormy crocheted sea. The boat has lost its anchors but has been able to throw out some lifelines. They’ve reached the still darkness below the waves, but they’re still loose, and haven’t yet found their mooring. Are there enough of them to keep the little boat afloat through the storm?
The materials I chose for this were meaningful to me. My son made the little boat. I used yarn scraps from past projects – each with some significance. Most were from gifts I have made for special people in my life. Some from the few things I have made for myself – all representing the love and care that has held me together. I chose bright colours for the lifelines to signify the joy and hope that persists even in the worst of times.
Sharing with the group
When we met to share our first pieces I was nervous. I worried about what everyone would think of what I’d created, and how it compared to what others had made. But I needn’t have worried. As everyone shared their work the overwhelming feeling in the group was of warmth, encouragement and respect for all our endeavours. It was inspiring to witness others’ talents, and very moving to learn a little about each of them through what they’d made. In turn, it felt meaningful to share something of myself in this way with relative strangers. Alongside the nervousness, discomfort and fear of exposure, I also noticed a kind of creative buzz that feels energising, liberating and has left me keen for more!
Reflections on anchoring
I feel really connected to what I’ve made. I like the story it tells, as well as its colours and textures. It felt meaningful to find a way to express this experience, and satisfying to be able to make my ideas into something tangible. There was also something important for me in articulating this context to a group of people who know very little about me, and in this way honouring the significance of these losses in shaping me. This in itself has felt anchoring.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this process and these connections evolve over the coming months. I’m certainly curious about how I’m going to navigate the imposter syndrome, and my sense of being a hobby knitter in a group of “proper” artists. It also feels exciting to try new things, to be more creative with my craft, and to explore identities outside of my work and domestic life. It has already got me thinking about yarn and knitting in a different way – as having potential to be an artistic medium, rather than solely for making useful things. Let’s see what the next project brings…