BIANCO E NERO A VENEZIA

                                                A spasso per Il Rialto

Questo è un Blog, che vira verso Venezia; semi di idee germogliati la scorsa settimana nella mia mente distrutta dal covid.
Per puro caso mi sono imbattuto in un articolo della RSA ( ( Royal Society of Arts) lo scorso fine settimana che affrontava il divario apparentemente inconciliabile tra un'educazione accademica e una creativa. Leggilo qui. È interessante e troverai la mia risposta nei commenti alla fine, dove spero che tu capisca il mio punto di vista.
Mi era stato chiesto di parlare a un forum al simposio di Fabriano Aquarello qualche giorno prima. Fu qui, come avrete letto, che mi scontrai con la supposizione che la grande importanza del gioco e della creatività nell'educazione dei bambini potesse essere sacrificata sull'altare del rigore accademico.
Ora, nei miei molti anni di lavoro con gli adulti; i molti anni in cui ho sentito l'espressione "non sono creativo"; questi sono stati un grido di battaglia per me per eliminare questa falsa credenza dalle menti delle persone. Un compito che è allo stesso tempo emotivo e illuminante nella sua esecuzione.
Potrei scrivere di molti esempi di questo fenomeno, ma eccone uno classico.......
Solo pochi anni fa, ho tenuto un workshop di fotografia creativa in una città del Regno Unito, dove uno dei partecipanti era il presidente di una certa National Photographic Society (gulp!)
Ma mi ha dato fastidio?..... Sì! Seduto lì compiaciuto con la fotocamera all'avanguardia in grembo attaccata al teleobiettivo più grande che abbia mai voluto vedere.
Comunque il progetto dell'ora di pranzo per i partecipanti era di uscire a cercare cose che chiedessero di essere fotografate.. MA senza portarsi dietro una macchina fotografica.
Quando sono tornato in studio mi stava aspettando in cima alle scale con quello sguardo, quello che dice 'Muori!'
Così mi sono buttato per primo 'Posso farti una domanda?'
Ha mormorato un sì,
"Quanti anni avevi quando ti è stato detto di crescere, di smettere di fare giochi infantili e di rimetterti in forma e studiare?"
Avevi sette anni?'
Era pronto per l'attacco ma all'improvviso il suo viso si sciolse e si dissolse in lacrime e singhiozzi profondi.
Ovviamente l'ho abbracciato e per farla breve, è saltato in tutti i miei giochi (anche dopo) del fine settimana e da allora siamo diventati buoni amici, e la sua fotografia ora riguarda le gioie della vita e la felicità.
Storie simili sono infinite.

Pensando alle città e da piangendo (alla loro bellezza in questo caso), vi farà piacere sapere che il mio prossimo workshop di fotografia è a Venezia, dall'1 al 5 febbraio; Imbolc, la festa celtica del ritorno della luce...Clicca qui per i dettagli
E puoi chiamarmi se vuoi parlarne +39 3283535358 (whatsapp)

O email, micermice@gmail.com

O con Clauida in Italiano  +39 351.5042828 (whatsapp)

Ciao for now,

Michael

 

BLACK AND WHITE IN VENICE

                                        walking towards the Rialto

This is a roundabout Blog, veering towards Venice; seeds of ideas sprouting this past week in my covid wrecked mind.

By pure chance I came across an article from the RSA last weekend which addressed the seemingly irreconcilable gulf between an academic and a creative education. Read it here. It's interesting and you'll find my response in comments at the end where you'll hopefully understand my point of view.

I'd been asked to address a forum at the Fabriano Aquarello (Watercolour) symposium a few days before. It was here, as you will have read, I clashed with the supposition that the vast importance of play and creativity in childrens' education could be sacrificed on the altar of academic rigour.

Now, in my many years of working with adults; my many years of hearing the expression 'I'm not creative'; these have been a battle cry for me to exorcise this false notion from the minds of folks. A task which is both emotional and enlightening in its execution.

I could write about many examples of this phenomenon, but here's a classic one.......

Just a few years back, I held a creative photography workshop in a UK City, where one of the participants just happened to be the President of a certain National Photographic Society (gulp!)

But did it bother me?..... Yes!  Smugly sitting there with the state of the art Camera on his lap attached to the biggest telephoto lens I ever want to see.

Anyway the lunchtime project for the participlants was to go out and look for things which were asking to be photographed.. BUT without taking a camera along. 

When I got back to the studio he was waiting for me at the top of the stairs with that look. You know the one which says 'Die!'

So I jumped in first 'Can I ask you a question?'

He mumbled a yes,

'How old were you when you were told to grow up, to stop playing childish games and to shape up and do your studies?'

Were you seven years old?'

He tightened for the attack but all of a sudden his face melted and he dissolved into tears and deep sobbing.

I of course hugged him and to cut a long story short, he jumped into all my (even dafter ) weekend games and we have since become good friends, and his photography is now about the joys of life and happiness.

Similar stories are endless.

Thinking of Cities and crying (at their beauty in this case), you might like to know that my next phtography workshop is in Venice, February 1st to 5th;  Imbolc, the Celtic festival of the return of the light ...Click here for details

And you can call me if you want to chat about it +39 3283535358 (whatsapp)

Or, email, micermice@gmail.com

Dare luce all'oscurita

 

    un quadro grande fatto del gruppo

Ogni workshop mi riserva una sorpresa ma quest'ultimo a Cittadella più di ogni altro.

Quindi cosa c'era di così diverso?

Abbiamo provato cose nuove.

Abbiamo avuto un Open Day tra i workshop e abbiamo invitato il pubblico a girovagare e vedere cosa stavamo facendo. Abbiamo allestito una mostra di opere d'arte passate e presenti, alcune della nostra mostra di Civitanova Alta a luglio, e, la cosa più sorprendente di tutte è stata un concerto 'one-man' di GONG di Giovanni Del Savio, dove ha dato bagni di gong gratuiti alle persone.

Abbiamo dato dimostrazioni in stampa monocromatica.

Silvio, il titolare di Cittadella, ha orchestrato il catering e anche il tempo ha fatto del suo meglio.

E il gruppo?

Un meraviglioso miscuglio di gente di lingua inglese e italiana che conversava in quel modo meraviglioso che ha l'arte di dissolvere le barriere della comunicazione.

Abbiamo suonato e dipinto; ha provato entrambi contemporaneamente e ha scoperto il potere e la bellezza della vibrazione, come svuota la mente occupata dal suo chiacchiericcio senza senso e consente il colore, la forma e la bellezza.

Abbiamo fatto delle gite alle calde sorgenti minerali di Lu Vurghe per vivere meraviglie sensoriali dove tutti i sensi si fondono in armonia.

Abbiamo percorso le colline tra Montemonaco e Montefortino fino all'alta valle del fiume Ambro, salendo oltre l'Abbazia di Madonna dal Ambro fino agli antichi boschetti pagani e alle cascate dove abbiamo scritto poesie Haiku come se fosse la via più naturale del mondo per rendere omaggio alla natura in questo luogo sacro.

Abbiamo iniziato le nostre giornate con Ci Kung intorno alla piscina e li abbiamo finiti parlando fino a notte fonda, ben dopo che gli altri ospiti di Cittadella avevano lasciato i loro tavoli da pranzo

I giorni in studio ci hanno visto suonare e dipingere e scrivere poesie in armonia l'uno con l'altro e spesso anche insieme, (vedi pittura sopra) e abbiamo riso, cantato e spesso pianto per la pura gioia di essere vivi e nutriti dal maestoso Monte Vettore sospeso in il cielo sopra di noi.

Nella nostra ultima serata abbiamo fatto musica. Giovanni ha distribuito tra noi i suoi numerosi strumenti musicali e (per qualche motivo) Giovanni ha scelto me come direttore d'orchestra. Ma ha funzionato.

E l'ultima mattina il gruppo ha realizzato insieme un ultimo dipinto, che abbiamo lasciato come regalo per Silvio

Tale è la natura dei nostri laboratori Cittadella; celebrare l'arte e la vita stessa, rischiare e sostenersi a vicenda nel creare oltre noi stessi, dare luce all'oscurità.

Lighting the Dark

A creativity workshop in Italy

a group painting by workshop participants

Every workshop brings a surprise to me but this last one at Cittadella more so than any other.

So what was so different?

We tried new things.

We had an Open Day between workshops and invited the public to wander around and see what we were up to. We put up an exhibition of past and present artwork, some from our Civitanova Alta show in July, and then a GONG one-man concert by Giovanni dal Salvio, where he also gave free gong baths to visitors

We gave demonstrations in mono printing too,

and Silvio, the owner of Cittadella, orchestrated the catering (and the weather did its best as well)

And the group?

A wonderful mixture of English and Italian speaking folk who conversed in that wonderful way that art has of dissolving barriers of comunication.

We gonged and painted; tried both simultaneousy, and discovered the power and beauty of vibration, how it empties the busy mind of its nonsensical chattering and allows in colour and form and beauty.

We took trips out to the hot mineral springs of Lu Vurghe to experience sensorial wonders where all the senses blend in harmony.

We travelled across the hills between Montemonaco and Montefortino to the upper valley of the river Ambro, climbing up past the Abbey of Madonna dal Ambro to the old pagan copses and waterfalls where we wrote Haiku poetry as if it were the most natural way in the world as a way of paying homage to nature in this sacred spot.

We began our days with Ci Kung around the pool and ended them talking into the night, well after other Cittadella guests had left their dinner tables

Studio days found us gonging and painting and writng poetry in harmony with each other and often actually together too, (see painting above) and we laughed and sang and often cried at the sheer joy of being alive and nurtured by the majestic Monte Vettore hovering in the sky above us.

On our final evening we made music. Giovanni distributed his many musical instruments amongst us and (for whatever reason) he chose me to be the conductor. But it worked.

And on our final morning the group made one final painting together, which we left as a gift for Silvio

Such is the nature of our Cittadella workshops; to celebrate art and life itself, to take risks and to support each other in creating beyond ourselves and to give light to the dark.

Michael

michael@starstone.org

 

Wednesdays Part 2

 

This is a photo of me sitting on a hillside beneath the majestic Monte Vettore

But it isn't just that

This is a photo of Judy Offord seemingly lost on the edge of a wood on the same hillside

But it isn't just that

This is a photo of Delfi Renzi sitting in the garden of our Energy Centre at Cittadella with Monte Vettore in the background

But it isn't just that either

Duncan Campbell was with us too on our Wednesday special but alas no photo of him. Probably up a tree somewhere, where he is oft wont to be

And listening.

We are all listening

Because this was our sensory day.

A day of opening and exploring our five senses

Spending time on each; a half an hour or so.

Because, you see, it is what we do when we enter our garden of now, our realm of creativity. We open our senses to nature

It is where our minds are free to accept the gifts that Creativity bestows on us; gifts or art; imagery, music, dance, poetry, and all the other wonders that allow us to create beyond ourselves and to give light to the darkness that ever threatens to engulf us,

Next Wednesday, The Sea

LINKS

September workshops  in English and Italian

Cittadella where we work

CONTACTS

Italy: Claudia 351.5042828 claudiarenzistudio@gmail.com

UK: Michael 328.3535358 micermice@gmail.com

What we do on Wednesdays

 Wednesday is our studio day.

We meet, we plan, we make art together .

Usually at my studio in Morrovalle.

Often in the countryside too, when members of our group host us for the day.

We are an international mix of artists which includes poets, authors, photographers and painters, most of whom live in Italy and others in the UK

Our weekends in the Sibillini mountains of Italy are held at Cittadella, our mountain retreat in the Sibillini National Park in September.

Our exhibitions

Earlier this month we had a group exhibition together in Civitanova Alta as part of the 'Rinascita' art celebrations there, first of a series we plan for 2022 where all our hopes are for the rebirth (rinascita) of creative life on our precious planet

Our webinars

Bi-weekly webinars are where we keep in touch with each other in real time, sharing our dreams and ideas about recovery and freedom. Where we share our artwork in poetry, photography and painting

My plan for 2022 is to make Le Marche our creativity hub within Italy, and as a first step, to form a new group (a pod) to exist and run parallel with our current one. And then another and so on and so on. To make Cittadella the energy centre of our activities, where we draw inspiration from its natural beauty and the glory of its setting, high up in the Sibillini mountain range in the lea of the majestic Monte Vettore

                  

Learn more on links below, about...

Cittadella

Our workshops

Michael Eldridge

Listen to an interview with Michael Eldridge here

Contact details;

email Michael: micermice@gmail.com

whatsapp +39 3283535358

In Italian; Claudia Renzi whatsapp  +39 3515042828

Our Mountain Creativity retreat in mid September

Our Creativity Workshop: painting, poetry, writing, adventuring.

Cittadella sits high up in the Sibillini range of mountains under the gaze of the Mt Vettore, the highest of the seven peaks which form a circle and which are linked together by ancient pathways.

It has been our workshop base for the past three years where we have collectively explored our creativity in painting, poetry and adventures in the natural beauty of its surrounding countryside, a magical playground which allows body, mind and spirit a release from the concerns and pressures of life and which gives free rein to the senses. We connect slowly to this world of huge skies, deep forests and mountain glades, gurgling streams and crashing waterfalls; a magical place where there are an ever increasing number of indigenous animals, as its flora and fauna return to their ancient habitats, encouraged by an enlightened re-wilding programme in the Sibillini National Park

Ci Kung morning lesson

Our days began early with Tai Ci and Ci Kung around the pool, where we push away things we don't want in our days, our lives; and then invite in things which we want and desire. Butterflies and honey bees abound in this unpolluted air, and we are all entranced by this symphony of life which abounds at this altitude. It feels as if we too are floating in the sky and it is the very best way to start the day

Then off we trip up the hill to have breakfast, meeting again at 9.30 to discuss the day ahead. 

Mornings were a gentle time at Cittadella. On one we went searching for glades to be alone in; being surprised by rustlings of creatures in the grass and the beauty of deer tearing past us. We spent a day  at Lu Vurghe, an ancient thermal spring near Ascoli, an old Roman resort which has recently been restored to provide hot mini baths above the beach alongside the river Tronto and its rapids. It was a day to dream about and we sketched and painted, wrote poetry and bathed in the hot water pouring from huge rocks. Some of us (one) braved the rapids too.

                                                      Lu Vurghe

Lu Vurghe.........

I lie here.

The river, driven by its own intent,

Fleetingly holds my shape,

Roughly caresses my body,

Rudely probes my secret places.

The future is elsewhere.

The past wiped clean.

Only now fills the void.

A poem by Ruth Dunsby (below)

Most afternoons we devoted ourselves to studio time, sharing ideas and taking time individually to go sketching or painting or writing Haikus and poetry, and dipping into the pool to cool down

Our evenings after dinner (delicious Italian food) were when we would get together to share stories about our daytime adventures. It is a good time, a time when friendships are made and when we relax in the beauty of twilight and the first whispering sounds of the night and the beauty of the stars in this clean mountain air. We were an eclectic group of different nationalities and age groups but so alike in many ways too; in our love of creativity in whatever form, and in our sense of wonder at life's possibilities

La Cena

The Garden at Cittadella

morning get together

Dancing to the end of love (Leonard Cohen inspired)

Click on GALLERY; to see some of this year's work

                     

Michael Eldridge

Tel Michael (whatsapp) +39. 3283535358 to know more about our creativity workshops in 2021

email; michael@starstone.org, or micermice@gmail.com

 

In Italia, chiama Claudia 351 5042828 (whatsapp)

email : claudiarenziart@gmail.com