October Workshop: Ghost Prints w/ Aisling Daly
As the nights begin to lengthen and days shorten, October is a cosy time to bunker down and set ourselves up for a creatively fruitful winter. But with the distractions and delights of summer dried and fading away, often this time of year can leave us feeling a bit blank.
The Ghost Prints workshop will focus on following the trail of breadcrumbs that are the impressions and indentations left by previous figures (real and imagined) on the landscapes we tread as artists today. Through examining the residue of the past, we will cast an eye back to the ghosts that shadow our lives, acknowledging their presence and allowing their influence to shape our present work. Together, we will use the comforting weight of history to overcome blankness or perceived emptiness and harvest a sense of enriching creative fulfillment.
In this workshop, we will use written, visual and aural prompts as a jumping off point, creating and recreating, layering experiences, impressions and materials.
The goal of this workshop is to provide a space where we can move through time to find new places to create from and through. We will examine the concept of “newness,” and contest the idea that as artists we must begin each day facing a blank page. We will explore the messy, layered and often surprising, personal and impersonal histories carried within and scattered around us.
Using contemplative exercises, we will aim to become better attuned to our surrounding landscapes (or cityscapes or living-room/kitchenscapes) and harness these spaces as channels for our work.
As the days shorten over the course of the workshop, our focus will gradually shift inward and we’ll document that shift in our creative work.
Finally, as we approach Hallowe’en, we’ll begin to explore the history of ghost stories and create our own ghost prints using whichever medium we feel called to use. This will not be a scary exercise but rather a reflective, stimulating and comforting expression of our creativity in response to the changing of the seasons.
Come and join us!
Goals: It is my hope that each participant of this workshop will gather from our time together:
- an array of tools that can be used to overcome feelings of creative emptiness or fear of the blank page.
- a sense of working with rather than against history, building upon rather than starting anew.
- a designated holding space for creative stimulation and expression that feels supportive and attractive for the winter months.
- historical curiosity and the means/motivation/confidence to pursue a history/ghost/object-inspired creative project in their chosen creative medium.
Materials:
- pen, paper – or – computer/typewriter – or – chosen artistic medium: e.g. paint, clay, pencil, pastels, charcoal, instrument
- printer – and/or – old magazine
- a favourite book, drawing or other artifact
- there will be the option to use movement as part of each workshop session; however, the ability to physically move will not be a requirement
Aisling Daly is a graduate of the Jack Kerouac School's MFA program and is currently living and writing by the sea in either Wicklow or West Cork, Ireland. She is particularly interested in the intersection and overlap of history and everyday life. As well as writing, she has a keen interest in visual art and all forms of creative expression including singing, storytelling, painting, drama and pottery. Nature is her biggest source of inspiration, and she loves nothing more than taking off into the hillside with her two rescue pups, Max and Teddy.
Logistics:
- Workshops consist of one video per week for each week in the month. Videos are 45-60 minutes long, and are shared on a private YouTube account.
- Class discussions are held via Slack.
- All readings, creative prompts, and shared artwork will be exchanged via a private Google Drive folder.
- All workshops are designed for you. Dedicate as much or as little time to the workshop per week as you'd like.
- This workshop is taught in English, but collective.aporia offers subtitles for the workshop videos in over 60 languages. If you have questions about language accommodations, please feel free to email us at [email protected].
[Image credit: Johannes Plenio]
