Creating and Sharing Space for Creative Respite

I’m (quietly) launching a short video about my printmaking and teaching practice, a need to have found my own space for creative respite, and a deep desire to share with others looking for their own creative respite.

We are, at heart, creative beings. Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Is. Creative. In one way or another. Some people paint or cook or garden or build. Me? I print! And I love sharing my printmaking skills with people wanting to learn.

A key objective with my workshop program is to teach different printmaking skills in a way that makes them accessible and easy to do in the comfort of students’ own homes. Some processes are a little easier than others, but many can be done without having to spend big money, invest large amounts of time, or need vast space to work in.

Printmaking can be a wonderful way to enjoy a creative outlet if you’re not interested in, or feel a little intimidated by, painting and drawing. It is also a fabulous accompaniment to painting and drawing. And lends itself to mixed-media techniques perfectly.

I find great respite in my own printmaking practice. It helps me mindfully disappear in to a creative space where I can leave anxiety outside the studio door.

Simply being in my studio … printing or sitting or reading or teaching … is where I find respite.

And I have big plans around sharing my studio with more people wanting moments of their own creative respite.

This video is one small component of those plans.

Another component – I am building an online version of my physical studio space; and in that space I am recreating my workshops for an online audience. I launched my online portal last year with its first workshop, Gelatin Plate Monoprinting. The second online workshop is in production now. I’m a little behind my own schedule, but hopefully within the next 4 weeks I will have it online.

In my online studio portal I want to share, as best I can, everything that people love when the visit or attend a workshop at the real, physical studio space.

In need of Creative Respite

And people I hope to connect with are people looking for creative respite from life’s stressors, anxiety and other mental health issues, and unpaid Carers of family members and loved ones who desperately need some creative time to themselves.

I personally identify with mental health issues, and being a Carer – I have my own history of anxiety and depression, and I am the Carer for my husband, a war veteran with PTSD. So I know first-hand how valuable and powerful finding my own source of creative respite has been to my own sanity.

Whether I can manage 5 minutes, and hour, half a day or a luxurious week of ‘studio time’ … it is enough to give me something to get to and through the next challenge.

But I’ll write more about this later … there is still come planning and prep work to do.

Behind the Scenes

Below are some behind the scenes photos from our filming day. We shuffled a lot around the studio. Many years ago I worked with advertising agencies making television commercials. I loved being behind the scenes for each production. It was fun turning The Studio into its own film set for the day.

And while Maggie didn’t make the cut for the final film, you can see that she was there supervising us all day.

The Filmmaker – Sam Hagan, Human Story Films

Sam Hagan, Founder, Director, DP, Editor, Gaffer of Human Story Films is the magic behind this film. I first saw Sam’s work after he filmed Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith from Deckled Edge press for a Sunshine Coast Council ‘Meet the Makers’ project.

His approach to story telling, his visual style, his calming manner … all worked to make him the perfect fit to help me tell the story of what I am working on building. Thank you Sam!

I love making beautiful images, solving problems and sharing stories that explore the things we all share rather than what separates us. Stories connect to the heart to help move the mind.
Sam Hagan www.thehumanstory.film