Workshop

Proposal for a Breath Drawing Workshop

This year I had intended to take a group to a specific site to make drawings related to some breathing meditation exercises using Pauline Oliveros “Sonic Meditation” programme (1971) – although this is more about active listening and making sounds – the exercises can still be applied.  Each Sonic Meditation has a procedure for “1-Actually Making Sounds, 2 – Actively imagining sounds, 3 – Listening to present sounds, 4 – Remembering Sounds” 

Also following the rules of Joseph DeVito and his active listening guidelines. “Receiving,

Understanding, Remembering, Evaluating and Responding.” (DeVito 2000)

These parameters can all be used during active mark making and meditation.

With covid restrictions still in place and also weather restrictions this winter, this hasn’t yet been possible – however, with summer approaching I am working to make this happen locally.

I would like to also propose a workshop for later in the year, possibly at Dorset Place Gallery, Brighton, when we are hopefully free to move around and be together again.

Making these drawings in a space is different from being outdoors in natural environments but I still think it will be a collective and participatory experience and fun and informative for those who wish to take part.

Inviting around 6 people, not necessarily artists, into the space I would ask them to bring their own paper, maybe some items they have to mark make with – feathers, sticks, homemade brushes, some Sumi or Quink ink, and intend for them to decide whether they’d like to work seated on the floor, or standing or sitting at a table. I will also bring some mark making tools for everyone to use and perhaps a roll of basic white paper to share.

Settling into the space I will be playing some alpha music to calm – John B Levine, Steve Reich – this will play throughout the workshop. It is known to settle a busy mind and is especially beneficial for creativity in women.

To begin with I will invite people to get comfortable and breathe deeply before we practice some basic breathing exercises while we make marks onto our paper.

Breath retention to slow brain waves, leads to meditation on the senses, to feel still and focus. Anapanasati – the focus of movement of breath within the body, The Square Breath, Golden Thread Breath, Candle Breath – calms the mind, which mirrors the breath and Coherent Breathing – settling our bodies to use optimum breath, expanding mental clarity allowing the body to relax and slow. Inhaling and Exhaling on a sound which leads to a mark being made.

I would have to explain that normally we would do these exercises with complete focus and eyes closed but for this purpose we are using breath counts to mark make to.

The workshop would last no more than around 60 minutes

I understand we would produce work that is pretty similar to each other, however, it’s the repetition and multiplicity that is interesting to me. Marks that are similar but not actually the same, have their own voice.

I would see these pieces, possibly from both workshops, being hung together as part of a small exhibition using the data collected-times the marks were made, and the number of marks made also becomes a visual sequence that can be displayed.

I would encourage some discussion afterwards about the experience.

I would hope that the participants would benefit from the sense of calm and wellbeing that this drawing method offers, and release some boundaries of what people accept to be an actual drawing.

A medical disclaimer/waiver is necessary and ethics to be researched and discussed with the ethics committee if I am running a workshop at Dorset Place Gallery

There are points to observe and safeguard against any medical conditions that may be exacerbated.

The workshop could take place in another location if met with constraints at the University.