We will take advantage of the natural surroundings by incorporating the plant life and beach-findings to our work and, whenever the weather favours us, hold our art work and poetry writing sessions out of doors, though the island Post Office/café will double as our studio space for at least some of the time.
The poetry element of this course is related to the experience of re-connecting with the natural environment. It is presented through a number of gentle writing exercises. These are dotted throughout the week and, although they are aimed at beginners, more experienced writers will also find them useful as a way of developing a personal response to the environment. These sessions are entirely voluntary: you will never be coerced into sharing your writing or poetry with others and, even if you decide not to write, you can enjoy listening to, or taking part in, the group discussions on the writings of published poets and naturalists who have explored this theme. A library of such work will be available for you to read at your leisure.
As we progress through paper-making, printing, collage and writing activities, you will build up a bank of materials suitable for binding into one or more illustrated books, encapsulating all or part of your experience of a week spent on Tanera Mòr.
