Making New Connections
Making New Connections - a creative sharing day for women artists in West Wales.
The steering group made up of Pip Lewis, Lisa Evans, Linda Norris, Emma Baker and Stirling Steward was successful in securing the Arts Council of Wales Sharing Together Fund for this Open Call Out for up to 50 Visual Artists including film, movement and performance in collaboration with International Women's Day on Friday 8th March 2024.
The focus of the event was for individual artists who identify as female to share their own arts practice, as well as providing an opportunity for artists to submit an idea with an artist from another discipline, for the joint facilitation of an experiential creative workshop.
The day comprised of a morning of Pecha Kucha presentations by seven artists (Sarah Poland, Amanda Blake, Gemma Green-Hope, Sian Lester, Heidi Plant, Bean Sawyer and Rowan O’Neill), a shared lunch, followed by three participatory creative interdisciplinary workshops led by Judith Rees and Jessica Lerner (Sensorial Responses - Ceramics and Movement), Rose Sanderson and Molly Macleod (Exploring Microworlds), and Gilly Booth and Abigail Makepeace (Pattern Drawing) in the afternoon.
The event was held at Hermon Community Hall and Y Stiwdio, Pembrokeshire.
The event was supported by the Arts Council of Wales Sharing Together Fund which is to encourage the creation of new networks, and which strengthen existing network opportunities.
Photography by Dion Cowe (stoneandivy.photo)
Feedback from the day:
Connection to self - realisation that not needing praise from outside
How many inspirational artists there are hiding locally! Hopefully we can all meet again regularly somehow
Being inspired – humour, playful, bravery
Connecting with like-minded creatives
Solidarity, all women, comfortable, natural
Give something time, own it for a while, then share it. “Trust in the process”
An inner strengthening from the shared experience
Importance of having a space for women
Reconnected with going deeper into the process
