MY PROJECTS
Meditative processes have patterns and are central to my work and my life: repetition of the self-similar occurs in all sorts of ways!
Mindful practises are well documented in the public domain and provide all sorts of benefits not least to your mental health and following these ideas are integral to my work and way of life. Below are some links to people who work with these ideas in a similar way and these might help to explain my approach; essentially these are people who link creativity with wellbeing.
I love seeing connections between all these things; the way natural processes and patterns occur, and how they also develop within textile structure and technique as well. Small discrete little packages making a whole.
Personal Meditations is personal and shows the different textile processes that I find meditative. These support my own mental health and it is important to understand that to use a process, you need to be able to 'do it in your sleep' so that there is no stress and you can 'breath, stay in the moment and focus'.
Connecting Threads (tranquillity through meditative slow stitching) is my community project and uses very simple hand stitch, and this I offer on Zoom.
Groups are on Wednesdays, either 10.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. or 7.00. p.m. – 9.00. p.m.
....a couple of participant comments:
"this simple way of stitching meditatively saved me from horrendous levels of anxiety"
"I take my stitching when I go somewhere that is scary for me, it helps me feel safe"
If you are interested:
For Social Prescribers and Community Providers, I will forward further information and will be happy to discuss this project with you.
For Self Referral, I will forward a short application form with a couple of questions which will also explain what this group isn’t. In addition we would have a brief virtual chat before joining a group
When you get in touch please use my CONTACT page or use the information contained in my flyer: this is the downloadable document on my Connecting Threads page.
This project is supported by Arts Well CIC
Connecting Threads
running stitch on felt
Since the work of participants is confidential, the images you will see are my own work. Sometimes they are just an example and other times they might be an actual meditation of my own. They are, of course, in my style, you might do something completely different and that is how I would hope it will be for you and that is absolutely ok. You will have a syle of your own, and over time it will develop if you let it....
Personal Meditations
hand stitching on an old wool blanket using 4ply sock wool
I work slowly, thoughtfully, meditatively and 'in the moment', so much of what I do could be shown here. Instead, I will simply show some images of the sort of things that I specifically use, or make, to slow me down and help me think clearly about anything I need to do or work through.
The realisation and ability to articulate this happened slowly. After a particularly long period of anxiety and low mood I was put on the 3 month NHS Mindful course. As a 'doer' I found it virtually impossible to sit still whilst my mind was spiralling in panic mode, and then be asked to try to complete a 'body scan' meditation. I came out of the course feeling that it hadn't really helped me. I did however, understand and appreciate the main tenents and after some personal research and much reflection I realised that physically I was doing this anyway but my mindset needed some work. My studio was in store and I only had materials for hand stitch, something I rarely did. I began to stitch and by applying the processes I had learnt on the course to my stitching, something amazing began to happen. I was able to calm myself. I now use different types of textile work as well as the more traditional forms of mindful meditation every day.