The View From My Window

As part of National Writing Day - a First Story initiative in partnership with other arts and literary organisations - the writing group I work with in Newham wrote from the suggested inspiration: The View From My Window...

Two participants wanted to share their writing:
 

From my bedroom window I see beautiful gardens - my garden and my neighbours, especially at night time with the solar lights' many colours. I see foxes passing by walking without fear of people. Later in the afternoon I see swallows dancing and singing in the sky - when I'm sad they give a smile to me.

By Teresa

The view from my window: As I open the curtains in the morning I hear the birds chirping away. As I glance through the net curtains I see Budda sitting silently in perfect harmony; the cherry tree's branches swaying softly.

My eyes hover over the flower beds where the marigolds sit next to the carnations in full bloom. The vibrational colours of the dahlias put a smile on my face and the red climbing roses rise high above the conifers. I look towards the sky, the pastel shades of blue are interrupted by the white streaks of the aeroplane's fumes. The pigeons and magpies are on a hunt to find food.

My cat appears chasing the birds away and then, finding a shady place, he stretches himself and falls asleep. A new day has begun...

By Narinder

Hidden Stories 3

Hidden Stories creative writing is now available on the Arts and Crafts Hammersmith website. It's inspired by the stories around 7 Hammersmith Terrace and the people who lived there, their friends and colleagues. 

The writing is by year 8 and 9 students at Fulham Cross Girls' School. It was produced during eight workshops held after school in 2016. Inspirations came from artefacts, original diary entries and letters, a visit to the house, improvisation, sounds, and our own stories around the journeys we've made. 

Thanks to Amie, Holly, Nabilla, Noor, Shahida, Siobhan, Yara, Uriela, Victoria and Wadad for the stories they wrote; thank you to Fulham Cross, for hosting the workshops and teachers Amy Barlow and Anna Michanou for their support. 

This coincides with the reopening of 7 Hammersmith Terrace - the Arts and Crafts home of Emery Walker until 1933 which was preserved by his daughter, Dorothy and her companion Elizabeth de Haas, exactly as he had lived in it. 

The house overlooks the Thames just along from Hammersmith bridge towards Chiswick. It is of interest because of its decor and because of Emery Walker's friendship with William Morris who lived nearby and whose designs are present in the wallpaper, furniture, art and rugs.  It's well worth a visit!

Arts In Health

I recently attended the Critical Voices 2016 Conference aimed at connecting people, ideas, arts, medicine and health.

The day began with a short impactful presentation by Tulsi Vagjiani who told of being orphaned and suffering burns as a child in a plane crash. Her story is one of survival, hope and growing self confidence. Tulsi now works as a pilates Rehabilitation Specialist and volunteers for the Katie Piper Foundation as a peer supporter and motivational speaker.

During the day the audience of clinicians, artists, arts practitioners and service users heard stories of others' mental and physical health difficulties and the interaction with an art form that had provided a crucial factor in recovery or coming to terms with their illness.

These included Monica Suswin who journaled to her ill self from her well self to find an insight into her depression. She used expressive writing - poems and prose  - and found she engaged with "healing inner resources." 

Antonia Attwood is a film maker whose own anxiety and her mother's bi-polar illness formed the subject of her film, which led to a new way of talking between mother and daughter.  

Daniel Regan, a photographer, used this art form to chronicle and manage his own illness. In 2014 he produced Fragmentary, a tantalising exhibition of images of archive self portraits paired with his mental health records. 

This was a small but vital conference. I hope that next year there will be many more clinicians and stakeholders in the audience to witness the therapeutic benefits of arts in health.

Spring Haikus

Last week we went to the Keir Hardie Recreation Ground - the park in Canning Town, near Care In Mind where I facilitate a weekly writing group for clients. 

We sat for a while on the benches beneath the trees. Daffodils were growing nearby. The sun was shining. There was a definite glimmer of Spring.

We began to make notes of what we could see, hear, feel and smell. We produced long lists and then we went searching. I'd prepared some things to look for. These included: 

something curved

something covered

a shadow

a corner

some written words

a movement

something shiny

a sparkle  

Across the grass, past the daffodils, round the play park, along the paths we investigated this small park in the middle of houses, building development and roads. We found all these things and more. 

Then we went to the cafe in St Luke's Church and over our cuppas we composed haikus - short three line poems ideally suited to the images we'd collected. These are some I made that day:

A bag hangs in a tree

two construction workers walk 

amongst daffodils.

A dad holds his son's hand 

pigeons waddle in a group

on a sunlit path.

Here are two from haiku master, Basho Matsuo (1644 - 1694):

The old pond

a frog jumps in

the sound of the water.

The sea darkens

the cries of the seagulls

are faintly white.

Writing Character

Try this 30 minute writing exercise:

• Pick someone you know and describe their appearance in as much detail as you can. Write for ten minutes.

• Write for ten more minutes about what they do in life and how they engage with the world in general.

• Now write about your connection with this person.

 " But I hear her still, welcoming me 

with a seagull's voice..."

You could use your descriptions to make a poem about the person, bringing in similes and metaphors as Norman MacCaig does in his poem Aunt Julia -  

"She was buckets 
and water flouncing into them. 
She was winds pouring wetly 
round house-ends.
She was brown eggs, black skirts 
and a keeper of threepennybits 
in a teapot".

You don't have to write a poem, the exercise is complete in itself. The process helps to clarify thoughts and feelings about a person and can move from a negative perception to a more positive understanding.  

The first two parts could also be useful for creating and developing fictional characters. 

I'm not sure where this exercise originated. A colleague passed it on to me several years ago. I've found it helpful personally and used it many times with groups since. (Thanks Aisha!)