Community Events
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This newsletter includes NEW free community engagement activities
Life Drawing Exhibition
Open to the public from Monday 22nd January 2024
Private View on Friday 26th January 6.30pm
Everyone Welcome
This exhibition showcases work contributed by students from our two life-drawing classes.
“We have work on show that learners found interesting to contribute because it marks a particular step on their own creative journey, which might be work that they found liberating to do, or because it represents a style of working that they gradually found out about and discovered, or it might be a picture the making of which changed their way of approaching life-drawing. The work on show might mark a surprise on a learner’s path to move forward with life-drawing, an unexpected success or a hard-fought for personal achievement that they still might have some doubts about. Or, the work might just have been fun to do, or the result pleasing to the eye.
It's always great to see artwork that you have made yourself hang in an exhibition. The display puts your work at a distance to the moments of its making and always will make you look at it anew. Seeing your work in a frame creates this positive distance to it, also seeing it hang on a wall, framed or not. It’s also interesting to see how your work hangs with other people’s work, because artworks interact with each other and this will often bring about new ‘meanings’. When we talk about ‘meanings’ in our artwork it is the feelings that it creates in us when we make it – the making process is so important, that’s why a lot of learners come to the classes – and the feelings a viewer might have when looking at it.
We discuss in our classes a lot about the doubts that we have in our artmaking process, expectations we have, worries, and of course the joys too. It is so important to be able to share this with other learners. An exhibition like this one is another possibility to see our work, stand together in front of it, discuss it again, and see what new impressions we get from seeing it in a different context.
The work on show did not have to pass a certain ‘quality mark’. In fact, this is absolutely not what this show is about. It is about sharing with others about your path of working. Sharing the joy of being creative in the ‘safe’ company of others and about encouraging the show’s viewers to consider doing some creative work if that is something they don’t already do. ‘Level of skill’, ‘talent’, ‘level of accomplishment’ are terms that don’t capture really what our main focus is when we do such creative work, but rather discovering one’s own personal interests in drawing and painting the figure, trying out new ways of working that you thought did not exist (rather than produce ‘market-worthy’, ‘sell-able’ artwork), and being inspired by other learners’ work to try out something similar.” Sabine Kussmaul, Art teacher
In our Life Drawing courses (Monday nights and Thursday afternoons) and in our Saturday life-drawing events, we try out many different ways of using drawing as an expressive tool to document our individual observations. We work with pencils, ink, charcoal, and combine line work with colour – watercolour and acrylics.
Improve your Scrabble with a champion
Reigning "Seniors World Scrabble Champion" and the first British player to win the 'World Championship' - Mark Nyman - will take you through the intricacies of the game in a fun, friendly and enlightening way!
The course will consist of shortcuts to improve your vocabulary, plenty of top tips on tactics, anagram ability, gameplay analysis, and even mini-events!
Mark will recount amusing stories from international tournaments, talk about the world's best players and most successful Scrabble-playing countries, some of which may well surprise you.
Mark is author of the best-seller "Scrabble Secrets", published by Harper Collins, and also a former Producer and presenter on Channel 4's Countdown.
Writing for Wellbeing Encore! Free class
Saturday 20 January 2024
For the past few years, we’ve been running highly successful one day workshops in Writing for Wellbeing. People have loved them and often asked for more. So, we’re responding with an Encore! A whole new workshop of brand-new exercises that could open up fresh insights on what makes you tick.
Even if you’ve attended before, come again as all the exercises will be totally new.
What previous participants said about Writing for Wellbeing:
“Very enjoyable. I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement when I arrived but soon felt at ease.”
“It was useful to reflect without pressure and with constructive input from the tutor.”
“I liked the urgency which forced me to write without analysing.”
“It increased my self-awareness, and I got lots of tips for keeping a journal.”
Cultivating Calm – Surviving a Busy Life
This morning session will be an introduction to the well-being courses that Dr. Sheila French brings to The Guild. FREE TO ATTEND
You will be introduced to the techniques of:
Mindfulness, Positive Psychology and the science of Neuroplasticity.
Sheila will demonstrate to you how you can train your mind to handle the difficulties you may face and importantly learn to savour the good things in life too.
You will get to find out what Mindfulness is and what it is not.
How techniques from Positive Psychology can raise your mood, your positivity and your level of happiness.
You will be shown the evidence from Neuroplasticity that you can train your brain to learn new skills, be calmer and more positive in life.
It will be interactive, fun and enjoyable. As always at The Guild you will meet like minded people to enjoy the morning with.
Follow on session 9 March Click HERE
Digital Drop in- Free Community Session
Saturday January 20th 2024
A community based 'digital drop-in' session provides residents with an opportunity to receive support with their digital devices. This can be absolutely anything, from learning how to send a text or take a photo, how to use apps, advice on which devices best suit user needs, to troubleshooting device issues. I welcome all questions and residents do not require any prior knowledge of digital devices - I am there to provide this knowledge with a patient and understanding approach to all enquiries.
Individual appointments can be made by booking this event today and contacting the Ali in the office for a 10-minute time slot between 10am and midday (8 available)
01625 523903 Between 21/11/23 - 14/12/23 and after 02/01/24 9am to 4pm weekdays only.
Walk in appointments are based on first come first served where time allows.
The office is now closed until Tuesday 2nd January 2024 at 9am. Activities begin that day with a few exceptions... Please take the time to visit our website and check your individual booking page for changes.
Have a fantastic winter break, looking forward to seeing you again in 2024. Ali, Jo, Paula, and the team
