07 September 2008
Being Here is so Much
11/Sep/08 12:04 Filed in: Thought for the Day BBC Wiltshire
My work as an artist is ever changing, each day brings something different. Yesterday, I was reading a page from the Irish Writer John O’Donohue, who writes about the art of truly being here…… he says,
Life can become predictable and we function automatically within our frames: route to work, colleagues, friends, patterns of thinking and feeling, the faces of the family, etc. Without sensing it, we become lost inside the automatic traffic of functioning.
Recently I worked on a project with children of differing ages, discovering where they liked to play, and what they liked doing. A neighbour in one of the areas invited us into his home gave us his only ornament, a garden gnome, actually a Bristol City Football Gnome, which became a mascot for the summer long project. The children spontaneously placed and hid the gnome in the grass of lost gardens, named him over and over, placed him around their recreation ground, balanced him on football posts and took him on playground rides and journeys with their babies in prams.
Yesterday I was asked to mark a summer festival and I immediately thought about how the gnome engendered a spirit of community in the children. Who would readily play with him between themselves then pass it back.
My thoughts are about that initial and generous open hearted kindness, about being spontaneous and community minded. And my first task today is to wonder how I can find lots more gnomes to make a gnome sanctuary in an ice cream van to celebrate the season of summer in the area in which I worked. So, if anyone wants to let their gnomes go on a journey (out of Wiltshire) to discover their own sanctuary – do let me know. They could have some fun!
Life can become predictable and we function automatically within our frames: route to work, colleagues, friends, patterns of thinking and feeling, the faces of the family, etc. Without sensing it, we become lost inside the automatic traffic of functioning.
Recently I worked on a project with children of differing ages, discovering where they liked to play, and what they liked doing. A neighbour in one of the areas invited us into his home gave us his only ornament, a garden gnome, actually a Bristol City Football Gnome, which became a mascot for the summer long project. The children spontaneously placed and hid the gnome in the grass of lost gardens, named him over and over, placed him around their recreation ground, balanced him on football posts and took him on playground rides and journeys with their babies in prams.
Yesterday I was asked to mark a summer festival and I immediately thought about how the gnome engendered a spirit of community in the children. Who would readily play with him between themselves then pass it back.
My thoughts are about that initial and generous open hearted kindness, about being spontaneous and community minded. And my first task today is to wonder how I can find lots more gnomes to make a gnome sanctuary in an ice cream van to celebrate the season of summer in the area in which I worked. So, if anyone wants to let their gnomes go on a journey (out of Wiltshire) to discover their own sanctuary – do let me know. They could have some fun!