Had my first workshop with seniors in “twintown” – that’s our name for the combined towns of marshfield and cabot. about 15 people showed up, all of them women. turns out the group is a “homemakers” club that gets together every other week. so they know each other pretty good.

this gang had a terrific sense of humor. they took each others’ ailments in stride (health was a source of quips and caring updates alike) and also shared alot about each others’ work. it was interesting to see how much they asked each other about their memorabilia – much more so than in other groups i’ve observed. i also noted that many of them expressed much stronger doubts about their creative capacities. i am not sure what was the source of this, but i suspect basic health – for example eyesight – played a significant part.

one of the most popular themes in this group was family, in particular small children – grandchildren to be exact. even though each secretly seemed to know that they were kin to the sweetest little one, they gave each others’ equal care and attention. it was really fun to work surrounded by the bouyant humor – some of it even risqué and surprisingly brusgue! – and sharing in a few of their memories.

one of the most poignant tiles was made by a woman who’s husband’s parents had once owned a farm. she found a picture of a barn, painted in a beautiful sky and landscape for it complete with clouds and a tree and then, in a pure twist of collage abstraction, placed two different calendar months floating in the sky, slightly overlapping. on a particular and different date on each month she had marked the day with a tiny glass bead. these were the birthdays of her parents-in-law (“My husband loved them very much” she explained). Also floating in the sky was a quote which, paraphrased, read: “Journeying together to the undiscovered country.” Just beneath it, a tiny locket in the shape of a heart with a tiny key on the same chain.

Very sweet. A lovely combination of fine painting skills, mixed media, and kitschy items combined to make a lovely memento.

At the end of the session, which lasted about an hour and a half, we had a chance for everyone to hold up their tile and share what it was about. Everyone jumped in, no one held back. It was nice to see them sharing stories with each other that might not otherwise have come out.

[Photo courtesy of John Cameron: Global Issues Peace Tiles workshop in Salt Spring, British Columbia ]