'Documenting Honest Motherhood: A Journal of Exploration' - a workshop by Jade Langton Evans
I recently attended a workshop, with Shropshire photographer and film-maker Jade Langton Evans as the facilitator. Jade is a wonderful artist, making photographs and beautiful documentary films of families living their everyday lives.
I had only met Jade once, at Shrewsbury Food Festival in 2016, and I'd been following her on social media ever since. A group she started on Facebook, 'Documenting Honest Motherhood', has grown and grown as women have joined, and she was inspired out of the blue to offer the workshop.
With only 12 spaces for Mothers to attend, I was absolutely over the moon to be invited! Having seen what Jade offers as a photographer, and being a member of the online group, I had a feeling that this was going to be a special experience, a much-needed opportunity to nurture myself and do something fresh and different with my Saturday morning.
I went along to Button & Bear, a lovely independent children's bookshop in Shrewsbury, ordered a coffee and a vegan chocolate brownie at the counter, and headed downstairs to the Woodland Room for the workshop (the lovely staff brought our drinks and cakes to the meeting room for us). It's a gorgeous room, with floor-to-ceiling photographs of a woodland scene all around, and a green carpet with comfy cushions that look like rather Gruffalo-esque slices of log (click the 'Button & Bear' link above, and have a look at the photo in the gallery)! It set a calm and tranquil tone for the morning.
When everyone had arrived, some with babes in arms, we introduced ourselves in turn, and we spent a very special two or three hours sharing stories, thoughts, ideas, experiences, smiles, tears, and laughter. Most of us had arrived there as total strangers that morning, and yet we felt a strong connection as Mothers. We talked about journaling, photography, film-making, and letter-writing, all as creative and powerful ways of documenting our lives with our children so that we can look back in years to come and see the beauty in our ordinary days.
At the end of the workshop, we gathered in a circle and Jade gave each of us a warm hug, whispered lovely words in our ear, and gave each one of us a hand-decorated jar full of wild meadow flowers, with a message on a handmade tag. Mine said: 'To live the creative life, we must lose the fear of being wrong'.
And with that, we went our separate ways. What a beautiful morning it was; one that will stay in my memory for a long time yet.
'Documenting Honest Motherhood ' on Facebook
https://www.jadelangtonevans.co.uk/
https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/button-bear
Would you like to go along to the next workshop?
I recently attended a workshop, with Shropshire photographer and film-maker Jade Langton Evans as the facilitator. Jade is a wonderful artist, making photographs and beautiful documentary films of families living their everyday lives.
I had only met Jade once, at Shrewsbury Food Festival in 2016, and I'd been following her on social media ever since. A group she started on Facebook, 'Documenting Honest Motherhood', has grown and grown as women have joined, and she was inspired out of the blue to offer the workshop.
With only 12 spaces for Mothers to attend, I was absolutely over the moon to be invited! Having seen what Jade offers as a photographer, and being a member of the online group, I had a feeling that this was going to be a special experience, a much-needed opportunity to nurture myself and do something fresh and different with my Saturday morning.
I went along to Button & Bear, a lovely independent children's bookshop in Shrewsbury, ordered a coffee and a vegan chocolate brownie at the counter, and headed downstairs to the Woodland Room for the workshop (the lovely staff brought our drinks and cakes to the meeting room for us). It's a gorgeous room, with floor-to-ceiling photographs of a woodland scene all around, and a green carpet with comfy cushions that look like rather Gruffalo-esque slices of log (click the 'Button & Bear' link above, and have a look at the photo in the gallery)! It set a calm and tranquil tone for the morning.
When everyone had arrived, some with babes in arms, we introduced ourselves in turn, and we spent a very special two or three hours sharing stories, thoughts, ideas, experiences, smiles, tears, and laughter. Most of us had arrived there as total strangers that morning, and yet we felt a strong connection as Mothers. We talked about journaling, photography, film-making, and letter-writing, all as creative and powerful ways of documenting our lives with our children so that we can look back in years to come and see the beauty in our ordinary days.
At the end of the workshop, we gathered in a circle and Jade gave each of us a warm hug, whispered lovely words in our ear, and gave each one of us a hand-decorated jar full of wild meadow flowers, with a message on a handmade tag. Mine said: 'To live the creative life, we must lose the fear of being wrong'.
And with that, we went our separate ways. What a beautiful morning it was; one that will stay in my memory for a long time yet.
'Documenting Honest Motherhood ' on Facebook
https://www.jadelangtonevans.co.uk/
https://originalshrewsbury.co.uk/visit/button-bear
Would you like to go along to the next workshop?
Comments
Post a Comment