This was another fabulous course full of wonder and delight - exploring the archives that carry history and truth from explorers, naturalists, artists and scientists through the ages.
The set up was to spend three afternoons over six weeks exploring the archives. This was a starting point for inspiration and everyone chose something that resonated with them. For myself I was interested in the idea that evolution was explored by different people and that there were sometimes different interpretations of natural selection. So “Hopeful Monsters” became my theme and the theory that evolution was thought, by some, to have macro changes - or jumps - in development - rather than small changes over long periods of time.
The cover of my chapbook - Hopeful Monsters.
The variety of subjects chosen was so interesting and inspirational and every artist created a fascinating and engaging chapbook. The styles were all so very different but they all had such charm and you just wanted to pick them up and read them cover to cover.
The concertina format of the chapbooks are really sympathetic to being created in different and individual ways, and each artist was able to start with small drawings building up the storylines over the course of the three workshops resulting in a variety of narratives. On completion, each of the chapbooks will be printed and then accessioned into the archives to sit alongside historic books such as Charles Darwin’s Evolution of Species and Sparky the budgies’ vocabulary list.
