Specialties

Workshops & Events

Workshops (Groups)

The half day or mini workshop is an introduction to the Forest Flaneur methodology. It begins with a talk and a visual walk for Sessions I & II. Session III is a short guided tactile walk. Then, Session IV is a creative expression hour (individual), no performance. Both artists and writers will enjoy this short and exciting new style of inspiration to add value to their creative expression. (2 -4 hours, plus tea breaks).

The full day workshop starts out with a philosophical introduction to elements of the Forest Flaneur research and methodology with historical background. Then, a preliminary visual walk is taken to absorb the land from a 360º angle with no haptic (touch) inputs. We take a break to jot down some notes and sketch some outlines of the landscape from this walk. Then, we embark on a longer tactile walk, random movements in Nature based on individual attractions to the natural elements (outdoor). We come back together for a session of creative expression (solitude). Later, we gather together calling on volunteers to share their creative expressions informally. (6-8 hours, with breaks).

Creative Expression-Tapping into Nature’s wonder (Private or Group)

Workshops to enhance your creative expression post walking with the Forest Flaneur method.  Whether you are a writer, dancer, teacher, photographer, musician or parent, this series of workshops are designed to draw out a new expressive form of your engagement with Nature.  Tapping into the tactile memories on site with Nature enhances empathy to arise from these organic experiences. We are able to enjoy intersubjectivity with flora and fauna according to tactile attraction. Then, we are guided to sketch, jot down notes, or simply let a free flow of energy stream from the fingertips to the heart and subsequently engage the cognitive lightly with thoughts.  Later we find ways to expand these mini sketches of notes to dance, poetry, music or any other form of creative expression one wishes to put into practice.  These can serve as a depository of imagination that come to life upon allowing for an incubation period to fully embody the experience.  Sharing these experiences as a group in a collective feedback along with individual consulation expands one’s artistic pratice.

Colour Palette Classes (Private or Group)

A colour palette can be created in a studio for each walk after the fact and off site.  The colour palette is created by mixing primary colours to access the sensory memories post walking in a studio setting with natural light in daytime sessions.  The objective is to compare and contrast the value of the tactile data collection on the walk.  The tactile walk is specifically focused on tactile perception paying attention to elements of touch after the non-tactile walk had been accomplished in the same vicinity. 

This type of tactile walk that focuses on tactile attraction motivated by touch, encourages the “haptic intuitive”.  It expands the training ground of the tactile memory sphere for artists to be able to create in the studio post walking. In doing so, we create without depleting the ecosystem of its natural resources or objects that seem innocuous and yet belong to a larger more than human ecological interdependent arrangement.  It means the creative process is based on recall (tactile memories) with a low impact on the actual environment without in situ landscape painting or removal of objects that modify the living world.

This class enables the participant to begin to build a landscape palette from tactile memories.  The primary colours are the base of the class and we discover how to mix these three simple colours to derive a combination of colours that build up into a complete landscape palette array linked to the ecosystem.   

One needs not have prior experience to learn this type of intuitive colour palette. All levels are invited to join.

How does Nature call out to kids? Every child is unique and has its own inner compass in an ecosystem. If we allow them to follow their instincts as a Forest Flaneur, a mosaic arises from the group of children on a random walk. Learn more how to optimise Nature’s gift to humanity-a call to touch and bonding with tactile perception and its impact on language. Research shows intuition is part of the female brain and opens child development broader than a categorising male brain mode. Creativity is a natural phenomena as children explore with eyes and ears wide open in the natural world. Where does the line end between human and Nature? Empathy on a heart to heart level is enhanced by the Forest Flaneur. The sensitive tiny finger pads are a major part of children’s language acquisition prior to cognitive acuity. Tactile perception inherent in the Forest Flaneur methodology is key to unlock a world of sensations that become imbedded in a child’s memory bank and linked to a visceral experience. These cues are later accessible for a connection between word and object. Seeing is not the sole activator for believing. Touch is the inner essence of believing. “ I was there—- I saw it, I felt it. It’s REAL.