Last evening's exhibition of work from the
Sketchbook Club in Woodbine Books showed off an amazing variety of talent from a group who have only been together since February,
writes Brian Byrne. The club is led by local artist
Lyn Worrall, and offers a regular opportunity for creative activity in a cosy, welcoming venue.
The group has a total of around 20 members — the youngest aged 16, some others are retirees — with 12 to 15 turning up at the regular meetings. A key feature is that there is no structure to the sessions — those who go along can choose their own materials, pick their own themes, and show or not share their work. "But there is a great camaraderie," Lyn says, "and there has been a lot of sharing tips and learning from each other."
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| Dawn Behan, Lyn Worrall, Regina McCarthy and Karen Flynn. |
Using sketchbooks rather than working at an easel is a much more personal way of doing art, and can probably be less intimidating for people new to drawing and painting. "It's a sketchbook, so if one page doesn't work, the next page will. Everybody here just wanted a chance to sit and to fill a notebook, and to meet other people who wanted to do the same thing, to talk about it and learn." Sketchbooks also have the advantage of portability, allowing work to be done on buses, in waiting rooms, and at those odd times of a busy day when a little burst of creativity can be relaxing.
For Lyn, the biggest surprise since the club began has been the sheer variety of the output. Their work reflects members' different interests, experience levels and personalities. "Everyone's work is different, and everyone's takeaway is different. You don't expect that when people are working together in one place, that they've all produced something really incredibly different." Even in just six months, she is impressed by visible jumps in confidence and skill, from where people started to where they are now, just through that regular interaction. "One person who in February said, 'I've never made a painting,' is showing three pieces tonight."
It's not unusual in such groups that the majority of participants are women. Lyn has a theory about that. "Women tend to get involved in creative things more easily. We also like the nature of it being unfocused. We're not competitive, and the unstructured nature, I think, suits women a little bit more than men."
The theme of the exhibition was 'Renewal', appropriate because the club had begun with the imminent arrival of spring. Lyn is hoping that in another six months there will be a second exhibition, which may reflect the darkening time of Lughnasa and Samhain. Whatever, she already knows now that everyone's work will be absolutely different.
The Woodbine venue is facilitated by a grant awarded to the bookshop from the Books at One Community Prize Fund, launched to support independent bookshop owners in finding creative ways to connect with their local communities. The funding has helped proprietor Dawn Behan to defray the costs of many regular events which have established Woodbine Books as a community hub for creative activity as much as it is a much-loved bookshop.
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| Alouise Reddy and Lucy Prentice. |
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| Catherine Kavanagh, Lisa Kelly and Kieran Behan. |
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