WORKSHOP - “Where are you from? Exploring and defining home through collage

“Where are you from?” has become a common inquiry in my time in Portugal. As a nation of travellers, migrants, immigrants, expats, and digital nomads, the people we meet every day come with unique stories. Where we call “home” varies greatly from person to person. Is home a place or an identity? A state or quality of being? A fabric of social relationships? Or is home a matter of legality and citizenship? A thoughtful and precise response to “where are you from?” can be challenging in our short-answer social media world. Collage is the perfect medium to explore your full and nuanced reply to this question.

Collaging provides a unique method for exploration and expression. While gathering and composing images, you peel back layers of formality, intellect and training and get to the essence of who you are. Guided by your intuition, collaging provides a structured and direct shortcut to your innermost thoughts and feelings. When you pause, listen, and create from this inner world, new information becomes available to you. These are seeds for fuller awareness and growth. The process can feel like magic, and in many ways it is!

Together in this workshop, we will use collage to make some magic. We will examine the metaphors, symbols, and implicit stories in your collage and learn more about what “home” means to you.

Materials provided. However, if there is material you have or want to gather that speaks to you of “home” please bring it along.

About Chris:

Chris is a collage artist living in Estoril. He comes from an intercultural and multiracial upbringing, having lived in the UK and the USA but now calls Portugal home.

Chris is also a master facilitator and has designed and led numerous workshops and retreats for corporate teams, conferences, and others. He is trained in using arts-based methods in coaching and finds great meaning in using the arts (and particularly collage) to support others in their development.

Chris arrived at collage later in life, and it has become his artistic and emotional muse. The seemingly simple cutting, arranging, and pasting of images reveals powerful insights and give voice to one’s innermost and unconscious feelings. The collage process can unlock and shift people in transformative ways.

In a workshop setting, Chris has discovered that doing collage with others creates a powerful generative opportunity for participants. Making work together, and sharing it, exposes us to each other and creates meaningful human connection, mutual learning understanding.

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Collage Working Club (CWC) is a weekly open workspace for artists working in the medium of paper. Organised in the format of alternate ‘drop in’ sessions and workshops masterclasses, it has both a regular facilitator, whilst also involving the artist community in the sharing of knowledge and skills. Providing materials, education and connections is the primary aim of CWC, and it will do this through the interdisciplinary art of collage as both an art form and a tool for personal growth.

O Collage Working Club (CWC) é um espaço de trabalho semanal aberto a artistas que trabalham com o suporte papel. Organizado no formato de sessões alternadas e masterclasses, tem um facilitador regular, ao mesmo tempo que envolve a comunidade de artistas na partilha de conhecimentos e competências.
Fornecer materiais, educação e ligações é o principal objetivo do CWC, e fá-lo-á através da interdisciplinaridade da colagem como uma forma de arte e uma ferramenta para o crescimento pessoal.

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