Workshops/Events

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Please read the News section of my website for workshop opportunities and updates as well as commissions and author events. Please contact me on ruthiecollins@hotmail.co.uk if you have any queries or would like to book.

Watch out for holiday workshops inspired by the magic of nature in the Norfolk landscape in December/January 2024, plus Natural Wonder poetry series, The Last Eel on Earth, World Eel Day 2024 and much more.

Past Workshops/Events:

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Rainbow Art Club: Send Positive Messages With Nature and Art!

Thanks to support from Norfolk Community Foundation, you can now take part in these rainbow inspired art making sessions on zoom with artist Genevieve Rudd.  Just in time for the Easter Holidays make posters on April 1st, sending positive messages to the community which will be passed on to a care home and shared as postcards. Or why not go for a nature walk with others (now we can meet up with another household!) and and find natural materials, then meet up on zoom to make a gift that will spread a little kindness in the community?

Both sessions are fun, with games and time for children to interact, with optional fancy dress to come as a colour of the rainbow.

April 1st, 4pm on zoom. Make Positive Posters for the Community!

April 8th, 4pm on zoom. Make a Keepsake Using Natural Materials Sending Positive Messages!

Apply for one or both sessions HERE via our calendar interface!

Families Connect Supported by mental health initiative Bow-Wowza

Materials packs with paper, stickers, colour pens and glue can be delivered with Easter sweet treats included – email ruthie@ruthiecollins.co.uk to book your place.

*Due to COVID19 we are planning these for warmer times when it’s safe to meet again!*

Nature Explorers! Face to face at Cary’s Meadow, Norfolk Broads, Norfolk (full, Winter 2020)

These outdoor and online learning sessions are for children and families who would like to come together to connect to the natural world. A magical mix of learning and nature, Nature Explorers sessions fuse fun warm ups, games and activities with natural science, geography and literacy, with free creative writing worksheets. All thoughts, poems and writing produced using material in the sessions can be shared as part of Natural Wonder, an outreach project accompanying the install of my new public poem, Dreaming of Albion, commissioned by Norfolk County Council, due to be installed in 2021.

Email ruthie@ruthiecollins.co.uk for info

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Celebrate Anna Sewell! Writing Workshop – Friday, September 18th, 2020, Great Yarmouth. Midday – 3.30pm/4pm

Anna Sewell was born on March 30th, 1820, in Great Yarmouth. Her novel Black Beauty has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide and helped change the way we look at horses forever. But Anna Sewell died just months after it was published. The first ever book to be narrated from the perspective of an animal, Black Beauty‘s impact would later become a testimony to the power of the written word, kindness and fierce resilience.

Funded by Norfolk County Council, free women’s writing workshops are opening for enrolment on March 30th to celebrate Anna Sewell with charity Feathers Futures.

We are delighted to be able to meet in Great Yarmouth on Friday, September 18th, in Great Yarmouth for this special workshop that integrates walking, biography and the writing of Anna Sewell to help you create your own work in response to her legacy. A follow up recording workshop will happen in October, for the group, date tbc.

Fun, friendly and nurturing these classes are for writers of all experience.

Email ruthie@ruthiecollins.co.uk / admin@feathersfutures.org to book a place. Bring a packed lunch!

Please note, that due to COVID19 numbers on these workshops are limited, with strict social distancing. An online option will be sent out to those unable to meet face to face.

Thursday May 23rd 2019, 4pm – 6pm Women’s Writing Workshop – Anna Sewell House, Kirsty’s Cakery, Great Yarmouth (NOW FULL).

Would you like to try your hand at creative writing in a safe, supportive environment, with other women? Champion a woman you know or admire? Create characters inspired by inspirational women, nominated by the Great Yarmouth community and try your hand at writing micro fiction. This free, nurturing workshop is for women in Great Yarmouth, with resulting stories shared as part of Yarmouth Mysteries.

Anna Sewell House is a historical building, birthplace to author of Black Beauty, Anna Sewell. Now a gorgeous tea room – tea and cake is provided as part of the workshop! http://kirstyscakery.co.uk/contact-us.html http://greatyarmouthculturalheritage.co.uk/buildings-monuments/anna-sewel

This workshop is funded by Arts Council England, in partnership with National Centre for Writing, Great Yarmouth Library, original projects, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Harbour Radio.

WORKSHOP FULL.

Wednesday May 29th 2019, 1.30-3pm Half Term Family Get Crafty Workshop – Great Yarmouth Library (Children’s Area) 

Come along for fun creative play and meet other families while dreaming up your own detective characters as part of this Get Crafty family workshop for all ages. No previous experience needed, just come with your imagination for this relaxed play session for both children and parents – young families with babies and toddlers welcome too. Your characters can be taken home to inspire play and stories, or shared as part of Yarmouth Mysteries. Refreshments will be provided.

Note that children already participating in Yarmouth Mysteries at school are welcome to come along to add to their characters, with their families.

Yarmouth Mysteries is funded by Arts Council England, partnered with Great Yarmouth Library, the National Centre for Writing, original projects, St George’s Primary School. #Yarmouthmysteries

‘Ruthie – thank you for your warm, open manner which helps encourage participation.’ Yarmouth Mysteries workshop participant, 2019.

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ART IN THE CITY – Elisabeth Frink /£20 or £10 concessions (in person) Dame Elisabeth Frink was one of the world’s most respected figurative sculptors, a household name described as ‘in many ways a rebel’, for works such as Walking Madonna, both trail-blazing and remarkable. The themes of her works, resonate today, exploring the extremes of humanity – from aggression and war, to our relationship with the environment, to humanity’s creative and spiritual potential. Stylistically, Frink sculpted into form how her subjects felt to her as an artist, rather than looked, with mesmerising impact.

The workshop itself will be small and intimate, including a talk from Heong Gallery’s Prerona Presad, on the exhibition.

WORKSHOP CONTENT

In times dominated by aggression or war, how can literature and art inspire faith in the creative potential of humanity? This workshop embraces fiction, poetry and creative non fiction and is suitable for writers at all stages, looking to write alongside other people in a creative setting, enrich their own practices and projects, or start something completely new.

Apply the primeval, mythical energy of Frink’s mesmerising sculpture to your writing, or tap into it for the first time. Examine Frink’s extraordinary works, including controversial female icon, the Walking Madonna, bring them to life on the page, using fiction, character and dialogue.

It’s designed to inspire, leaving you with a sense of freshness and renewal, like a mini writing/creative retreat. Set in the tranquil setting of Heong Gallery, at Downing College, there will be breaks, where you can have a wander throughout the college gardens if you wish. You also have access to texts, resources and quotes on Frink, from the Heong Gallery, to inspire your writing.