About

Join artist-designer and songwriter Stacey Joy Rossouw for a series of creative workshops inspired by The Time Lab: A Living Prelude, our new exhibition at Wordsworth Grasmere. 

Learn new artistic skills and try something different – from found poetry and abstract mapping to creative writing and zine making. These hands-on workshops are inspired by the themes of time and memory found in Wordsworth’s epic poem The Prelude. Using Wordsworth’s writing as a starting point, by the end of each session you will have created your own meaningful and tangible piece of art.  

Come along to one workshop or all four: each workshop is a rewarding standalone session whilst also offering a layered and cumulative experience for those who attend more than one. Workshops take place in the Learning Space and adjoining Sensory Garden, and tea and coffee are included. 

Saturday 16 August, 2-4.30pm: Driftwork

Discover a new, personal way to connect with Wordsworth's poetry. We'll begin by exploring Driftwork: think of it as a playful, creative wandering through words. In this gentle workshop, you will explore pages from The Prelude like an artist. Through the simple and magical technique of ‘found poetry’, you will create a unique poem that is entirely your own.

Saturday 30 August, 2-4.30pm: Driftmap

How does a poem feel? What does memory look like? In this hands-on workshop, you'll create a Driftmap: a beautiful, abstract map of a poem’s emotional landscape. Using charcoal, pencil, and ink, we'll explore how to represent the journey of a poem—its rhythms, moods, and textures—without drawing anything literally.

Saturday 20 September, 2-4.30pm: Timeworld

Every map holds a story. In this reflective workshop, we'll use your creative work to build a Timeworld: a unique story-space that steps into the landscape of a memory, a dream, or your imagination. Inspired by Wordsworth’s The Prelude, we’ll use your found poems and sensory maps as doorways, with gentle and inspiring prompts to help you write a short piece of prose that brings the world of your art to life.

Saturday 11 October, 2-4.30pm: Anarchive

A zine is a small, handmade magazine, and in this fun, hands-on workshop, you'll create one to build your own ‘anarchive’, a low-tech, alternative way to collage and and publish your thoughts, stories and images. Forget digital folders or formal collections; this is about creating a playful, personal archive you can hold in your hand, using just paper, scissors, and glue.

Tickets: £15 per session

Access

• One bursary ticket per session is available for those experiencing financial hardship that would otherwise not be able to attend. This is on a first come first served basis with no questions asked about your situation.

• Access information for Wordsworth Grasmere can be found here.

Location

Get directions

Wordsworth Grasmere
Learning Space, Grasmere, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 9SH

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