Week Twenty-Five: Volunteering
- 12 hours ago
- 2 min read
This week I have started volunteering at Leicester Print Workshop, helping to deliver a monoprinting activity for children and families as part of the Cultural Quarter Earlies. Participants painted with Akua intaglio inks onto CAD foil flower templates before putting them through the printing press. I’ve often turned to volunteering as a way of building my confidence, learning something new, and meeting new people who have similar interests. Over the last year I have also volunteered with Modern Painters New Decorators in Loughborough with the family workshops which has helped me to familiarise myself again with working in a gallery environment - something that I’ve not done for almost four years.
Returning to this type of work is helping me to figure out my next steps. What kind of workshops do I want to deliver in the future? In what contexts? I’m also finding that I’m starting to question what creative health might look like for children and young people. Up until now my focus has been on adults. I’m thinking about the sensory joy of getting messy and reflecting on what it means to have permission to experiment creatively and to express ourselves. I’m questioning what might be both healing and empowering to a child as well as an adult.
I’ve started to visit the allotment on a weekly basis to clear the space. I now have an entrance onto the plot that was previously a mountain of wood pieces and rubble. I’m starting to grow in confidence. It’s definitely been a process of settling in over the last month. I’ve been finding my feet and figuring out where to start. I’m beginning to realise that the upkeep of an allotment is a much about DIY as it is about gardening. I’m starting to notice signs of life on the allotment - dandelions, nettles and a Japanese honeysuckle. I’m interested in the symbolism of plants and have found the following:
Dandelions are symbols of resilience, hope, transformation and joy. They represent the ability to thrive in harsh conditions, and they symbolise strength and tenacity. Their transition from yellow flowers to white seed heads represent personal growth and change. The act of blowing dandelions symbolise the sending of wishes and dreams out into the world.
Nettles are symbols of protection, boundaries, healing and resilience.
Japanese honeysuckle symbolizes everlasting bonds and devotion.
The symbolism of plants brings me comfort. I will continue to explore what plants are growing on the plot and I will create a herbarium to document this.
