Following a recent successful exhibition and arts project in Medway, the Sick! Living With Invisible Illness team is running a further series of free creative workshops to support local people.

Four sessions are on offer at INTRA, looking at different ways to create DIY publications and explore self-expression. The workshops will include combinations of therapeutic writing, making zines, printmaking, drawing and bookbinding.

Taking place during December 2017 and January 2018, a time of year that people with invisible illness can find difficult, these workshops offer a non-festive oasis and a supportive, uplifting space to explore self-reflection and creative skills. No mince pies or carols will be in evidence, but there will be a friendly welcome, snacks and refreshments.

Morning sessions will be ticketed classes lasting two hours, and each one will be followed by a three hour drop-in creative session in the afternoon. You don’t need to have attended previous days, each class and drop-in session is a separate event and you are welcome to attend as many or few as you like.

The workshops are open to Medway residents 16+ years old who are affected by invisible illness – those with illnesses themselves, but also carers, partners, friends or family etc. living in the Medway towns. The sessions are offered free thanks to a small grant from Involving Medway, as part of Medway Clinical Commissioning Group’s work with community health.

No previous experience of the activities is needed, they are supportive sessions for you to self-reflect and try out creative techniques as a way to cope with, heal from, or understand your situation in a different way. Participating may lead to communicating your feelings to other people, or may become useful tools to use privately for self care.

Workshop Dates & Times

Sun 17th Dec – Therapeutic writing class (booking essential)
Sun 17th Dec  – Make zines with writing, stories and messages (drop-in)

Sat 30th Dec – Printmaking for zines class (booking essential)
Sat 30th Dec – Make zines with printmaking and writing (drop-in)

Sun 7th Jan – Experiment with drawing class (booking essential)
Sun 7th Jan – Make zines & artist’s books, with drawing & printmaking (drop-in)

Sun 21st Jan – Simple bookbinding class (booking essential)
Sun 21st Jan – Make zines & artist’s books, with bookbinding & printmaking (drop-in)

The ticketed classes run 11:00-13:00
Drop-in sessions run 14:00-17:00

Booking for the classes
Details for the drop-in sessions

Therapeutic Writing Class

A workshop for people who want to begin telling their stories and exploring healing through writing. In two hours, creative writing teacher Sam Fentiman-Hall will guide you using simple exercises to help you begin expressing yourself. You can write about whatever you like in the workshop, without having to share it with anyone else in the group.

Printmaking For Zines Class

Some zine makers use photocopiers or ink-jet printers to make their copies, but this can be expensive. In this class you can try out some of the best techniques to bring hand-printed and colourful elements to self-published booklets, while managing to keep costs down and production numbers up. Simple relief printing methods, the Risograph machine, and screen printing will be explored as means for making DIY publications. Our collection of hand printed zines and artists books will be shared for inspiration.

Experiment With Drawing Class

A workshop for people who want to try using drawing and collage to express ideas and stories in visual ways. Drawing can seem daunting and many people think they’re not good at it. Creative exercises can be lots of fun though, and this class will get you drawing with a number of surprising approaches. We’ll look at making all kinds of marks, expressing a feeling in different graphical ways, loosening up your hand and exploring styles of your own. We’ll use a variety of drawing tools, and you can spend time using the ones that you like best to develop your ideas.

Simple Bookbinding Class

There are many ways of binding self-made publications, from simple stapled zines, to intricately bound artists’ books. We’ll study examples of different bindings, then try out simple sewn pamphlets, accordion, hardcovers, or experimental approaches to bind a book using decorated and plain papers, or your own content.