MANI VIVE let's go

PAPER.... is such a noble material and rich in possibilities, it carries words, feelings, experiments, art.

It is precisely on paper, the natural one, soft and full of soul of the oldest paper mill in Italy, that we wanted to support our HANDS, to make them work and fly freely, in this first meeting that marks a new and alternative approach to manual skills, when it is put at the service of emotions.

For the first time we have deliberately decided to leave, at the beginning of this journey, without the reassuring help of the indications that we usually provide to the participants during our workshops for the realization of the artifacts.

Life is often a path in the woods, unknown, where the horizon cannot be seen and whose point of arrival we often ignore... why not start from this perspective?

So our friends, without knowing what it would be for, were invited to compose a palette of favorite colors with acrylic colors.

The use of acrylics, so decisive and opaque, seemed to us to represent the most suitable metaphor for walking without hesitation, despite the difficulty of starting.

The characteristics of each one immediately emerged, in the way of mixing colors together, in the directions of the brushstrokes and in the choice of shades… even in the way of occupying the empty space of the sheet.

Creating or simply experimenting in public is not easy, it often involves joyful and unexpected releases of emotions, but also the arrival of embarrassments, uncertainties, small taboos that are difficult to overcome.

Strengthened by the awareness of being there not to judge and not to be judged, even fears recede and leave space, on paper and inside us, for creative and liberating spontaneity.

The "stakes" of the first stage of our ROUTE:

Knowledge of the various types of paper

Individual choice of a color palette

Use of acrylic colors, stamps and pads

Production of colored sheets for the "ARTIST'S BOOK" project

Viewing of some slides commented by the psychologist, Dr. Fabiola Picco, and sharing of contents

Second stage:

We go further and further into our personal "dark forest"...

Once the understandable initial hesitations were overcome, and became more familiar with the traveling companions, the pace became faster, also moved by curiosity, an indispensable driver of the artist, to see what HANDS, LOOKS and THOUGHTS would have encountered and experienced.

This time, the exclusively individual work of the first meeting has become collective, with the intention of leaving the vision of the individual and working with the contribution of different perspectives.

We imagined, in our metaphorical journey, to arrive together at a clearing where we would finally find the first detailed indications:

WATER, EARTH and INFINITY.

In pairs, the participants were invited to paint textures that represented these elements, with already defined color palettes:

- green, blue and lime for the water

- green and brown for the earth

- purple, orange and lime for infinity

This time the chosen technique is watercolor, delicate and ethereal, which suggests the direction in a low voice and advises us to ask and accept the help of others, within a drawing where the parts find a meeting point that we had not imagined.

The "stakes" of the second stage:

knowledge and experimentation of the watercolor technique,

creation of textures aimed at the "YOUR ANGEL" project,

sharing of results based on the sensations and emotions aroused by its own work and that of her companions... and here then a world opened up: so many things to say, urgent thoughts and emotions to be released. Sharing paths traveled with which to reconcile and unknown roads to consider.

Free thoughts on the design of the "ARTIST'S BOOK" in the light of the new results achieved and the ideal construction of the path to follow in the four pages of which the book will be composed, from the departure in the woods of the first meeting, to finding oneself in today's clearing, at the next stage where you will see... a part of the horizon? Only YOUR traveling ANGEL will be able to reveal it.