Creative Walk-shops with Amelia Daiz

How did you first become involved with art? What was it that drew you to art as a discipline?

Kind of a cliché answer, but I’ve always been interested in doing art and I’ve always wanted to pursue that as a passion. I had ideas, and I enjoyed learning how to make stuff, the practical side of things. As I got older and pursued arts through formal education, and started working in different areas of the arts, I realised how much of a useful tool it is to society… how it can be a therapeutic tool, how it can be an educational tool, how it can be a valuable service, to be an artist. 

Not everyone agrees with that. Some people think that artists are something a little bit aside from society and community, and that they don’t have a purpose apart from to make pretty pictures for rich people’s walls. Which is fine, but I think that art can be a useful service.

Speaking of community art, you recently started Meanderers, a walking with a group that focuses on artistic practice. Would you mind telling me more about that?

Meanderers is part of my Master’s project in Socially Engaged Art. The aim is using walking as a tool for creativity, wellbeing, and community building. I run two walks a month, and one of them will always be free, which is a ‘drift’ type of walk.

The other walk that I put on is a ‘walkshop’… and that will include a planned creative walk, followed by a social meal, and an art workshop. My theory that I’m trying to prove is that walking, eating and making together are three crucial components of community-building. I believe that they are probably things that we’ve always done as groups of people, but there isn’t always a place for that in contemporary society. They’re difficult things to find… a lot of people eat alone, people don’t really know where or how to just go for a walk, and art workshops can sometimes be very specific. I want to build up this community - the base is walking, but there are so many other aspects to it.

At this stage, it’s an experiment. I'm trying to do this in practice and see what the feedback is. Ideally, I’d like it to form into its own regular community that people take ownership of.

It’s a really good idea. Have you had any feedback about it yet?

I did the first month of Meanderers in May. The first walkshop was part of the Nottingham Poetry Festival, so it was poetry-themed - Alphabet Soup and zine making. Each of the walkshops are themed. On the first drift, we started from here at the Carousel and walked around the back of St. Anns and Sneinton. It was no time before we were lost and discovering new places - parks and green spaces quite nearby that we hadn’t seen before. That was lovely.

 The poetry walkshop was nice, with a mix of people… everyone said in the feedback that they had a really good time and that they wanted to come back. They’re always on a Sunday - I think that Sunday can be a difficult day for people, so I really want to create this wholesome package where you can de-stress and talk to people in a gentle, social way.

And you can relax on a Sunday?

Yeah, and everything’s sorted for you. I’ve just, this weekend gone, done the June drift. It was double the number of people from the last one, so it’s nice to see a bit of growth. There were some people that I knew, some I didn’t know, and everyone was talking together - even after the walk finished, we went to a café and talked for two hours. We’d formed a friendship group in that time.

Often in big cities, there are so many of us, but it’s often difficult to find genuine connection. A lot of people find it difficult, as adults, to make friends.

My Master’s course is in Manchester, but I moved back to Nottingham last summer. I’d found it difficult to find meaningful connections and build true friendships. I was doing all the right things, going to events and workshops - and I’m quite a chatty and open person. A lot of people have spoken to me about how difficult it is to make friends as an adult. Where does that happen? 

I want to facilitate those opportunities for that to happen. I also facilitate the Wednesday workshops here at the Carousel with Grace called Messy Brain Events, and we run Drink and Draw and Collage and Cocktails, alternating every Wednesday. Because those are regular events, those are spaces where we’ve seen people make friends and form small communities. Cosy Craft Club is also a series of workshops that I did last year, soup and an art workshop in the autumn and winter time, it was very cute. All these ideas became formed into Meanderers.

When asked about walking as a subject, Amelia had this to say…

Walking for me is a fascinating subject, and has a really rich history, and there seems to be a buzz around creative walking right now. It’s having a moment! 

I wanted to end the interview by asking what your overall thoughts about Nottingham’s arts scene are?

I love Nottingham. It feels like being in a village in a city. Lots of people know each other, and I don’t feel that it’s too competitive either, which I think is helpful. Perhaps in other places, bigger places, where there may be more traditionally huge opportunities, creatives feel that they have to be more competitive. In Nottingham there’s a lot of collaboration, a lot of positivity… and people who come from a DIY background are passionate about making something happen. And that’s usually something that helps our little pockets of Nottingham, our communities, the places, and the people that we care about.

Everyone here at the Carousel is multitalented, an artist but also maybe a musician, a DJ, an organiser, it’s the nature of being a creative. You end up doing lots of different jobs, but it makes it a vibrant and exciting scene to be a part of.

To learn more or join an upcoming event, check out the website www.meanderers.org