Showing posts with label Watermark Presentation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Watermark Presentation. Show all posts

Thursday, November 18, 2010

STORIES ON THE ROPE


...my childhood was very happy
...then the war
...this was the depression
...and this was Pearl Harbor
...my mother died in childbirth
...there was no work-we moved
...my father died in Auschwitz
...I liked playing in the dirt with my brother's friends
...Hitler came & it was bad for a long time
...I went to college
...we were poor
...my mother wanted me
to study to get a job
...we went to a lake in Hungary
...I had 3 careers
...we had a wonderful life

Making & sharing their story ropes today at the Watermark. My reward was hearing their stories. They did not know each others life history before today.






Wednesday, November 17, 2010

WHAT A JUMBLE


Tomorrow I'll do the story ropes with seniors at the Watermark. They have a great art room to work in. Collecting up: cut fabric strips 2 1/2" x 35" - 1 per person; ribbons in assorted colors*; buttons & thread; fabric scraps; & scissors.

I'll be telling them that this is not a piece of artwork or even a craft. It is simply a way think through your life sequentially by tieing pieces of ribbon, buttons, small strips of fabric on to the long strip. Each piece is thoughtfully chosen to represent a significant event, experience, person, location, whatever. When they are done making their 'rope' they are welcome to share their story with the rest of the group. But only if they want. (Usually they do.)

My story rope on the mantle. I develped the story rope idea in Rwanda, working with the genocide survivors, as a way to process the pain in their lives. It was the Rwandan's who came up with the term story rope.

*Decided to save the ribbons for the trip. The fabric options will be plenty.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

STORY ROPE PREP

Putting together a basket of materials for doing the Story Ropes at Watermark Lifecare on Thursday.
Choosing a variety of fabrics today for the strips.

This will be an interesting project to do with a group of 80+ year olds - they have lived through so much personal and world history. More prep tomorrow.