AT HOME ART ACTIVITY by Emma Saffy Wilson // A Moogie Wonderland Commission
In December 2021 Moogie Wonderland curated and led a day of activity for freelance artists working with participatory practice. We came together to discuss, share and challenge the way we work.
As a result we commissioned the group to create their own activity to be shared with our Moogie audience and participants, we are excited to share Emma Saffy Wilson’s activity here.
Transcript below
Breath Art
Breath Art
Find a comfortable place to sit, if you’re on a sofa or bed, maybe grab a book to lean on.
Grab a piece of paper and something to doodle with, pens, crayons, pencils whatever you have.
You can put some relaxing music on (there are lots of meditation apps or peaceful sounds on YouTube if you haven’t got anything) or you may want to be in silence.
Now become aware of your breath
You can close your eyes if you wish or keep them open.
Is your breath fast or slow?
Are you breathing through your nose or mouth?
Are you breathing deep in to your belly or up into your chest?
When you are ready, draw a line or make a mark for every breath you take in and every breath you breathe out
Your lines or marks might look very different to the ones shown on the screen. That’s ok! Everyone’s will be different.
When you have reached the edge of the paper turn it around.
This time draw a complete circle for every full breath.
It’s likely you will draw half a circle as you breathe in.
Then complete the circle and you breathe out.
Keep going, listening to your breath in and your breath out.
Draw as many circles as you like.
Now we are going to box breathe whilst drawing squares.
Draw a line for the count of 4, whilst breathing in for 4 seconds.
Then draw another line whilst holding your breath for 4 seconds.
Then another line of the square whilst exhaling (breathing out) for 4 seconds
Then draw another line to complete the square whilst holding your breath for 4 seconds.
Box Breathing
Breathe for 4
Hold for 4
Breathe out for 4
Hold for 4
Draw as many squares as you like.
Finally! Some triangles.
Draw a line whilst breathing in for 3 seconds.
Another line of the triangle whilst you hold your breath for 3 seconds.
Complete your triangle whilst exhaling for 3 seconds.
Draw as many triangles as you like whilst breathing this way.
Hopefully you feel quite calm and relaxed.
Take a look at your work of ‘Breath Art’ and begin adding colour.
You can doodle in the shapes.
Or shade in the shapes.
Or leave bits uncoloured if you like.
Now what? That’s up to you!
You could frame it.
Or Crop it and find which sections you like the most.
Or make an origami box out of it.
Or play around folding it to see what else you could make.
Things to do with paper
Fold
Tear
Rip
Crumple
Shred
Pleat
Plait
Curl
Weave
Join
Suspend
Glue
Cut
Join
Tape
Layer
Stack
Balance
Roll
Twist
Or stick bits of the paper down to make a collage.
Have fun!
Emma Saffy Wilson. Artist Bio
Soil and mould are the raw materials of Emma Saffy Wilson’s practice. This organic matter, essential to our fragile earthly existence, is often disregarded as repulsive, something to be scrubbed away in the relentless battle for sanitisation.
Alluding to the futile endeavour to apply order to disorder the artist cultivates mould, forms mud and frames soil; exerting her human will on unstable materials. By nature and design her work is ephemeral.
@Itsallintheprocess fin emma’s engagement and social practice here.
I have worked as a freelance community artist since graduating in 2000, delivering arts projects in a variety of settings, from galleries and museums to more predominately community based settings. Through a lot of the work I do I aim to encourage disengaged young people on the fringes of dangerous or risky behaviour, or young people who would not normally engage with the arts to develop their creative skills and participate in the arts if they so wish. I feel passionate that the arts should be accessible for all.
