#WeAreRydeArts - Tanya Goodwin
Over a number of years I’ve helped run the Green Garlands community wreath making workshop that takes place each December in the town centre. This has become a very popular activity with around 100 participants taking part each year. The community is at the heart of Green Garlands.
“I have many memories from the Green Garlands project but for me, it’s continuing value lies in the connections it allows people to make with each other and in the ritual element to the event that’s developed over the years.”
As a free, annual, drop-in event, local people can easily access the workshop and often wander in spontaneously, while others queue outside before it starts. It gives people, who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity, a chance to engage in a creative activity with their friends and family. I think that this type of hands-on participation can help local people feel that they have a stake in the community through offering individuals a chance to make a contribution to a larger artistic endeavour that might benefit the whole town. I’ve learned many things from this project. It’s helped me discover how to distill a practical process that can be quite complex, into a simpler form and has improved my ability to communicate this confidently to others. Helping people learn a new skill and seeing them apply it is very rewarding. And it’s a joy to see how much pleasure people get from a hands-on tactile engagement with natural materials that reconnects them, in a small way, back to nature.
I have many memories from the Green Garlands project but for me, it’s continuing value lies in the connections it allows people to make with each other and in the ritual element to the event that’s developed over the years. It’s fascinating to see how people begin to talk to strangers when they’re engaged in the process of making in a way they might not otherwise.
About: Tanya Goodwin is a florist, stylist and picture taker. She is inspired by the wild landscapes around us and storytelling in all its forms. Tanya has recently set-up her own floristry called Wild Florist Wild.
Contact: Tanyagoodwin.co.uk Instagram @wildfloristwild @tanyagoodwinstylist
