The Sydney Facilitator's Network had a session run by Ralph Kerle from the Creative Leadership Forum where we all got funky with clay. Ralph has a background in theatre & arts-based facilitation.
So we started off in teams with our clay. One of us plonked down a shape & then in silence the others added to it one by one. Gradually our forms took shape into Dali-esque wilting towers & offering bowls that were in no way reminiscent of genitalia, oh no.
Then we were requested to render our current work situation in clay in pairs. One of us would mold the clay & talk whilst the other recorded the stream of consciousness. Then we examined the pieces from different angles before swapping roles.
This latter exercise got quite personal. Now facilitators are quite an open bunch anyway ("so what I'm feeling in the room is...") but I think clay modelling is particularly effective and here's why:
- Talking about something external to yourself is less confronting than than talking about yourself (“I’m not confused, lost & angry, it’s just THE CLAY MODEL!!!”).
- Building the model is a process & the end product is mutable. You don’t like something about the model, you change it.
- It’s just fun OK – did you never have plasticine as a kid?
Ralph asked me if I could see a link between clay modelling & acting. And I think I can: If you plonk ordinary people on stage and say “create a character”, they’ll freeze. If you give them a task then they’ll focus on the task & create the character without consciously thinking about it. You want enlightment? Go play with something.
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6 comments:
Gee, I didn't even think of Wallace and Grommit - my favourite clay characters when I asked that question. Thanks for making this connection for me, Matt- just great!!
Ralph Kerle
Ralph - Nothing in the session will rival Nick Parks' creations but it weas great fun anyways. Matt
This is soo very true and can be all the more powerful when you talk "about" the external object/painting/clay model or whatever - the insights really flow! I use this technique (not clay but metaphor and imagery) a lot with clients and it's incredibly powerful. Any chance you'll show us your creation?
So I did suggest a flickr feed for the photos taken at the event - but people may want to keep that private. Suffice to say mine had a crocodile in it...
The key is getting over self consciousness; like the problems you have had in finding your voice, which I think I recognise and like anyway.
Short story, I worked in amateur theatre for years and one guy who worked for the society was always scathing about actors "just playing around". Till one day we convinced him to take a walk-on.
All he had to do was walk diagonally across the stage calling "Meester Meeler, Meester Meeler" and off.
At which point he discovered that he could neither walk, nor talk, and certainly not do both at the same time, and there was no audience.
My guess is that for these things to work you have to forget that you are there. Whatever that means.
Earl - absolutely agree about forgetting where you are (and possibly who you are) and focusing on what you are doing. Which I think is a lot like meditation but there you go...
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