Wild Twins was a unique course created by me and Paul Kingsnorth which ran twice in person and twice online, with a mixture of live and recorded classes and a parcel of wild materials sent out before the course starts. The first online course ran from 25th April until 15 May and filled up within a month of announcement. We held the course again in November 2021. What we might have lost in not being in the same room together, we gained by folks who are far away being able to join us, no one needed to fly or travel, and we all found the wildness in our own locales, as well as in our art and writing. There were four outings for our unique course, where we brought image and language together, where we brought the outside in, and made everything from scratch, no tired machine-made thoughts passed muster, we branched like trees and chased stories round the woods.
We sowed our words, uncivilised our art, learned how to make paints, inks, cordage, books, charcoal, quills and brushes from what we found, picked poems from hedgerows and found stories under stones. We painted from the point of view of boulders, and moss, took time to hear the opinions of passing migratory birds. With all this, we learned how to welcome the wild twin home.
Wild Twins 2019 was a roaring success, with guest teachers and visiting fellows, the fox, the otter and great northern diver. Thanks to all who attended for their great spirit and wonderful work. Wild Twins April 2021 will be held online, with a parcel of materials arriving for ever participant to use at home, with calls and videos from us and a whole new format taking in the wild places near you. We are writing this course right now and will post more here in late January.
‘Paul and Caroline wove us an alchemical vessel on that wild island. Between the water and the rocks, the sea otter and the swift, I found something I had forgotten. I have spent the months since dancing with my wild twin — a dance, which, I have come to realize, has no beginning and no end. I recommend this course as an orientation to those who want to embark on a long, tiring, and wonderful journey. It won’t be what you expect, and it is so worth it.’ MK – participant 2018
I taught Wild Twins again 4-10th May 2019, with writer Paul Kingsnorth, co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project. We made everything we used from scratch, from natural and wild materials, and from the wild hearts of ourselves. Writers and artists made their work, sometimes paired, sometimes solo, in response to rugged nature that was our home for the course. We did not draw or write in the way we always do, but instead found new ways to express something less anthropocentric, more embedded in the living world which we barely behold, but which we can get to know by paying close attention. Both of the teachers are experienced in bringing people to their senses, rewilding their art and connecting to place authentically. We had a magical week, full of great work, fires, story, words, images and nature. Writers responded to the work of artists, and vice versa. We turned our work on it’s head and saw what we could glimpse when we put down our habitual ways of thinking and working.
Artists and writers of all stripes joined us for our first course in May 2018, choreographers, film makers, illustrators, professional and less-experienced alike, made hand made books, oak gall ink, mixed ochre paints, smashed green earths from Dingle to make beautiful paints, produced quills and brushes made from feathers, cherry tree gum was used to bind everything, badger-dug and sea strewn chalk for our whites…
Venue Sherkin North Shore is here, on this island.
