Wood Carving Workshop with the PZI students ~ 14/11/2023

The other day we got visited by the students of the Piet Zwart Institute and wood carving enthusiast amateurista and tutor Bernd Krauß. This was our invitation:

"Shared Grounds invites you for an afternoon of wood carving in and amongst the shrubs and trees of the Gouwplein Park in Charlois. Over the last months we have been setting aside branches to whittle and now seems the moment! - perhaps you want to make a new walking stick, have a project in mind or just want to carve for the fun, feel very welcome to sit with us between the trees and return your wood clippings back to the soil in the process. You can make something for yourself, for another, or for the park (we can install them after we finish). We will have tools, decorative details and snacks ready to go, though please feel free to BYOK (bring your own knife :-) and anything else you might want to use."

The students and Bernd got to Rib after walking all the way from the city center. They were a bit unfortunate since it rained for most of their trek. Even though, even under heavy rain, they managed to find branches while moving their bodies through the city towards the south. After some snacks, tea and coffee we went for a stroll around Shared Grounds.

Our idea for the workshop was to have them carving in the garden, after every knife intrusion into the sticks, wooden bits and flakes falling into the ground of the park, re/integrating themselves [back] into the carbon cycles... But it was still raining, everyone was wet and tired so we collectively decided to carve inside at Rib. We laid a plastic tarp on the ground (to collect all the carved wood) and made a circle with white foldable chairs. While carving, we got to talk to the group and get a feeling of the dynamics and relationships that give life to the master program at the PZI. For the carving we used a wide range of tools, from simple kitchen knifes to the special carving blades and saw from Bernd. 

Most of the carvings went into the abstract realm, following and letting themselves be guided by the shape of the branches and their nots. Fully removing the bark, carving snaky silhouettes around the bark, poligonal cuttings, and soft handles for walking sticks. Some students took their sticks, others wanted them to be part of the garden.

It was a great evening in which we achieved to make a welcoming environment and to provide a bit of gezelligheid for the students. We hope to see their faces again, but this time with a bit of soil under their nostrils and fingertips while (maybe) collecting fallen leaves to compost?

[Next steps: introducing wood flakes + carved sticks in the garden.]