27 . 07 . 2022 | ALL ABOUT LITTLE BIRD'S 'THE PAPER PROJECT', BY CHRISTIE JENNA SIVEWRIGHT
This should go without saying, but Tammy and I just LOVE to create. We love community, relationship and people coming together to create something beautiful. We are all made in the image of the greatest Creator in history and therefore all have the capacity to create something. We love (and hold dear) the perspective that art and creativity should not be limited to what some deem as 'good' or 'acceptable' but that it should rather be explored as a form of personal expression and therapy. Now, you might be wondering what we are referring to when we say 'creativity', because that truly is a broad term. We dreamed of creating an event whereby people from different walks of life could come together and express themselves through avenues such as...
doodles, songs, ideas, blind contour drawings, illustrations, colour swatches, poems, comics, mark-making, recipes, stories, letters, sketches, paintings, fashion, typography - if it can fit on an A5 piece of paper, we are here. for. it.
Cue The Paper Project.
This project is incredibly close to our hearts. Our first event took place in April this year in our Little Bird studio. We initially wondered if even a handful of people would be interested in joining and were later surprised that our studio reached its absolute capacity! We provided tables, chairs, live music, cool drinks, wine, paper and art supplies and the rest was brought through by The Paper Project community. There was a small entrance fee to cover our costs and each participant was asked to bring along a plate of eats to add to a sharing harvest table. We had so. much. food! And it was all absolutely delicious. Before the creating had even begun, a community was being knitted together as strangers conversed and shared stories over a plate of yummy treats.
Each person created at least one work and pinned it up in our gallery. As the evening went on, a beautiful exhibition was created. Every A5 piece of work was for sale for R50,00 (of which all the proceeds went to helping young ladies who are very close to our heart). We won't share all the nitty gritty details here (as they were shared with all those who attended), but we are very involved in a local place of safety whereby a number of young ladies have recently completed their matric and are in the process of applying for university, college or looking for work. These proceeds have gone to helping them and we couldn't be more excited about it!
We have received the most wonderful feedback since our first event and cannot wait to see what comes from it. We hope to do more events just like it, all centred around bringing people together to create together.
We would also like to give a HUGE shoutout and thank you to Kieran Woolmington and Luca De Bellis for their incredible performance at The Paper Project. They provided the grooviest jams for the event and we loved every second of their performance. We love that they shared their creativity beyond an A5 piece of paper. There is nothing better than local creatives coming alongside one another, in collaboration, to create something special.
Let us know if you enjoyed The Paper Project or if you would like to attend one in future? We have some exciting thoughts of how it can continue/ morph into a space purely dedicated to community and creativity.
Until next time, thank you to everyone who made this dream a reality!