Hello and welcome
Dear everyone,
I am Adela Pakandlova and I am happy to meet you if your wonder brought you here. I am a PhD student exploring the role of clay work in bereavement. I am currently carrying out a comparative study between bereaved individuals in Portugal and England. My personal as well as a professional experience took me here, to this place, in which I am exploring the fascinating complexity of grief.You can find out more about me and about what I do if you browse through this website a little, I hope you can enjoy it!
“I am blooming from the wound where I once bled”
Grief and Clay
We can express ourselves in many different (creative) ways, although we do have a variety of words and languages, I do believe that sometimes words are just not enough .. and I am sure we all felt this at some point in our lives. ..This is when the other mediums such as clay come onto the stage, into play, to help us to communicate and describe our feelings, to further explain what we go through. Exploring the unpredictable shades of grief.. in which it often feels like we can’t see tomorrow, but then somehow, on other days, we notice and are able to feel the colours and to be butterflies….both scenarios can be true, even at the same time.To me, it seems more and more possible to get in touch and to express our grief through the creative art medium of clay…
(clay) shapes of grief
” I had not intended to mention my bereavement but it just felt right at the end of the session – I am not quite sure what made me feel comfortable because I have not mentioned the death of my elder sister to many of my friends because I am ‘runnning away’ from the reality.In part, I think it was the tactility of the clay but I think also it was the wonderful atmosphere you created in the room.I was not at all ‘triggered.’ Rather, I was soothed.”
Grief can be painful, heavy and difficult, leaving us feel like this..like our trunk is not strong enough to support us, like we’re falling down, collapsing, almost floating in the air..
Sometimes you want to bloom but your colours haven’t showed themselves (yet), leaving you in a dark (er) place..
Then, one day, the colours are more visible and you can catch yourself to see them and also feel them, you can bloom..
And then, it is possible .. you can find yourself to be able to fly, to feel free like a butterfly, a moment of expansion appears to you..
Clay workshops
I believe in our innate creative potential, we all have an inner artist within us, let’s explore yours..
Grief
Mental health
Relax, soothing experience
Community
Imagination
Creativity
Feelings
Well-being
Emotions
Compassion
Self-exploration & expression
What do you think?
Building resilience together as a community
Adela’s community
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