In January the Still Parents group were invited to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. On display there was the Annie Morris’ exhibition ‘When a Happy Thing Falls’. Annie Morris’ work is a response to her experience of baby loss, work that she created following the stillbirth of her first child. The tragedy catalysed a compulsion for her to draw intense, dense circular forms and then to make irregular spheres that seem swollen and fecund. The globe forms are made from plaster and sand and are arranged into columns, some short, some tall, all seemingly precariously off-balance as though they could fall at any moment.

Participants were invited to bring along their partners and children so it was a lovely opportunity for everyone to meet each others’ wider families and have the space and time to catch up properly. The group got to meet Annie and she talked to them about how her work was the result of her grief following her stillbirth. Everyone in the group had personal experience of baby loss and so could relate to Annie and her work. It was powerful to see Annie talking about her work and how making art helped both her and her husband, Idris Khan, work through their experience of baby loss.

Annie then led a drawing workshop in the YSP Learning Studio. She led a playful version of the game ‘consequences’, passing paper around the table and creating drawings as a group. This activity freed up the participants and took the pressure off their drawing as they very quickly doodled characters and had fun doing it.

It was the most beautiful sunny day which showed the Sculpture Park off at it’s absolute best. Most of the group had never been to the Sculpture Park, or even knew about it, so it was wonderful to introduce them to this amazing resource. Many of them expressed that they would return with family and friends another time.

Emma Spencer, the Family Learning Manager at YSP looked after us brilliantly and, in the afternoon, took us on a tour around the rest of the Sculpture Park so we could take in some of the highlights. These included the ‘Family of Man’ by Barbara Hepworth (above) and The Oak Project.

Thank you so much to Emma Spencer and to Annie Morris for a very special and memorable day.

Photo credit:

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