Fabula Collective meets the Surrey Storytellers

A wonderful opportunity for us to connect with a group of talented storytellers was made possible by our six month exhibition at Hove Museum last year. 

Alastair K Daniel is a professional storyteller, educator and academic who visited our show and then posted a review on Twitter which prompted us to get in touch. After that followed a meeting at Hove Museum with Alastair and five other storytellers from the group 'The Surrey Storytellers': Trish Chiltern, Gemi-Iodanou, Belinda McKenna, Martin Hunka and Richard Trouncer.

The Surrey Tellers and Fabula members next to The Story Cabinet at Hove Museum

As visual artists we are always talking about stepping outside our comfort zone, trying new materials or subject matter to enliven our practice or take it in new directions. So imagine how enriching an experience it was for us to meet these very creative practitioners. They are storytellers like ourselves but with a completely different mode of delivery: storytellers in the oral tradition.

It was fascinating for us to hear how the tellers work. Each one in a slightly different way and, as you'd expect, with individual preferences for certain tales. Alastair Daniel spoke passionately about the need for storytelling and imaginative teaching in schools. He described his approach where he uses lots of drama with elaborate props to bring stories alive for children. This is a shared aim for many Fabula members, especially those who illustrate and run creative workshops for children. Belinda has an interest in more symbolic subject matter - telling stories that may be understood on different levels. Trish is a speech and language therapist who uses her story telling to great advantage in this work.  Richard tends to tell autobiographical stories - with humour, and Gemi's work also has autobiographical elements that draw upon her Greek heritage. 

It was interesting and useful for us to hear how our work was perceived by a group whose own work is so immersed in storytelling and the tellers were generous with their thoughts and comments. There was both useful sharing of thoughts on this particular exhibition and the potential to stir the beginnings of creative ideas for the future.

Dagmara Rudkin, in front of her work Henny Penny, explaining her activity sheet for children based on the story.

We were interested to hear just how reciprocal and connected their storytelling art is: how they will gauge the responses in the room and tell or change stories as they go along according to what they feel from their audience.  It sounded interactive and joyful. 
Belinda had a wonderful, theatrical idea about how our exhibits could be made to interact with each other if they each became part of a bigger story. This got us thinking about potential ways to enable another layer of storytelling when we curate future exhibitions or events.

The tellers had respect for the idea that stories belong to everyone and also no-one - that each story is always heard (or seen) in an individual way that is different each time it is heard. Each has their own way to set the scene or start the magic off - to get the listener into the realm of stories and also to bring them out of it. They told their story and interacted with us about ours. This was a creative conversation that made us feel a connection - surely the point of any story telling experience. 

Since then, we are pleased to tell you that Alastair K Daniel has had an article published in Facts and Fiction Magazine - the UK's premier story telling magazine - giving much more detail about our meeting at Hove Museum during the exhibition. 

Here is the link to see the article:
https://thestorytent.wixsite.com/akdaniel/single-post/2018/06/10/Storytelling-and-Narrative-Art


We very much enjoyed our afternoon with The Surrey Storytellers and we hope to meet with them again in the near future.  

Smile please!