Art Steps by Saskia Haalebos

Hi friends, my name’s Saskia. I’m an artist who lives on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country, which you might also know as the ACT.

Have you noticed how sometimes the big, bright and noisy things can grab all of the attention? Me too. I think that’s a bit sad, because when that happens, we can miss the smaller and quieter bits that are also very important in our lives. So today we’re going to focus on these little things – using our senses and imagination – and make an artwork only using words. This is what I do sometimes. It might be a bit different to how you’re used to making art, but what it can do is let others create your picture in their mind.

Ok ready? Let’s go …

1. To start, grab some A4 paper and coloured pencils, markers, or crayons.
2. Go to your favourite spot at home – inside or out – and get comfortable.
3. Take some deep breaths while counting to ten as slowly as you can – we want you to feel as relaxed as possible because this will help you to notice more things. Once you feel calm move on to the next step.
4. Make sure your paper has the long edges at the side, and then start writing a list of everything you can hear – if you need an adult to write the words for you, that’s ok. Now, what can you hear? What does it remind you of? How does it make you feel? Can you smell anything? What do you think it would feel like if you touched it? For example, maybe the air conditioning sounds like bees! There are no wrongs answers here, just describe everything in as much detail as you can until you almost fill up the page.
5. At the bottom write your name, age and town. And you’re done!
6. If you want to, share your soundscape poem with a family member or friend.