Free Saturday Workshop #2 — Emotional Trees in a Collective Forest with Carmen José

When and why did we learn to draw trees in a certain way? And what does this reveal about our relationship with the world?

Join Carmen José in a workshop that explores drawing beyond academic canons of control and violence. Together, we will create a forest on large textiles, which will come together as a collective installation hanging from the ceiling.

The facilitation is composed of exercises in observation, care, and emotional relation — following intersectional feminist and queer perspectives. The workshop is linked to the poetry and illustration book I don’t know how to draw a tree(Rotopol, March 2025).

Similar workshops have been organized at different cultural and social spaces in Rotterdam: Garden of Queerdom, Dokhuis, Ferry Books, Rotterdam Illustrators, TENT, WoLK, and Grounds. From 10–23 August, the artworks from the book will be exhibited at Het Park Paviljoen, together with three workshops about nature journaling for kids, young people, and adults.

Workshop 2

You are invited to draw a person on a textile next to the tree. They are imaginary people, they can be connected to the people we see from the window, the people we remember from our lives or from our childhood memories. Who are these people? Let’s give them an imaginary name, how are they feeling today?

We start with the feet, how are they connected to the soil? Are they wearing shoes or are they bare foot? Then we follow with the trunk of the body, how big is it? Which clothes are they wearing? Is it warm or cold? Finally we go to the arms and head, how far do they go? Are the arms moving? How is their head? Are they wearing a hat or headscarf or something else? How is their face? Do they have an expression of their emotions we can see?