In July 2026, Naomi Paul led a creative writing workshop in response to Marian Edwards’ exhibition ‘Much is Lost, Much Remains’. 

“The opportunity to dig deep was very satisfying, to find my dormant artist’s eye and writer’s pen” [participant response]

Where it began

The idea for the creative writing workshop was sparked at the private view of Much is Lost, Much Remains, in March 2026. My BA in Creative Writing was based in Winterbourne in the early 2000s, and I’d loved the Saturday day schools looking out over the veranda and garden. So it was a fitting location for Marian Edwards and I to run our first workshop together.

What happened on the day

On the day, participants gathered for coffee in the Liberty Room next to the exhibition, and there was an instant buzz of interest and engagement as people chatted in small groups. Marian’s introduction to the day set the scene. Participants then spent the beginning of the workshop walking round the exhibition with some questions as prompts, selecting up to 5 items that struck them.  From then on they were in conversation with the work, with themselves and others – and with the artist.

The day looked after itself in so many ways. It was a perfect synergy of exhibition, location, enthusiastic participants – and the artist present throughout. In planning the workshop, I found that the writing tasks and prompts emerged easily because of the strength of the material in the exhibition. There was utter focus in the communal writing round the table and a sense of deep pleasure in the work, with occasional movement for people to go back to the exhibition next door, or to get a drink. For large periods participants worked in silence, with concentration and shared endeavour. They had a mix of experience – some of writing, some of art – and some of neither. 

Discussion arose naturally throughout the day. We talked a lot about the ‘layering’ in the exhibition: the literal layering of the artwork, such as collage – but also the layering of ideas, experience and history that runs through the exhibition as a whole. The morning didn’t let up! We kept people working – albeit with plenty of time to think and write – and that paid off in the wonderfully varied work-in- progress that people shared in the afternoon. We wanted an achievable outcome to the workshop that could add to the artwork and be exhibited alongside it. The idea of producing a ‘postcard’ at the end gave participants a finite outcome – and the choice to select from the writing they had done during the day. Participants responded in different ways. Some responded to the physicality of the artwork itself, such as:

Woodcuts:  what’s lost and what remains? 
Cutting away does not mean a gap, absence, nothingness
It’s more active than that
White space holds dark shapes, gives focus and form to black lines….
So what’s positive and what’s negative?
Light and dark together, alongside one another,
Creating something new

[Mogs]

Spotlight on the Blanks!
We see more BETWEEN the lines
where sacred things hide

[Natascha]

Some responded to a series of prints, such as:

Old Village Crete
Echoing of those gone
whispers seeking listeners….
calling them home.

[Liz]

Others responded to the wider context of location, history and women artists, or to wider themes of memory and perception.

In response to the question, ‘What would the painting say?’ one participant wrote:

The rare orchid’s secret wish
What I wouldn’t give
for just one day without fuss
about draughts and direct sunlight,
boiled water and misters.
Oh to be allowed to drop a few buds!
To have a bad day!
To let myself go like a dandelion
that’s never heard the word buttonhole.

[Ros]

The group listened carefully and attentively to each other’s work. One participant spoke of  ‘the perspicacity with which Naomi and Marian distilled resonant words and phrases from participants’ contributions.’  Another commented on ‘how closely our way of seeing things is linked to the words we use.’ Whatever our expectations were of the day, they were completely surpassed! And this was also true for the participants.

‘I did expect it to be enjoyable, but hadn’t anticipated the challenge and stretch it presented, both terrifying [!] but immensely rewarding.’ [participant response]

‘I love Marian’s work. I may not have seen the exhibition without the workshop. Visual art and writing are two of my greatest pleasures – wonderful to combine the two.’ [participant response]

Over the two weeks following the workshop it was a great pleasure to receive the work submitted and then to see it in situ! There is such energy in the work. As one visitor commented, ‘The pace of Marian’s work and the pace of the writing seem to fit together.’

Much is Lost, Much Remains continues throughout September and closes on 4 October.  You can see all the creative writing displayed alongside the artworks.

Many thanks to curator Henrietta Lockhart for her interest and support.

For more information on forthcoming workshops with Naomi Paul and Marian Edwards please contact Naomi Paul on [email protected]

Naomi Paul