Arts, Food and Infinity

In April we got mathsy as we travelled To Infinity and Beyond with Tom Ding, or more accurately, to some of the infinities… Yep, there’s more than one! We also learnt that Achilles will never beat the tortoise and that infinity + 1 still equals infinity.

Next up was Alexander D’Aloia for Screenwriting: A Hitchhiker’s Guide. We analysed the different aspects of scripts and screenwriting including characters, different types of narratives and general plots before moving on to some exercises. For example, ‘a scene where an Elvis impersonator meets a live statue performer’!

We also had our creative juices flowing with Zahra Zainal and her class on Collaborative Art – Drawing Together. Now I know what you’re thinking but no, it wasn’t like an awkward three-legged race for arts. Instead, each person drew a border and chose a theme for their piece of art. Then, they drew something and passed the paper on. At the end of the class everyone got their own piece back and the results were fantastic. We had skeletons, castles with elements of M.C. Escher, underwater sea scapes and more.

It was then time to engage our tongues and our bellies as we had a host of foodie classes.

First up was Kate Mackie and SuperSalads. We learnt about lots of different foods, and superfoods, and there was plenty to go around. Kate works to show people that salads can be filling, delicious and tempt in even the most diehard carnivore. I learnt that I can like beetroot!

Then, the ever talented Maria Yebra was back yet again for two delicious desserty classes. She started off with No-Bake Cake Pops. We broke down cakes and biscuits, remoulded everything, covered it in chocolate and then got decorating. At the end of the evening there were some really cool cake pops leaving The Little Mule and more already in our bellies with lots of left over melted chocolate to join them!

Maria then taught us how to decorate our cakes with Piping Buttercream. We learnt to make rosettes, basket weave, swirls and more. Oh yeah, and then ate all of that too!

We were very pleased to welcome d’Arcy Lunn to Laneway Learning for an insight into his down-to-earth lifestyle decisions. Starting off with Happy, Simply, d’Arcy talked about how simplicity can be the ultimate sophistication and the most fulfilling. We had some very interesting discussions and finished off by finding out how d’Arcy came to be living in his very own tiny purple house.

Then we moved on to Bicycle Touring where we we talked about some of the ins and outs of travelling by bike, be they practical or emotional. d’Arcy led the conversations with stories from his own experiences and we each worked to plan our own dream trip.

Susanne Daoud of Juicy Body Art then took a class on Body Art: A Dynamic 3D Canvas. We worked the paints, sponged on base layers, and then got really creative. There were some amazing flowers and trees, symbols and patterns and even an elephant painted on our Laneway Learners by the end.

 

Following on Susanne’s heels were Tina and Christos Partisoglou of Xocolatl for some Chocolate Tasting. Tina, who had just returned from a chocolatier’s tour of Ghana, taught us all about how the cocoa grows and is harvested and with lots of tastings we talked about the difference between chocolate from different regions and of different cocoa percentages. Apparently, the best way to taste chocolate is to bite into it four times and rub it into the soft palate in the roof of your mouth.

In our Creative Expression class Natalie Vaccaro helped us to break down our psychological barriers and unleash our creativity. We sculpted, drew, painted and even got outside for some movement, all encouraged by Natalie and her wise words: “this is a space for you to be free.”

Last but not least, Sam Harvey took us through A Crafty Way to Calm, a.k.a. meditating whilst knitting! We tried some stretches to loosen up and then cleared our minds whilst our hands stayed busy. Having something to focus on that wasn’t the usual life stressors was a great way to calm the mind without feeling guilty for thinking, or accidentally letting thoughts wander to that to do list. Feeling the Zen. By the way, did you know that the Buddha recommended urination as a meditation technique?!