You are invited to turn your interests, values, and lived experiences into a small, handmade expression of your natural creativity, even if you have never considered yourself creative before.
I have always loved Flannery O’Connor’s quote, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” It captures a big part of my relationship with creativity, which is about untangling the messy threads of thought, curiosity, desire, emotion etc and turning them outwards in some way. It gives form to the stuff that matters to us.
This is what Coming to Our Senses is about: allowing ourselves to sense the world through our own perception, intuition, and critical mind, and sharing what we discover in a world that wants to categorise, divide, and profit from us.
We might not fully realise what we know until we engage with it through a creative process or practice. A mini-zine offers a playful way to explore, notice, and share in this way. Whether you want to explore a vague idea or you're looking for a way to share something you would love the world to know about, and engage with.
What is a zine?
Magazines... Fanzines... Zines (pronounced zeeeeen)
Zines are DIY collections of writing, art, and ideas created outside the mainstream. They have always belonged to subcultures and individuals who want to share what they are noticing, thinking, and creating in simple, accessible, and low-cost ways. They are made by the communities, punks, poets, activists, and gentle rebels, who ignore restrictive filters, norms, and gatekeepers.
Zines can be handmade (from any materials), digital, or a composite mix.
They are by and large made and shared for love, not money.
A mini-zine is a type of zine, made from one sheet of paper, folded into a reversible booklet. It’s small, imperfect, and portable, just big enough to carry a spark of what you want to say.
In many ways, a zine is as much about the process as the product. It’s about connecting worlds (creator, reader, and ideas) and giving the internal spark an outward form.
What Could Your Zine Be About?
- Something you’d love others to know about you and your life
- An idea you want to teach or explore
- A message you wish everyone believed about themselves and the world
- Your art, poetry, photos, or favourite quotes
- What you enjoy reading, watching, or listening to
- A question you want to keep asking and exploring
Coming To Our Senses is the title of our community zine in The Haven. It explores the intersection of high sensitivity, creativity, and culture, drawing inspiration from a familiar phrase or saying each month that we unpick, untangle, and follow. Each one has a slightly different flavour, reflecting the individual contributors and the creative direction the topic takes us in together.
This Workshop Is For You If…
- You struggle with perfectionism and want a process that lets you start small
- You know there is creativity in you, but do not know where to begin
- You feel the weight of the world and want a place to process it without force
- You are highly sensitive and cannot simply look away or hide from what is happening
- You want a more human, imaginative way to share ideas and values
- You want to quietly rebel against the polished, professional sheen that has drained so much humanity out of communication
What we Do in The Workshop
- Explore what zines are and how the format can work for you
- Make a mini-zine from scratch
- Enjoy the fruit of engaging with our creative spirit
You will leave with a mini-zine and perhaps a sense of something opening up inside you that you want to follow further.
Join Us
These workshops run regularly, with online and in-person options.
If there are events scheduled, you will find them in the calendar below. Join the email list to be notified when new events are added.