They arrived in a brown paper package tied up with string, a cylinder with a handwritten label carefully wrapped around. When I opened one end of the tube, fuzzy colours tumbled out into a pile on the table in a lively tangle of yarn, and right behind them slid out a handful of sticks of various lengths and thicknesses, the kind you’d scoop up from a forest floor. It was such an unlikely, unusual but curiosity-inspiring collection of art materials, it felt a little bit magical.
The fairy godmother behind this gift was Pamela Schuller, a Toronto-based artist and community art facilitator. She shares her concept of story sticks as a mix of art and therapy, a tactile form of self-expression. I found her offering a Zoom workshop through Eventbrite, amid a pandemic-long fit of visual art-making. Though I wasn’t completely clear on what story sticks were, I did know that after months of painting, drawing, collaging, and doodling, I was longing for a new creative project to explore.
All images by Marichka Melnyk.
