Mariana Marinina was still laying out sheets of coloured paper, when some participants turned up.
“Hi, I think we arrived a bit early,” says Aline Dzhelilova, as she pushed aside the black curtains that lead to the back room of The Circular bar in Rialto.
“No problem,” says Marinina. Grab a drink or a seat, she says.
She calmly assembled the tools and materials for the night, helped by her collaborator Michelle Urban. There are scissors, and pens, and a list of ideas for what to address in “a letter to my future self”.
As the clock nears 7pm, the room grows busier. There are 12 attendees so far for tonight’s event on 9 April. They’re now sat at a table, chatting amongst themselves.
“This is Michelle, my name is Marina,” says Marinina to the group. “Thank you so much for joining us.”
“We have three exercises today,” she says, going on to explain the first.
“Usually you know we only text or something but today we are going to write an actual letter,” she says.
Marnina moved to Dublin in September 2020, during the pandemic.
During breaks in lockdowns, she tried to meet up with local artists to share experiences, she says, but nothing much was happening right then.
She started to gather with her friends for drawing and creative design. At first they met in parks, then at reopened pubs.
Later, Marinina created an Instagram page Creative Sessions Dublin and attracted new followers, people she didn’t know. As more people joined, an organic community grew, she says.
“During the last year, I was trying to advertise more to attract new people,” she says.
She hosts at least one event a month, says Marinina. “There could be more activities in Dublin to do, just outside of going to a pub or standard activities.”
She creates events on Eventbrite and adds the link to her Instagram bio. She charged €20 a head for the 9 April meet-up, which covers the materials and running it.
She thinks there’s demand from people interested in art activities, she says.
Says Urban: “You are not just home all the time.”
“It’s for people to escape routine,” says Marinina.
Marinina says she enjoys teaching, building community, meeting friends, and seeing others make friends.
Marinina and Urban met through projects gathering people for creative exercises. Urban was hosting meetings too and they decided to collaborate, says Marinina.
Marinina hands out blank postcards, envelopes and pens for their letters or postcards.
She encourages them to invite a friend, family member, or loved one to join them for a coffee, a walk, the cinema, or any other activity.
She sets the alarm for 15 minutes. Everyone quietens, as they start to write and draw.
Someone scrawls “Dad” in fancy handwriting. Another pens a “Wanna go for dinner with me?” dinner invitation.
Marinina and Urban write their own postcards too.
The tables are filled with pens and paper, glasses of wine, a cup of tea, pints, and ciders.
The alarm beeps. Marinina gives a few minutes grace, as she assembles papers for the next activity.
***
The next exercise doesn’t require any perfection. “I thought it will be cool to work on a portrait,” Marinina says.
“It is very abstract, we can use different textures and also papers,” she says.
Marinina shows an example. She suggested the participants using papers with skin tones and textures for contrast of colours, combining the pieces.
Conversations bubble up.
“It’s very chaotic, mine.”
“Chaos is good.”
Claire Issartel has been coming along to meet-ups since 2022, she says, as she works on her portrait.
It has blue eyes, pink lips and cheeks, brown hair, and pale skin. A professional camera and three white flowers in a collage are there too.
Earlier, Marinina suggested adding pictures of hobbies and interests.
Numbers at the events have grown, she says. “There were only five people at the beginning.”
Marinina says that a second event she did ended up just her. “I was just on my own because some people couldn’t make it,” she says, later.
The self-portraits take shape. Marinina photographs them.
Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm goes off.
“A letter to my future self” – Urban’s idea – is the next activity, Marinina says.
She hands around pages of magazines, newspapers, pens and paper and a list with suggestions of lessons that were learned, hopes, and dreams.
Someone made a collage with a black heart and mentioned her passions.
The room is silent as everyone focuses on the guidelines.
“It is like meditation, you are just doing things like cutting, painting and you get a bit of flow and relax, you find a community in some sense, that is an important part,” says Marinina, at the end of the meeting.
It was enjoyable and adorable, says Issartel, of the event.
Marinina says she sees some faces from her events around and about in other places. “I feel that people that are more eager to go to this type of event, they go to everything,” she says.
She saw Issartel in a film club and another girl from the previous event at a yoga class. “You will find people that are very similar, their interests, and you can meet them and go to activities together,” Marinina says.
Jessica Oliveira is delighted with her first experience, she says. “I unlocked many ideas in my mind today.”
Very interesting article! It makes me want to get to know these types of events more closely to get out of the routine and have a deep introspection.
I saw this type of event and wanted to sign up but I never ended up doing it. It’s good to know more in detail about how it works. There are so many people looking for an artistic activity and opportunity to socialize. I will definitely participate in the future.
Very interested. I live in a rural town but would love to have informal sessions similar to the one outlined in the post. However, I am not sure how many like minded folk would be attracted.