Book launch & art exhibition

A magic acorn for today

Fri 28th to Sun 30th July 2023

Open all weekend, Trafalgar warehouse, 120 Trafalgar Street, Sheffield, S1 4JT

Free admission, everyone welcome

The official launch of the Magic Forest, Come and see the book, see the art exhibition, shop in the magic forest or listen to a talk about the extensive design process by local Peak District artist Si Homfray.

Come and join Si for the book launch, all the the new art and more... 

Over the weekend

•  Art exhibition - 100 + exhibits
•  Book signing - over the w/e
•  Shop - Art and products from the new and existing ranges
•  Presentations
•  Food, drink, seating & music available everyday
•  Bar until 10pm Fri and Sat

FREE Goody bag to the first 100 visitors. may contain Magic Beans !

Friday 28th July
1pm     Open - 10pm Close
3pm    Official book launch,
Press opportunities.
6pm    Presentation by Si about the process and thinking behind the system

Saturday 29th July
10am Open - 10pm Close
6pm    Presentation by Si about the process and thinking behind the system

Sunday 30th July
10am - 4pm Close

Trafalgar Warehouse, Sheffield, S Yorks. S1 4JT

‘Lovingly conceived, created and crafted over a decade, the system is as simple to embrace as it is visually original’.

The Magic Forest
a complete system for wellbeing.
A fun and easy to use system of 7 trees and 49 keywords.
A unique, simple framework that clearly identifies the most important areas for your total wellbeing. Find your own answers to all the questions for your best self.

The Magic Forest system is the life’s work and creation of Peak District based designer and artist Si Homfray. It is now available as a book and a series of exciting new products.

This is the first work of its kind, the tone of the words, the accessible nature of the presentation, the original art and the overall simplicity of strong and colourful key areas makes an interesting impact.

The book is clearly a system, presented as keywords around a framework of trees, the fundamental areas of all of our lives to be examined and it makes for an exciting exhibition and an original piece of art overall and in itself, if only because of the volume of work and the range of craft that has gone into its creation.

It has been very consciously designed as much to intrigue and inspire self-questioning as it is to help you grow your own Magic Forest out of the today’s ‘real problem’, the modern forest of online contradiction and confusion.

The basic premise and an inclusive process.

The starting point was to create an index or summary of everything to be examined. Si set out to create the simplest framework or system possible for self-examination. The project, by his design nature and the need to simplify and communicate in as clear a way as possible, eventually came out of this long and thorough process as some universal truths, backed up by all the friends, colleagues and customers he had worked with to achieve this work along the way.

‘Lovingly conceived, created and crafted over a decade, the system is as simple to embrace as it is visually original’.

A working model for everyone and the book he wished for as a young man.

Frustrated by a lifetime of reading contradictory literature, Si set out to find the simplest way or looking at his own life. This cathartic process was partly motivated by the need to write something for his son and partly to lay to rest a lifetime of personal questioning on his own self-improvement. The end result delivered some unexpected surprises…

‘We are all more similar than we are different, we all need each other and kindness is everything.’

It ultimately created a framework of questions, suggestions and quotations that his thirteen year old self would have loved and would have been grateful for. It produced a system to work through, to build your personal wellbeing and stay strong. It felt good to use and gave him goosebumps. The Magic Forest and the nature of wellbeing.

The Magic Forest and the nature of wellbeing

a complete wellbeing system

‘The Magic Forest is a visual system for wellbeing. It is a succinct and elegant system that allows the reader, whether novice or expert, to tackle the complex learning required for complete and balanced physical and mental health - one keyword at a time in a clearly understandable way.’

A fun and easy to use system of 7 trees and 49 keywords.

A unique framework that clearly identifies all the areas for your total wellbeing. Find your own answers for your best self.

‘The Magic Forest and the nature of wellbeing’
launches on the 28^th July 2023. It is a new genre of book and a revolutionary new way of looking at wellbeing.

Official Launch
The Magic Forest officially launches at
3pm on Friday 28^th July at Trafalgar warehouse in the centre of Sheffield S1 4JT.

The book ‘system’, is in essence an elegant forty nine word system growing from seven trees, a framework that encompasses all aspects of wellbeing providing a complete structure to examine our lives from every angle.

‘Deceptively simple, this book covers all the key aspects of mental and physical health to be explored and understood in the reader’s own time, leaving you empowered with a knowledge and reassurance that it is possible to work your own way through to your best life.’

The book, notebook and accompanying key card tools are the life’s work and creation of Peak District based designer and artist Si Homfray. Lovingly conceived, created and crafted over a decade, it is as simple to embrace as it is visually original.

Come and join Si and friends for what is being billed as the beginning of ‘something special’, and at the very least an exciting new exhibition and a friendly atmosphere in these times where some renewed positivity and a smile are so needed.

Over the weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

• Art exhibition - 100 + exhibits
• Book signing - over the weekend
• Shop - Art and products from the new and existing ranges
• 6pm Presentations and a talk by Si about the process and thinking behind the system
• Food, drink, seating & music available everyday

Bar until 10pm Fri and Sat

Products from 28^th July
Copies of the book, accompanying products as well as a range of art and launch items will be available online through the website: parkdesigns.co.uk

The Magic Forest and the nature of wellbeing
ISBN 978-1-7394657-0-4
192pp Hardback

The Magic Forest and the nature of wellbeing.

A simple visual system of wellbeing for the modern world.
This system has been developed by Si Homfray.

So the Magic Forest is now finally underway. The first work is out there as a T Shirt and the art for the seven main areas is about to be launched. 10 years on and my enthusiasm for this project remains completely undimmed.

"After half a lifetime of searching for a single answer to life’s challenges, Si Homfray found clarity after a motorbike accident changed the course of his life. Now he is hoping to help others to achieve wellbeing in a conflicted and complicated world through his new artistic project."

A big challenge

As a young man, I always found life really, really confusing and I felt lost.

I always wanted a structure to understand what it was all about. I think you could call it an existential crisis from a young age.

I did a lot of running and climbing, which helped me keep a sort of balance but it didn’t give me any answers. I knew climbing was good for me, but I didn’t know why.

In the 1980s and ‘90s, I read a lot of self-help books – which were giving dogmatic, overly prescriptive advice, much of it conflicting. I read several psychotherapy texts but nothing gave me a simple structure that made any sense to work to.

I couldn’t find a really simple structure that looked at mental health and physical health together or a system I could work with every day that really dealt with both areas equally.

My travels allowed me to do some deep soul searching, with some occasional hard core self deprecating existential philosophy. I learned to like myself then, but it wasn’t until may years later, perhaps only then seeing the wood for the trees of the forest, that I realised that the solution to finding a structure for understanding all round wellbeing was truly multi-faceted and that all the areas overlapped in a very joined up way, this was the real challenge graphically for me.

There isn’t one answer to achieve wellbeing – it’s not simply about your health, your fitness and your relationships. It’s about many aspects of life. I have kept asking what are they?

There is plenty of advice out there, but nothing really seemed comprehensive and nearly all of it seemed conflicted.

I takes time, and it's very much a together process

My graphic artistic journey started back 10 years ago, as part of my application to do an MA in Graphic Art at the Royal College of Art. Such a high bar demanded a high degree of obsessive detail, a big step back and reworking of my beliefs and perception of the world. It also needed a really strong clear look at all the issues surrounding this challenge. With all this heavyweight mental pressure briefed into my mind I started to examine ideas and words one at a time for next few years.

Time passed by quickly as I set up the new business, found my own personal confidence and rebuilt my personal view of the world with a much stronger sense of being part of the whole world than before.

It is only recently, over the last four or five years, that these ideas, concepts and visual works have crystalised and I am really proud to say I seemed to have finally worked out my own system, the magic forest, a simple committed structure with some clearly important key points that apply to the human condition on what’s really important.

Hopefully as it unfolds publicly in new art works and new products developed from this structured plan it will deliver some of these insights in a warm and engaging way. I would love for people to identify with something relevant for themselves through these works, and if I do the work to my best, hopefully it will all seem quite straightforward and clear to understand.

Then when we have all achieved this together through artwork, feedback and conversation, I can finish and publish a book which in the spirit of the project will could possibly deliver some of the magic as a special aha moment?  I hope! A big ask!

Meanwhile, thank you for your patience with me and may I ask that if you have time or inclination you can feedback and visit me to discuss any aspects that may tickle your interest?

Kindest as ever,

Si
:  )

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Shakespeare - Hamlet.

So it's Wednesday, it’s busy at work, I’m emotionally and physically drained from some pretty long days and nights… so it’s time to get out and go for a run. I keep stalling and delaying the get out of your seat, but Lorna’s at work pushing me - get out and get some fresh air - I have no idea why I delayed, but eventually I’m out and on the way up Win Hill. It’s a profoundly important hill to quite a few people, friends included, and my former friend, and constant nagging ‘kick up the arse’ memory the Major, Lt Col Thomas Pollak whose ashes are buried up there, complete with a bottle of Scotch for his running friends to dip into, as and when appropriate. Which is most times.

I have been on a bit of a down, work as a self employed person who works isolated and alone for the vast amount of their life, is always a toughie. Finding these moments to recharge are key to keeping going and today is no different. I am tired, fed up and in need of reassurance that I am on the right path. I’m full of doubt about my project. Will people like what I write? Will it make sense? Have I made it simple enough? 10 years of invested energy in this project is quite a lot, I imagine, by anybody’s standards.

So I am searching my mind for one of those mini epiphanies, one of those treasured idea moments where you go ‘Oh of course, that’s it!’ ‘That makes sense’ and of course ‘people will see what I am trying to say.’

I should elaborate, I am carrying the word ‘happiness’ from my massively abridged system of wonderful words, the Magic Forest, as a treasure hunt prize. Basically it’s a tin with a little print, a T-Shirt and a discount voucher worth a few bob as its a 50% off thing. I hide it, and find the What 3 words (W3W) location and people find it using their W3W app.

I ‘d like to point out I chose the word carefully for Win Hill. There are so many personal memories on that hill, running up and down the steepest 1000’ of Peak District hill. It is well known to people wanting a fast track to physical strength and a great short 10k run. I have been doing this since the 1980’s as have many friends, so it’s a special place as indeed is the amazing word ‘Happiness’ a key word, chased by many, in the pursuit of their wellbeing, but more of that another day. All that is important is that it is key and treasured.

So it’s dark clouds overhead, and I summit, it starts to rain and a rainbow appears. Blimey! It’s only the brightest full rainbow I have ever seen, or ever photographed for that matter, It has the elusive pen umbra second arc as well.
Oh my goodness. I hear Tom’s profanity in my ears, kicking me up the arse to get a shot and I realise the end of the rainbow is pointing directly at his rock, where his ashes are.

Goosebumps. I am welling up. I miss the old bugger. I always will and it’s as if he’s saying hello you ‘civvie crap hat’ ( a military form of not so endearment) from the old box down there… ‘You know homfray it’ll all be alright in the end you know.’ I ask him whether they have let him into heaven, or whether he is stuck at the gates.
Now I’m not religious, I am certainly spiritual, but I don’t believe. I kind of wish I did. Perhaps this is a great moment to revise this particular aspect of my belief, but I am too busy being moved and all emotional. I’m not afraid to say I had a little weep until I heard Tom tell me to ‘stop being so soft.’

I’m all alone up there, which is very unusual these post pandemic days of the huge upsurge in outdoor activities, so the whole feeling is exaggerated. 
Wow! Deep breath. Still no answer, but I know the answer, I know it is meant to be, a reassurance from Tom and maybe his new drinking pals up there in t’heaven. 
Whatever he was, a serious soldier who broke all records on special forces selection, a doctor, a landlord, a para, the best shot in the army, all records held for a big number of years, the doctor who created new systems for operating on evacuating soldiers in flight out of war zones, my dearest friend, an inspirational drinker, raconteur in Alpine huts he was without doubt ‘a straight to the point man’ who cared for his mates, all their lives in my case, and now he is still here with me. As irreverent and pugilistically challenging as when he was alive.

It’ll be right. I am reassured, I make a mini video, but the stupid selfie stand blows over much to my heavenly overlooker’s amusement, and I am tasked to get on with my run. But whoah, wait a minute, I still have to bury the treasure. Despite all evidence pointing to the very existence of greater forces, I still have to hide this geocache tin in the rocks up here.

I find a small crack and hide the tin, I go up and above the gritstone rocks and fire up the W3W app.
Now I know W3W is always building amazingly improbable stories from its 3 words, but the app is showing ‘flocking.goose.moment, OMG literally what the heaven?

Thank you Tom. I am convinced there are greater forces out there we really have no idea about. I can’t prove whether any of this exists. I can do the maths and look at probabilities, but really all that matters to me at my ripe old age now is that I had a chat with a much missed pal, he really had a laugh proving beyond doubt, contrary to all religious protocols that it isn’t necessary to prove the existence of any higher being and I have found a new confidence and happiness in everything I am doing for now.

Bless you forever.