Incredible Half Term Creativity We were very pleased to be awarded funding for a week of creative activity in Wolverhampton, over February Half Term Holidays. The scheme is part of the wider #YES (Youth Engagement Strategy funded by City of Wolverhampton Council) offer across many providers in and around the city. We worked with 8-16 year olds (18 with an EHCP) on a wide variety of creative projects and included some BSL (British Sign Language) teaching to boot. SurrealismWe always respond to feedback we receive from young people and in October they told us they'd like to do some Surrealism. So we showed a presentation of what the art movement was all about, who the main artists were and what the lasting influence on our modern day art forms is. They created some fabulous Surreal works (see pics below) British Sign LanguageGary, a deaf director of RAW delivered some British Sign Language including fingerspelling your name, basic 'meet and greet' signs and they played a few games of 'BSL Bingo' to make sure they'd learnt everything properly! Charlie Chaplin montageBecause of the connection between Charlie Chaplin and Wolverhampton and that he was another influential multi talented artist, we delivered a short presentation about him and his work and the young people created this wonderful sectioned piece. They each took a square of the bigger picture and did it in their own way (example of magazine collage shown). When pieced together like a jigsaw, the picture comes into wonderful focus Indigenous style dot drawingsSome beautiful and affective drawings done in an Aboriginal / African style Clay CreationsThe young people made some amazing clay creations, including a delightful daffodil, a wonderful wave and mini replica of the Support Life wolf painted by RAW's director Alex Vann as part of the 'Wolves in Wolves' public art project in 2017. Pop Art greetings cards and canvas tote bagsIt's a wrap!!Final Day: We've had a blast with the team, staff, volunteers and our hosts All Saints Action Network Ltd on our Feb Half term scheme supported by City of Wolverhampton Council’s #YES Youth Engagement Strategy. Donna, one of our volunteers showed the young people her beautiful portrait painting which will soon be displayed in an exhibition at Newhampton Arts Centre One of the young people brought in some cardboard sculpture with moving parts that he’d made at home.  Here's what the young people told us in their daily feedback forms:I enjoyed today as it was a group project. Some of us challenged ourselves to get through it and we did! RESULTS OF ONLINE SURVEYS COMPLETED BY THE YOUNG PEOPLEWhen asked if they enjoyed taking part 100% said 'YES' When asked if they learnt something new 100% said 'YES' When asked if they felt more creative / inspired 100% said 'YES' When asked if they'd like to attend RAW sessions again 100% said 'YES' Comments from the online surveys:They made me feel creative and I had fun and I normally don’t like drawing very much and I don’t normally get creative at school or home
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Amazing Art by young people - Wolverhampton Easter HAF 2022 We [Real Arts Workshops] were delighted to be awarded a grant from City of Wolverhampton Council to deliver 2 weeks of art, craft and BSL (British Sign Language) experiences for young people in Wolverhampton over Easter school holidays 2022. The HAF (Holidays Activities and Food) Programme was rolled out by the government in 2021 and provides free holiday provision including healthy food and enriching activities for low-income households.
We worked with some children who have additional needs and were able to adapt our activities to make them accessible. Having Deaf staff and staff with mobility issues shows young people that adversity can be overcome, and a sense of achievement is for everyone! But don’t just take our word for it! Here are some photographs of their creations and examples what the young people told us in daily ‘Thought of the Day’ slips and weekly online surveys: “The staff are very kind, they are great at making things enjoyable” In conclusionLooking at the the feedback received from the young people our work falls into these categories:
DOING SOMETHING NEW Trying out something new. Learning new skills. Experimenting with new ideas. Doing things for the first time. Making new friends. BEING CHALLENGED Being challenged by the materials and projects and enjoying that challenge. Doing things that they don’t get to do elsewhere. BEING ENGAGED IN REWARDING ACTIVITY Getting out of the house. Working in a group. Sharing experiences. Doing art as an activity that combats boredom and being sedentary. FEELINGS of WELLBEING Having fun. Feeling safe. Feeling excited. Feeling happy. Feeling included. Feeling supported. Feeling calm. TEAMWORK Making new friends; working in a group; working with others to make art; collaboration. Thanks to our funders for making this project possible and to The Workspace at ASAN (All Saints Action Network) for hosting us brilliantly and to Onboard Corrugated for donating high quality corrugated cardboard to create art and sculpture with the young people.
BRITISH ART SHOW 9 - Public Engagement Ambassador Project Alex Vann, a director of RAW, was delighted to work as Public Engagement Ambassador for British Art Show 9 in March and April 2022. In a project sponsored by University of Wolverhampton, Alex worked with Social Prescribing link workers and adult participants in Wolverhampton and delivered 5 workshops, across 2 locations: the University's School of Art and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The British Art Show is a landmark touring exhibition that celebrates the vitality of recent art made in Britain. Organised every five years by Hayward Gallery Touring the exhibition brings the work of artists defining new directions in contemporary art to four cities across the UK. BAS9 is curated by Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar, and presented in collaboration with the cities of Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester and Plymouth.
These themes were agreed prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the global recognition of racial injustice sparked by the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020. All three are even more relevant now. 34 artists showed in BAS9 in Wolverhampton to look at how we live with and give voice to difference, while also extending our understanding of identity to beyond the human. Their projects often blur the boundaries between art and life, and imagine alternative futures. Through their works, they propose alternative economies and ways of living together that emphasise commonality, collaboration and care. They do so through film, photography, painting, sculpture, and performance, as well as through projects that don’t sit easily in any one category. Alex chose to focus on the work of one of the artists exhibiting in Wolverhampton: Michael Armitage. Workshop # 1: Introduction to Social Prescribing Link workersMichael Armitage's work
Photos © Graham Everitt: Showing the 'imperfections' in Armitage's canvases. These so called 'imperfections' become integral and beautiful parts of the paintings. In the same way people have 'imperfections' but these are an important and valid part of who they are. In this first session, as well as giving a background to British Art Show 9 and Michael Armitage's work, Alex encouraged the link workers to create their own artwork, using a 2D style to echo Armitage's style at the same time as doing a 'Post-It' note activity about possible practical activities their participants might enjoy and the impact the project might have on them.
Workshop #2: Asian Women's groupFacilitated by Ros Manasseh, this session focused on the use of lumbago bark in Armitage's work. The video above shows the process of the bark being made into a cloth and its importance on the culture of the Baganda people in Uganda. Alex did his own example paintings and encouraged the participants to make their own paintings on specially sources bark board with the possibility of making Rangoli style designs to put their own culture into the artworks.
Beautiful artworks made by the participants Workshop #3: Art 'Novices' (i)For this workshop, Alex wanted to provide an accessible art technique which allowed the participants to create 2D artworks influenced by Africa and decided to use the African Dot Painting technique. This simple but effective technique uses either acrylic paint and cotton buds or paint pens on black paper / card to paint pictures either of the participants own designs or using templates. Below are downloads of the resources used. All the work above has been made by 'art novices' and we think it's fantastic - what do you think?
Workshop #4: Experienced artistsAlex focused on the use of animals in Michael Armitage's (and other artists') art. Animals can have many significant meanings and the participants used this as a starting point to create a piece of work which combined an animal that has meaning to them with another aspect which tells us more about their own personalities. Alex's example was a lion with a vibrant Pride flag backdrop. Workshop #5: Art 'Novices' (ii)In the final workshop which included some of the experienced artists from the previous session as well as the group of 'novices' we looked at 'newspaper mosaics' as a way of created 2D art - like we'd done in the very first session with Link Worker staff. Some people chose to create dot paintings and it was nice to see some digital art too - from a talented participate who preferred to use an Apple Pencil and the ProCreate app in iPad Pro. Resource 3:
FURTHER RESEARCH1. The Influence of European Art on Michael Armitage2. Armitage's painting style   This was a highly rewarding and fulfilling project all round and some of the participants' artworks will be featured in an exhibition of works by other British Art Show 9 Ambassador projects at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 24th April - 15th May 2022.
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AuthorReal Arts Workshops is an independent arts company based in the Black Country, providing bespoke workshops for various organisations and groups. Archives
August 2024
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