May 6-12th was Deaf Awareness Week in the UK. RAW delivered several projects including one with BID Services Youth Club, Birmingham based around Deaf identity. It followed on from an earlier project we ran with adults in Wolverhampton where we created a giant (5ft high) cardboard sculpture of signing hands, decorated with posters, drawings and words made by Deaf and hearing people (see photos at the bottom of this blog).

Young people with the final giant signing hands, now in the reception of BID SERVICES.

Some of the brilliant creative work being made.

Our very own #DAWRoleModels2019 Gary O'Dowd led a Deaf Awareness session as part of our regular Community Arts Club on Tuesday evenings, 4.30-6.30pm at Mattesley Court, Walsall.

A slideshow of closeups of the artwork created by mixed hearing and Deaf people at our joint Art Day with Zebra Access at Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton.
The sculpture will be on show at Deaffest at Lighthouse Media Centre 17-19 May 2019. RAW will have at stall 10am-4pm on Saturday 18th May. Come and meet us!

We recently did a project with LET US PLAY at Green Park School, Wolverhampton
Let Us Play organise events for children with disabilities and we devised a Jungle Book Music/Art and Storytelling workshop. 

​We practised performing the story with animal masks and musical instruments we’d created from scratch and the final performance would be in front of parents and carers.

​We were blown away when one boy decided to stage manage the performance, suggesting we took to the stage (why hadn’t WE thought of that?) and telling the actors to hide behind the screen until their turn came up in the story. This is one of the key aims of RAW – that the people we work with take ownership of the work. It was a fantastic performance, all the better for the young man’s suggestions. 

2018 has been an amazing year for RAW (watch the short video above).

It's the year we really reignited the flame of Real Arts Workshops, which began life as a university art project in 1996 and then went on hold for the best part of 20 years.
We've forged new relationships with 13 organisations, delivered (over) 75 separate workshop sessions and designed at least 15 brand new and unique projects - all with the same goal: to break down barriers, improve confidence and encourage self expression. 
In a climate of austerity never has there been such a need for the restorative powers of art, music and craft. People of all ages get affected by issues of mental health and our projects are designed to be accessible by all, regardless of perceived barriers. 

We've enjoyed delivering the HeadStart Wolverhampton art club on Friday evenings at Low Hill Hub.  The video above gives a nice snapshot of the work we've done.
The programme runs until Friday 14th December 2018 - so there is still time for young people (10-16) to come along for free, 4-6pm.
We've done so much great work: Cardboard Wolves in Wolves, Poppy crafting for Remembrance, Halloween crafts, Wild Animal art, 5 Ways to Well-being posters, song-writing, Pop Up Art Gallery, British Sign Language and so much more.

Thanks to HeadStart for supporting, we hope we can work together again in 2019

We were delighted to be asked to deliver the art sessions for HeadStart Wolverhampton Summer Activities in Low Hill + The Scotlands areas.

RAW is all about ‘Giving People a Creative Voice’. That is achieved through providing a platform for people to use the Arts to express themselves; break down barriers; build confidence; encourage team work; have fun; try something new and learn new skills.

We are aware of the work HeadStart does in supporting the mental wellbeing of young people and wanted our activities to reflect that.

​We designed a varied programme which included – 

​- decorated with print outs of artwork they’d created previously, ‘wish tags’ - written tags about a general wish they have for the world and drawings and statements about their hopes and aspirations for the future.

- led by RAW team member Gary, who is profoundly Deaf. This included the 'Numberplate Game' to test the young people had learnt fingerspelling and numbers in BSL.

The young put their newly found sign language skills to good use and produced a video of them signing along to the HeadStart song which was written by young people in association with Rock School Music.  The song is all about the worries some young people feel when they leave primary education and start 'big school'.

Alex demonstrated a quick way to divide a 'headspace' to get the features in the right positions.

We used the NHS '5 ways to wellbeing' as a starting point for young people to think how they could 1. Connect; 2. Give; 3. Keep Learning; 4. Take Notice and 5. Keep Active.

​We have been very pleased with the work created and hope that the young people have something they will feel proud of and remember for years to come.
 
Alex Vann and Gary O’Dowd.

"I like doing art because I don’t get to do painting at home" (Corey)

"I found it really fun because I can finally have a chance to paint to my full potential" (Theo)

"I really enjoyed the art session" (Isabelle)

"It’s really good and I enjoyed learning sign language" (Brinley)

"It’s really fun to try new things and make friends, and understand what art is all about" (Nnedimma)

"I found it really interesting – learning sign language and about blind and deaf people. It was good creating the images for the posters." (Emma)

"I enjoyed all of it. I was kind of nervous seeing myself on the video (doing sign language to the HeadStart song) but my confidence is growing." (Keira)
​
"I enjoyed the art – I’ve always done art and love to express myself that way." (Demi)
 
"This was the messiest art work we’ve done!" (Cofi)
 
Mine is about anti-bullying.(Madison)
 
My painting shows good things at the top and bad at the bottom. (Lexi)
 
I felt happy (Nicole)

NB: Copyright in all of the original work shown here is owned by the originator(s) including the young people, and has been used with permission. All other artwork, photographs and video are © 2018 Real Arts Workshops. 

On Tuesday 17th July RAW was at Lyng Community Association Youth Club.
To link in with their recent trip to the zoo, we were asked to deliver a session based on animal art.
Alex led this session and showed the young people examples of his own animal art: pencil drawings and watercolour paintings, and then demonstrated a drawing - combining new and old technologies.

A old video camera was linked to a projector and pointed at the paper as Alex drew a picture of a lion. Charcoal was the primary medium in this workshop because of its immediate and effective mark making capabilities. This suits the drama of animals associated with the safari.

The young people then had a choice of animal to draw - this could be Gorilla, Lion, Elephant, Meerkat, Rhino or any other animal they liked. Here are the young people hard at work:

And here are some final pieces which were made into a pop up art gallery

The last part of the session was dedicated to creating a LARGE, like HUGE painting / collage of a giraffe and a zebra:

The final magnificent piece

Lyng Community Association Youth Club runs every Tuesday evening in term time, 4-7pm for anyone aged 10-17. More information here​