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RAW News - Dec 2022

12/24/2022

Oh, What a Year!
2022 in pictures.

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Click the PDF icon on the left to download a PDF version of the newsletter. When viewed in a Reader that supports links you can read more about some of the stories.

Welcome to the final 'RAW NEWS' of 2022.
We've done a round-up of just a few of the projects we've been involved in this year, and hope you enjoy reading about how the Arts continue to have a profound effect on groups and individuals of all ages.

We look forward to seeing you in 2023.

Best wishes,
Alex and Gary

Winter HAF 2022

We had a fabulous week just before Christmas working with WV10 Consortium to deliver art and craft activities for young people attending their Winter HAF scheme at Big Venture Centre and Fifth Avenue Community Centre.
We have put a slideshow together with some of the young peoples' creations....

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October Half Term Activities for Young People 2022

11/7/2022

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From Pumpkins to Pop Art!

We were pleased to receive funding from City of Wolverhampton Council and Youth Engagement Strategy (#YES) to provide creative and BSL activities for young people living in Wolverhampton during the October half term holidays.
Our team delivered a wide variety of activities, something different every morning and afternoon on each day.

The artworks they created were outstanding and the young people told us that they really enjoyed the BSL (British Sign Language) activities – which included some games of BSL bingo which got VERY competitive!!

We were delighted to be visited by a local councillor and have our project featured in the Express and Star and on the council’s Facebook page.

See below for the results of monitoring feedback including some lovely comments from the young people.

Our project was featured on the council's Facebook page 'Wolverhampton Today'

We had a lovely visit from Councillor Beverley Momenabadi, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People who gave us some wonderful feedback about our creative and BSL work with young people in Wolverhampton.

Young peoples' feedback (online surveys)

Some of these are new things I have never done; my goal is to have lots of cool art on a corner of my room

They were really interesting and funny to do at the same time

Because I like designing and painting but especially graphic design

I was bored at home and when I came here, I felt more inspired, and I met lots of new friends I really enjoyed it here

I liked learning the sign language because it was interesting, and I learnt something new that schoolteachers don’t teach.

I enjoyed them all because I learned lots and my creativity has improved.

I really enjoyed doing all the activities, I really hope I’ll come next year as well!

All the staff were extremely amazing and made you feel like you’d known them forever. Thanks for an amazing time."

Parent / carer feedback.

Thank you for giving him this opportunity to learn. He would be happy to join again.

Thanks for everything over half term, the kids had a great time."

Results of monitoring feedback

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Latest Newsletter: Sept / Oct 2022

9/30/2022

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READ ALL ABOUT IT!!
Our latest newsletter is shown below and it showcases our most recent projects. Please note we have been funded to provide free October Half Term activities (#YES funding) and will post about that separately. If you know any young people living in Wolverhampton 8-16 (18 with an EHCP) please pass this information on.

You can also download the PDF Newsletter version here:

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Links in the PDF are live when you view it in Adobe Reader or another reader that supports urls, here are the links in the newsletter in case your viewer doesn't support:
https://youtu.be/AXQ4eI3ksnI
https://youtu.be/hMvHnP6YBOE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQfwWmzOghI&t=3s

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Summer 2022 - RAW Activities for Young People

9/17/2022

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We've had an extremely busy Summer!

We were delighted to be able to work on several projects during the Summer holidays of 2022.

In week 1 we worked with WV10 Consortium and in particular the 'Arty Garden' Project at Stratton Street Community Centre.
Weeks 2-5 we were delivering our own Summer HAF project funded by City of Wolverhampton Council and Department for Education at All Saints Action Network.
In week 6 we worked with Wolverhampton Social Prescribing service on a range of activities for young people aged 13-17.

Read the full details for each project below:

Week 1: The 'Arty Garden' Project at Stratton Street Community Centre

We love working with other organisations and this Summer had the pleasure of working with WV10 Consortium and in particular one of their member organisations, Stratton Street Community Centre. They do so much for the local community that is was great to be able to help make their ‘secret garden’ even more inviting by tidying up the space, painting a mural on the outside fence, decorating the inside panels with recycled bottle flowers and upcycling old furniture and tyres to make a colourful and vibrant environment.

Why not visit the Community centre and take your own 'Butterfly Selfie' to share on social media :-)

Weeks 2-5 : Summer HAF activities

We were grateful to receive a HAF (Holidays Activities and Food) grant from City of Wolverhampton Council and Department for Education to provide 4 weeks of activities for eligible young people.

We provided them with a wide range of enrichment activities that included visual arts, activities linked to healthy eating, learning new skills, trying something new and learning from visiting artists.

Here are just a few photos:

Healthy Eating

Drawing and Painting

Sign Song: 'We Shine Together'.

Watch the video of the YP performing the song in sign language:

Andy Warhol's 'Campbell's New England Clam Chowder Soup'

British Art Show 9 Activities

African / British artist Michael Armitage was one of the artists exhibiting at British Art Show in Wolverhampton earlier in the year 2022. His style inspired the following artworks.

British Sign Language (BSL) Learning with Gary

Our very own Deaf role model Gary O'Dowd taught the young people some basic of sign language and included some Healthy food options vocabulary as part of the requirement of the HAF funding.

Cardboard Art

At the start of our project the young people creating a 6ft cardboard wolf, decorated with their own drawings and paintings and with a recycling box at the base to encourage people to do their bit for the environment.
Later in the project they made models of Wolverhampton landmarks - they are brilliant!

Crafts and Clay Modelling

A variety of creations using clay, papers, pots and ceramic tiles. Also, some sun prints using special photosensitive Cyanotype papers.

Visiting Artists

One of the important things we do is introduce young people to practising professional artists. This summer we were lucky to have 3 people show them their work. Lewis a recent graduate in graphic design, Donna a painter and drawer who led a fab colour mixing theory workshop and Rhianna, a young person herself who showed her small business making polymer clay bracelet charms and her journey on RAW sessions which led to being exhibited at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

One of the young people made his own board game at home during our programme and brought it in and shared that with the group too. :-)

Feedback from the young people

Headlines from online surveys:

This was the best day ever!

I enjoyed Lewis’s presentation because I got to learn about possible careers combining art and other passions.

I loved doing the optical illusion drawings. They were challenging but fun.

Today the BSL learning was cool.

I really liked the painting on bark.

The Healthy Eating poster was so fun, thank you so much.

I met new friends.

I loved the African dot painting.

I enjoyed painting with meaning and expressing myself.

I had lots of fun learning about new things and new skills in art and I would like to come next year too.

Very awesome – we made stuff I could never do before.

WE BEAT ANDY WARHOL!

The way the staff expressed the art and they did amazing I ❤️ everything

They allowed me to find different area of art that I enjoyed and I will continue to practice outside of RAW

I met new friends and I got to share my art journey and how I started my business. I also love the activities especially the singing ‘we shine together’!!🤗😇

Because it was fun and it made me feel creative

I loved that the staff was friendly and helpful and they always helped if you needed support well done guys I m happy 😃 for you guys🥰

It was amazing I made new friends and the staff are amazing and lovely I couldn’t ask for more.

I even have a corner of my room dedicated to RAW now!

Week 6: Social Prescribing / Thriving Communities art project

What an amazingly creative group of young people aged 13-17!
From the first day making a cardboard tree in sections that reflect the seasons of the year to making models of Wolverhampton Art Gallery of the Future, they impressed us (and the gallery) with their skills and ideas.
Just look at what they did....

Watch the video of 'Art Galleries of the Future.'

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Commonwealth Connections Visual Arts Project Summer 2022

6/28/2022

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Commonwealth Connections: Netherton Anchor Sculptures

Commonwealth Connections is a joint project from the British Council and the Birmingham Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
60 schools across the West Midlands were twinned with 60 schools in 10 Commonwealth countries, meeting online to begin a collaborative journey of discovery and co-creation.
The Arts element is led by Birmingham Arts School. Wolverhampton based company REAL ARTS WORKSHOPS LTD was commissioned to work with young people in Northfield Road Primary School and Thorns Collegiate Academy.
We worked with the children on many practical aspects of creative arts, linked to the NETHERTON ANCHOR which was made in the area and used on the fateful maiden voyage of the TITANIC.
The young people were encouraged to consider issues of marine pollution and recycling and we hope the final anchor sculpture will have a purpose as a recycling centre in school as well being a piece of fabulous art, designed by the children. Thank you to Onboard Corrugated for the donation of cardboard for this project.

Northfield Road Primary School

We worked with pupils from different year groups who have in interest in being a part of the project on various creative activities based around the Netherton Anchor. The sessions led uptown to creating a 6ft tall cardboard anchor, decorated with their work which also doubles as a recycling centre.
A few photos are shown below and you can see more on the 'current projects' page.

Watch a slide show here:

Thorns Collegiate Academy

We worked with art ambassadors at the school, with fantastic support from Mrs Sutton head of art.
Here's what the students said:

During the summer term, Thorns Collegiate Academy partnered with Real Arts Workshops Ltd to create a large, cardboard sculpture inspired by the Netherton anchor that was used on the Titanic.
We began by introducing ourselves and thinking about why recycling was important. We then moved on to designing and making models of the anchor, which then turned into the sculpture itself. Over the past couple of weeks, we have worked in teams to work on different components of the design: which has led up to the complete design of the anchor itself.
We have been partnered with Sri Lanka and were inspired by their actions to make it better, safer environment. They are committed to recycling and paving a way for future generations, because of this, us too decided to follow in their footsteps to help the world become a greener planet and more aware about the polluted world we live in."

Watch a slide show here:

Student feedback

Thank you I loved every second of the project.

All cool outgoing people. I would recommend.

I would like to do it again.

Do it again :)as I enjoyed it so much 😀

I would like to do this again.

I would like to do something like this again. (Very soon).

I enjoyed the experience and was glad I took part, I can’t wait to do this again in the future, a fun experience to do with friends and teachers.

It was amazing. "

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Summer HAF activities 2022

6/20/2022

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We've been funded for Summer HAF!

We are delighted to have been funded to provided high quality arts crafts and BSL experiences for young people with HAF codes in Wolverhampton aged between 8-16 (up to 18 with an EHCP).

We are offering a varied programme of activities including: painting, drawing, clay, sign language learning and sign song, crafts, recycled art, cardboard sculpture, healthy eating education through art and much more.

We have many years' experience and are able to inspire young people to create unique art.

To register, please download and return the consent form below.

** EVENT FULLY BOOKED **
Get in touch for waiting list places
Thank you to all our partners, followers and liker's for sharing our Summer HAF project. We are now fully booked!! However if you are a parent / carer looking for arts activities, please get in touch as we have started a waiting list in case of drop outs or no shows and there is always the Youth Opportunities website which has many, many free of charge opportunities for young people with a HAF number (and also paid for activities). https://www.yowolves.co.uk/events

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RAW NEWS May/June 2022

5/12/2022

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Our latest newsletter is out. Highlights include the British Art Show 9 exhibition by attendees on the Alex Vann / RAW sessions.
Also, the start of our #CommonwealthConnections project sponsored by British Council and administered by Birmingham Arts School. Watch this space for developments in the 2 schools we are working: Northfield Road Primary and Thorns Collegiate Academy. And Easter HAF activity in Wolverhampton.

And...if you are reading this before 15th May - you can get involved in our song project for Mossley Jubilee Day of Culture. We're writing a brand new song on the theme of 'Cultural Togetherness' and have put a call out for lyrics for the verses. Get in touch with your ideas!

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RAW Easter HAF 2022

4/26/2022

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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.

Evidence shows that free holiday clubs can have a positive impact on children and young people, and

provide consistent and easily accessible enrichment activities
cover more than just breakfast or lunch
use local partnerships and connections, particularly with the voluntary and community organisation sector

Aims of the HAF programme

As a result of this programme, the government wants children who attend this provision to:

eat healthily over the school holidays
be active during the school holidays
take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character and wellbeing along with their wider educational attainment
be safe and not to be socially isolated
have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition
be more engaged with school and other local services

These aims fit in with RAW’s own aims of:

Reducing Isolation
Developing Confidence
Learning new things
Having fun
Learning about different cultures
Creating new artworks
Inclusion
Partnerships
Collaboration
Improving mental health
Fostering a sense of Achievement
Eliminating boredom
Improving self confidence

We integrated healthy eating education into our daily activities such as designing Eatwell Posters, healthy eating tags to decorate a colourful and bright cardboard tree and planting herb seeds into decorated tin can planters.

As always, we were impressed with the creativity of the young people and the individuality of the artwork produced despite the materials and instructions provided being the same for everyone.

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”
“I enjoyed being hands on and working with the others to make art”
“I enjoyed making something I could use and being able to express myself and my interests through art”
“Because I could do new things and make new friends”
‘Because it made me feel more creative”
“Because they were really fun, and it was nice to try something new”
“I enjoyed those particular activities because I found them challenging in some way and interesting which made me want to take part more in the activities. The staff are always there to help and give out the steps clearly to support us in every way”
[Parent view] It’s been superb. Everyone is very considerate about his needs. Very co-ordinated. He loves it. Everyone tried to support and help him. Many thanks.”
“I enjoyed them because they were creative and artistic”
“I really enjoyed painting and designing the trees in collaboration with everyone else.”
"I found using watercolours very relaxing."
“Today I had lots of fun - yay!!”
“I liked making cards and making tins. I feel very excited for tomorrow.”
“I have enjoyed today, even though it was my first day. I enjoyed making friends and doing water[colour] painting. I enjoyed everything and I am so glad I came.”
“I enjoyed today because I love art and we did lots of art that I haven’t done before.”

In conclusion

Looking 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.

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EASTER HAF 2022

4/4/2022

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Free* activities for families registered for HAF in Wolverhampton

We are delighted to announce that we are providing free (*HAF funded) Art, Craft and BSL experiences to young people aged 10-16 in Wolverhampton over Easter Holidays (see the poster above for details).

To qualify for our sessions, families must have already registered with City of Wolverhampton Council for HAF scheme and have an email or letter with a barcode that we can scan at our sessions.

Download a consent form (below); or call/tx/WA 07882 685923.

Thank you, Alex and Gary
(Please spread the word)

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British Art Show 9, 2022

4/3/2022

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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.

The exhibition is structured around three main themes:

healing, care and reparative history;
tactics for togetherness; and
imagining new futures.

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 workers

Michael Armitage's work

Born in Kenya in 1984, Armitage moved to London to study art, gaining a BA from the Slade School of Art in 2007 and an MA from the Royal Academy in 2010.

He relies heavily on his childhood experiences when painting, depicting scenes of plane crashes and acts of violence that he experienced as a young boy.

While Michael Armitage insists he is not a political artist, it is difficult to deny that there is a sense of protest throughout his work. Touching on themes of homosexuality, women’s rights and terrorism, he explores the reality of his home country and raises questions about the culture.

When coming up with subjects for his work, Armitage will look at newspapers local to his home country and combine topics with his own memories to come up with something completely unique.

Armitage shuns traditional western canvas in favour of lubugo bark cloth, a burial cloth made by beating the bark until it stretches into a fabric.
He takes several scrap pieces of the Ugandan material and stitches them together before he starts to paint.

(watch the video which showing the cloth being made)

Video of lubugo bark cloth being made:
Video from Royal Academy of Arts Facebook page.

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.

Watch a virtual Michael Armitage Tour here

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 group

Facilitated 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.

Example by Alex Vann in a Rangoli style on reverse of bark board

Portrait of Michael Armitage by Alex Vann on front of the same piece of board

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?

Resource 1:

HOW TO MAKE AFRICAN DOT PAINTINGS.pdf
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Resource 2:

RAW BAS9 Templates.pdf
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Workshop #4: Experienced artists

Alex 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:

HOW TO MAKE NEWSPAPER MOSAICS.pdf
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FURTHER RESEARCH

1. The Influence of European Art on Michael Armitage

Read the article about the European influence here

2. 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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Oh, What a Year!​2022 ​in pictures.

Winter HAF 2022

From Pumpkins to Pop Art!

Our project was featured on the council's Facebook page 'Wolverhampton Today'

Young peoples' feedback (online surveys)

Parent / carer feedback.

Results of monitoring feedback

We've had an extremely busy Summer!

Week 1: The 'Arty Garden' Project at Stratton Street Community Centre

Weeks 2-5 : Summer HAF activities

Healthy Eating

Drawing and Painting

Sign Song: 'We Shine Together'.

Andy Warhol's 'Campbell's New England Clam Chowder Soup'

British Art Show 9 Activities

British Sign Language (BSL) Learning with Gary

Cardboard Art

Crafts and Clay Modelling

Visiting Artists

Feedback from the young people

Week 6: Social Prescribing / Thriving Communities art project

Commonwealth Connections: Netherton Anchor Sculptures

Northfield Road Primary School

Thorns Collegiate Academy

Student feedback

We've been funded for Summer HAF!

Amazing Art by young people - Wolverhampton Easter HAF 2022

​Aims of the HAF programme

In conclusion

Free* activities for families registered for HAF in Wolverhampton

BRITISH ART SHOW 9 - Public Engagement Ambassador Project

Workshop # 1: Introduction to Social Prescribing Link workers

Michael Armitage's work

Workshop #2: Asian Women's group

Workshop #3: Art 'Novices' (i)

Resource 1:

Resource 2:

Workshop #4: Experienced artists

​Workshop #5: Art 'Novices' (ii)

Resource 3:

FURTHER RESEARCH

1. The Influence of European Art on Michael Armitage

2. Armitage's painting style

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Real Arts Workshops Ltd

Oh, What a Year!
2022 in pictures.

Aims of the HAF programme

Workshop #5: Art 'Novices' (ii)