Online launch of the wonderful work produced over lockdown by participants of Breathing Space, a group that Katja Stiller and I have been facilitating for the past two years. Transferring onto Zoom during the pandemic, the weekly sessions consist of mindfulness, creative writing and art for people with mild to medium mental health issues. Taking … Continue reading Celebrating Breathing Space
Community Arts
Printmaking Experiments
In preparation for the workshops at Wales Millennium Centre in a few weeks time, I got back in the print workshop. I haven't done any printing for what seems like ages due to lockdown and being ill, so it felt good to spread out and get messy. The workshop brief is printing with items people … Continue reading Printmaking Experiments
The Weaving Tree
An exciting new community project coming to Wales Millennium Centre this spring. The Weaving Tree project will be an installation made from natural materials woven into the size of a real tree. It will be situated in the Glanfa area of the Wales Millennium Centre. The tree will be created by the talented Flow Maugran. … Continue reading The Weaving Tree
Flag Printing
Today, for the Romani Arts after-school session, the children designed and printed their own flags. Paint was used to colour the background, and either a lino stamp or stencil used for the centre print, reflecting designs traditionally painted onto vardos, or horse-drawn wagons. Some of the children decided to print their version of the Roma flag. … Continue reading Flag Printing
Mythical Monsters
Kids love monsters; they never tire of stories from myth and legend. At the beginning of the Story telling and Art course, we travelled around the world, exploring stories from many different cultures, finding out about the spirits and mythical creatures that populate these tales. We encountered trolls from Iceland, dragons in China, a host … Continue reading Mythical Monsters
Structure for a Poem
One participant of the Friday Creative Wellbeing group is a wonderful surrealist poet in the style of Gisèle Prassinos. From one of her poems, 'Reasoning Remains a Wealth', everyone has chosen a line that resonates with them, and created their own print or artwork, taking inspiration from the words of the poem. We are always discovering … Continue reading Structure for a Poem
New Printing Project
Excited to be starting a new printing project with the Gypsy, Romany and Traveller (GRT) community in Cardiff, working with children after school on one of the sites. The Romani Cultural and Arts Company, is a brilliant charity that works through the arts for advocacy and empowerment amongst the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It … Continue reading New Printing Project
Mentoring Role
A student from the BA Creative and Therapeutic Arts course based in Treforest is joining my class for the next twelve weeks, and as his mentor, I will be overseeing 14 sessions that he has planned and facilitated. As the student is a visual artist, his first session was based around his own practice, which … Continue reading Mentoring Role
Exhibition at Llanover Hall
Ekphrastic poems written by participants of the Creative Wellbeing Course in response to artworks, and drawings and paintings in response to the poems exhibited at Llanover Arts centre. The centre piece is Laura's painting in response to Miro's The Gold of the Azure.
