The Thingy Thing – Children’s Art
February 26, 2023
A gallery of characters created by children who have attended my Art and Storytelling sessions after school at Llanover Hall over the past few years.
Tag: creativity
Artist Open Studios Day
October 16, 2021
Lots of visitors for our first Open Studios event since November 2019. It was wonderful to share conversations stimulated by the art and find out about visitors’ art making experiences. It was also very useful to get feedback, and to be able to sell our work. An ambient soundscape by John Rea, based on sounds … More Artist Open Studios Day
Summer Workshops
August 3, 2021
A busy week of workshops at Llanover Hall and Wales Millennium Centre. Yesterday, a full class for the Storytelling and Art session for children aged 8-12. I asked them to count down from ten and write the first three words that came into their mind. Then to choose the word they liked best and do … More Summer Workshops
Dance and Film: Cynefin – Week Five
June 19, 2021
This week, dancer, actor and teacher, June Campbell-Davies came in to work with the children on our Cynefin Project along with Marcus and Nick from Redbrck Production Company. Following introductions, June told the class about her parents’ experience of coming from Grenada in the West Indies to the UK post-war, part of a Dance Troupe … More Dance and Film: Cynefin – Week Five
Breathing Space
July 20, 2019
Recently, I have been working with the charity Valley and Vale Arts on their Social Prescribing project Breathing Space in Pontypridd. It is a free, weekly, person-centred creative session for adults experiencing stress, anxiety and/or depression. Short mindfulness exercises help individuals to relax and find their creative flow. The work created can be about a real … More Breathing Space
Story Mapping
May 2, 2018
The after-school story-telling and art sessions have evolved into the children writing their own story in weekly installments that I type up and read back to them the following week. They still listen to folk or creation tales from different cultures each week, and these tend to inspire elements of their own story. Week one, … More Story Mapping
Voices on the Wind
February 16, 2018
For the past five months, I’ve been a creative practitioner in a primary school, working with a storyteller to produce a record of the stories about the local area surrounding the school. We have covered a vast time period, from the Bronze age, right up to the mid-19th century. I have been using printmaking with … More Voices on the Wind
Natural Abstracts
February 13, 2018
Some stunning paintings made in response to two stories from Africa today on the Children’s Art and Storytelling course that I am running at Llanover Hall Arts Centre. ‘Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky’ – a Nigerian folktale, and ‘The Lion’s Whisker’ – an Ethiopian Folktale. Elements by Jim age 9 … More Natural Abstracts
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
December 11, 2017
For the last week of this five week cycle of storytelling and art from around the world, we travelled to Russia to hear about the enigmatic Baba Yaga. She is a many-faceted figure, variously seen as a Moon, Death, Winter, Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, or archetypal image.[4] After discussing some of Baba … More Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
Folktales from India
December 2, 2017
Children’s Storytelling and Art Course, Week four. The children were interested in the concept of having two heads after hearing the Indian folktale about a bird with two heads that can’t agree. They drew pictures of themselves with the head of something or someone they would or would not like to be attached to and … More Folktales from India
Sarah J Featherstone 