I've had a very busy year at
Prism Arts! As it's one of my 'proper' jobs I tend to not blog about the projects I work on which is a bit of a shame as a lot of them are really quite exciting and they do occupy a lot of my time. Continuing on from part one of my
Summery Summaries (I do realise we're well and truly into Autumn now but I do like alliteration) I thought I'd do a quick re-cap of some of the projects I've worked on over the last year.
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| Studio Arts: Still life drawing |
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| Studio Arts: Portraits |
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| Studio Arts: Adding colour to drawings |
My main role at Prism Arts is to lead the
Studio Arts course; a visual arts programme for adults with learning disabilities and autism. We aim to enable our participants to develop as artists and gain all the different skills they'll need for that; not just practical art skills but also skills such as working to deadlines and briefs, writing artists statements and finding and applying for opportunities. We work in partnership with lots of other organisations to create and deliver exciting and rewarding projects that allow the work to be seen by a wide range of audiences.
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| Studio Arts: Making brushes |
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| Studio Arts: Mark making with hand made brushes |
Over the past year we've had a really busy time and since I
last blogged about Studio Arts we've had two exhibitions and a commissioned project. This year we're involved with a big Heritage Lottery funded project looking at
Carlisle's textile heritage and we've got two exciting curatorial projects running. We've also been trying to squeeze in some skills development workshops including brush making, different approaches to drawing and portraiture.
Here's what I've been up to over the past year:
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| China Exhibition Interpretation |
Following on from our very successful Gallery Trail at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery last year Studio Arts once again worked in partnership with Tullie House to create an exhibition responding to some of the museums Chinese artefacts. This was a really exciting project, it was also very challenging as due to unexpected circumstances the brief had to change part way through the project but we overcame these challenges and were able to create a thoughtful and beautiful exhibition.
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| Exhibition view |
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| Exhibition view |
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| Exhibition view |
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| Feedback |
Folk Tales at Carlisle Archives
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| Folk Tales interpretation panel |
We have also exhibited work at
Carlisle archives this year. Studio Arts were inspired by British folk tales and created work inspired by the stories and costumes they researched for this exhibition. I like to show work at the archives as being a public space it allows us to show our work to audiences who may not otherwise find us.
Textile Commission
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| Some of the textile pieces for Gosling Sike |
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Bert Badger
Applique and machine embroidery |
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Fox
Fabric pens and tie dye |
Prism Arts have been working with
Cumbria Willdlife Trust on a big five year
project connected to one of the trusts newest reserves;
Eycott Hill. The Trust have also recently moved in to new offices up at
Gosling Sike in Houghton (on the edge of Carlisle) and they commissioned Studio Arts to create some textile pieces for their new buildings. This project gave us the opportunity to develop our textile skills and try some new ways of working.
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| Work in progress on Freddie Fox |
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Dragonfly
Applique and hand embroidery |
March of the Unsung Women: Carlisle's Puppet Pageant Parade
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| Processions 2018 March in Edinburgh |
As well as running Studio Arts I also get involved in lots of other Prism Arts projects. One of my favourite projects this year was
Processions (celebrating the centenary of The Representation of the People's Act which gave the first women the vote) and this project became the inspiration for the theme of this years Carlisle Puppet Pageant. In one form or another I've been involved with the puppet pageant since it's inauguration in
2013 and this year Prism Arts were commissioned to run the puppet pageant.
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| Puppet body parts |
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| Puppet faces |
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| Making bodies |
We wanted to celebrate the important but usually overlooked women of Cumbria so we created 10 larger than life puppets of ten important women from Cumbria's history. We worked with a wide range of people, schools and groups, bringing people together to create something truly memorable. I was away for the actual parade but I really enjoyed being involved in the creation of some of the puppets.
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| Works in progress |
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| Mr. Tinker: A poodle not an unsung women |
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| Work in progress |
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