The Winter Palace - an Empty Shop Project

We are really excited to be part of Derby City Council's empty shop project. It's taken a lot of organising beforehand as we plan to run some workshop sessions in the space (and it is a BIG space). We will also have a number of opening days when anyone can drop in and help us create pieces for the Winter Palace theme.
Watch out for further  Palace Posts.
We are at 44 Sadler Gate Derby until the 19th December ( the old ARK shop) please drop in and see what we are doing.

Lantern workshops at Kirk Hallam Community College

We made some cone shaped lanterns at Kirk Hallam Community College for the procession for Ilkeston  Christmas light switch on (Friday 27th November)

"Big Draw" in the Orangery

We were invited by Diane from Artblock to take part in a Big Draw event in the Arboretum. We worked in  the old Orangery which was a very beautiful space. We made windsocks, recycled notebooks and peep boxes. If you have never been to the Arboretum in Derby check it out, it is a wonderful space and there is a cafe too!

peeping in the box

our decorated sample

and the other side

really, could we have brought more stuff!!!!

the peep box table

the orangery

Co-operating at Firs Estate School

We delivered some busy workshops at Firs Estate School at the beginning of October for the Midlands Coop. We printed some great healthy eating bunting to drape around the dining halls.

Thanks to Tanya from the Midlands Coop and helper Jenny for asking us to be involved.
Thanks also to Mrs Moore and all the staff and children at Firs Estate School.

Its lantern time again...

Here are some photos from our lantern projects.
We are looking forward to working on this years Erewash Festival of Lights projects -
Christmas Lights Switch On at Ilkeston on Friday 26 Nov 6pm
and at Long Eaton on Friday 3 Dec 6pm.
Hope to see you there.

 Ilkeston School Workshops



Ilkeston Christmas Lights Switch On 2009

Kensington Primary School

Redhill Primary School

Wire & Tissue Lanterns with Artery Group

We have been invited to.....

 Thanks to Tracy who asked us to work on this project and also to all the school children who came to make the well dressings.

Our involvment with the Groundwork project to celebrate the Nottingham tram. we worked with some schools in Nottingham to make well dressings depicting the old and new trams. 

First we visited each school to talk about making a well dressing and all the processes involved in getting the clay into the frame, the design onto the clay and the build up of the finished image. 

We left them with some design sheets and asked them to think of some ideas for the final design. 

The teacher at each school then sent us all the children's designs. We looked through them and picked out popular and interesting images and then collaged them ( hurrah for photoshop and a scanner ) into the final design.

A week or so later we were back at the schools to make the well dressing with the children.

Think inside the box

The photos are taken at the preview of an exhibition  showing at the  Mary Potter centre in Hyson Green, Nottingham. The exhibition is a culmination of a 10 week art project we worked on with a fantastic group of people. Here is the description of the exhibition written by Frances who commisioned us for the project;

Think inside the box!

An exhibition of artwork created by and designed for people with visual impairments.

Over ten weeks six creative participants; Debbie, Tammie, Trevor, Pushortum, Tom and Derek have been working with Jenny and Maureen from Spiral Arts to create artwork for this exhibition. They have worked with clay, mod-roc, papier-mache, print-making, weaving, poetry, sound recording and aromatherapy.

The mysteries that lie within these boxes represent the participants own personalities in the form of sight, smell, sound and touch. You will enjoy some poetry from Derek and some West African Drumming from Trevor. Just like the artwork in this exhibition, visually impaired sight is unique to each person.

This exhibition encourages the viewer to ‘think outside the box’ when experiencing art as all the work in this exhibition can be enjoyed through alternative senses to sight such as touch, sound and smell. Open the doors to enjoy the multi-sensory experiences that the participants have prepared for you …