Past Projects — Page 11

Unveiling of Rainforest Felted Wall Hangings

All welcome to join us to unveil and celebrate Project eARTh’s three Rainforest Felted Wall hangings. The event is free, with tea, coffee and cake.

The colourful wall hangings were made by participants with artist Carol Wilson, especially for Fairfield Surestart Children’s Centre. For a change, we chose a theme further afield than the High Peak – to explore the natural life of Rainforests. We all know that these wonderful habitats are under threat across the globe, and that it is essential they are protected.

Stained Glass Inspired Silk Panels

Thank you for joining us on Thursday 28th Feb to unveil the beautiful silk painted panels, inspired by the Charles Eamer Kempe stained glass windows in Spring Bank Arts Centre. These window and wall hangings were made by participants in Project eARTh ( Environmental arts and health) with artist Amanda Whewell. They will be displayed at Spring Bank Arts Centre, alongside a book of smaller silk painted pieces also inspired by the windows.

Arts Award success in 2018!

Well done to our 38 young people who passed their Arts Award during 2018! We’ve achieved 20 Explore level, 15 Bronze and 3 Silver; from the Music Arts Pod, Tall Tales and Film Cuts Club. Everyone’s work was inspired and of such high quality that the moderator was “very impressed”!

Arts Award inspires young people to grow their arts and leadership talents: it’s creative, valuable and accessible.

The Silver certificate is a level 2 qualification (Qualification Number 500/9914/0) giving 10 credits of learning. Click here for the Ofqual registration.

The Bronze certificate is a level 1 qualification (Qualification Number 501/0081/6) giving 6 credits of learning. Click here for the Ofqual registration.

The Explore certificate is an entry level (Entry 3) qualification (Qualification Number 600/3894/9) giving 4 credits of learning. Click here for the Ofqual registration.

Project eARTh silk painting

About the project:

Participants of the New Mills Project eARTh are currently working with textile artist Amanda Whewell to create a series of silk painting window hangings, inspired by the stained glass windows at Spring Bank Arts Centre, New Mills. The stained glass windows at Spring Bank Arts were designed by the famed, Victorian stained glass artist Charles Eamer Kempe. The windows contain a stunning visual variety of spiritual and secular motifs, all of which have provided artistic stimulus for our project participants.

Charles Eamer Kempe

Charles Eamer Kempe was born in Brighton in 1837. Throughout the Victorian era, he was a famed designer and manufacturer of stained glass and church furniture.

Kempe studied at Oxford and wanted to be a Vicar, but he had a stammer which he struggled with so he decided to use his talents to decorate churches rather than to preach in them.

Kempe used the wheatsheaf as his trademark, this was a symbol that was taken from his family’s coat of arms.

Throughout his life, Kempe was a shy man who stayed single. He died in 1907 from a cold which had turned into congestion of the lung, for which he had refused to get medical help.

The Unveiling

The new silk panels will be unveiled on Thursday February 28^th 2019 and will hang at Spring Bank Arts Centre for the enjoyment of all who visit it. For information on Spring Bank Arts, New Mills, visit:

https://www.springbankarts.org.uk/

No tall tales in our latest evaluation report!

‘Join the Fight’ was the 2018 performance from Tall Tales and we now have our latest ev aluation report which you can read here! For more info about the project, see our ‘Tall Tales’ posts!

Have a read of the previous evaluation report from our ‘Tall Tales’ young peoples project.

We are chuffed to bits that everyone finds the projects so inspiring and worthwhile. We’d love you to get in touch if you’d like to know more about our projects.

Right now, we are busy planning further Tall Tales so….. watch this space!

Pastel workshops with Sandra Orme

Towards the end of 2018, Project eARTh participants were lucky enough to be tutored by the renowned Derbyshire pastel artist, Sandra Orme, in a series of bespoke workshops.

Sandra is one of the North West’s leading pastel artists. Her work explores the ever changing landscape that surrounds her studio in Buxton and further afield – the light, seasonal colours, atmosphere and weather. She is renowned for her ability to capture dramatic skies and a sense of place.

Sandra has won multiple awards including The Buxton Spa Prize, The Derbyshire Open Landscape award and Best Visual Artist at the Buxton Festival Fringe.

Under Sandra’s tutelage, Project eARTh participants produced some fantastic, inspiring, colour- filled work.

We look forward to working with Sandra on further projects in the future.

Ceramic birds for Reuben’s Retreat

High Peak Community Arts were very happy to install a beautiful flock of ceramic birds in the gardens of Reuben’s Retreat in Glossop, unveiled by the Mayor of the High Peak, Cllr Linda Grooby, on 18^th October 2018.

The birds were created by Project eARTh participants, working with the acclaimed ceramic artist Caroline Chouler- Tissier. Participants had expressed a wish to make some art work for Reuben’s Retreat, a Glossop charity that aims to provide a retreat to relieve the distress of families and their close friends who have suffered the bereavement of a child, or who have a child suffering from a life limiting or life threatening illness. Reuben’s Retreat said they would love some ceramic birds, and so the project began.

This project is particularly poignant as Reuben (in whose memory the Retreat was established by his bereaved parents) used to love looking at ‘birdies’ in his garden before he tragically died aged 23 months.

Participants used reference books and posters to select a variety of garden birds to design, and with the assistance of Caroline, set about creating them in clay, then using oxides, slips and glazes to add colour. 23 birds on steel poles were placed in one garden area, in memory of the 23 months of Reuben’s life, and more birds were placed by the entrance, and in a bird feeding area that can be viewed from the Lodge – the bereavement, counselling and support centre.

On 18^th October, participants were warmly welcomed by the staff at Reuben’s, and delighted to see the results of their work in the beautiful settings. “It’s been a lovely project” said Alison Bowry from High Peak Community Arts. “Each bird is different, and I love how they have expressions and characters of their own. We certainly had a great deal of fun creating them. I hope the children and families enjoy looking at them, and the sight of the birds helps to lift their spirits.”

Project eARTh is an environmental arts and health project for adults in the High Peak experiencing mental distress or other long term conditions. It runs 2 groups per week, and is free to attend with free transport for those who need it. Working with professional artists, participants work together to create art works for the community. It is funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Do take a look at Reuben’s Retreat website to see the work the fantastic work that they are doing, how you can help, or how they can support you. For details visit: https://www.reubensretreat.org or call 01457 680 023.

Unleash your inner potter!

Visit to a working artist’s studio:

Caroline Chouler-Tissier

Join us for a visit to the studio of acclaimed, Buxton-based ceramic artist Caroline Chouler-Tissier.
Caroline has worked on numerous projects with High Peak Community Arts over the years, and we are delighted that she has opened up her studio to us in November!
Caroline will talk about her work and give participants the chance to have a go on a potters wheel and make a small tile to take home.

Date: Thursday November 15^th, 10am – 12noon

Cost: £15 (pre-booking essential)

£5 for Friends of High Peak Community Arts

FREE for Friends who donate more than £10 per month

To book, or for more information, please contact 01663 744516 or email Caroline – caroline@highpeakarts.org

Transport not provided. Light refreshments free of charge.

Performance Success for ‘Join the Fight’

‘Join the Fight’, the show created by young people in their summer school this August, held its final performance on Saturday 29th September as part of New Mills Festival.

Click here to watch the film.

Work started in April at the Young Writers’ Camp when nearly 30 young people from across the High Peak came together for a trip to the People’s History Museum in Manchester. In two following days they wrote characters inspired by the centenary of some women winning the vote and other campaigns they found in the museum.
More young people joined the project from April to July, in workshops in Gamesley in Glossop and Fairfield in Buxton and signed up for our August summer school. Over 7 days nearly 40 young people aged 8 – 18 came together to turn the early ideas into a performing arts show and created “Join the Fight” – a performance trail for New Mills Festival 2018. The final show includes music, drama, dance and film set in different locations in New Mills and starting from High Lee Hall in the park on St Mary’s Road. For the first time our older participants have created all the work in one venue, which is suitable for an audience age 13+ and presents a young view of gender and sexuality issues. However, skipping that venue, there is still plenty for a family audience!

High Peak Community Arts couldn’t provide this fantastic range of youth programme without their range of funders; from Santander Discovery Fund for the Young Writers’ Camp to National Foundation for Youth Music, local Bingham Trust and Derbyshire Councillors’ Initiative Funds for workshops on the estates and our recent grant from Arts Council England joined by One Stop Carriers for Causes and Tesco Bags of Help funding for the summer school.