Visual Arts Projects 2005
Mountain Murals - the story of a project
We spent 2 weeks in August
2005 up in the Garw Valley Forestry, at the top of Carn Mountain in
the Mountain Murals project. For this project we spent two glorious
weeks with local children in the sunshine making artwork on stones,
exploring our local mountains, learning about the danger of fires,
creating a beautiful mural on the entrance to an old coal mine, and
carving a thick slate bench at a viewpoint for both the mural and down
the valley to the coast.
Many of the children and young people we worked with on this project had never been that high up the mountain and were proud to show off their natural artwork to their friends and family on top of the mountain at the end of the summer. This project was very special and we had many local dog walkers and hikers thanking us for the mural and place to sit at the top of the mountain and think. Many people said they would make the walk to the top just to see the artwork the young people had created.
A week later, a friend rang me to say that she had walked her dog to the top, looking forward to seeing the mural and slate bench made by the kids. At the top, the mural and painted stones sat proud next to the fruit trees the children had planted so they could sit and eat apples next to their artwork, but the slate bench had gone. Car tracks into the forestry showed that someone had gone to alot of trouble to steal this artwork so soon after its creation.
The children asked us quite often during the project, “What happens if it gets vandalised?” but felt sure that people would respect this space and see what had been created and would treasure it for a long long time. The police got on the case and we had lots of press coverage locally.
The happy ending to this story is that someone rang us up a week after reading about it to donate a large piece of slate to the project so that we could make a new bench with the children, fix it down securely and stop the vandals spoiling this special place. Always have faith in the power of creativity.
Thanks to Groundwork Neath Port Talbot and Betws Life Centre, our partners in running the summerscheme, to all the young people we worked with, to the Forestry Commission Wales for all their support and to The Welsh Assembly Government for the Anti-Arson grant which funded the project.
On Common Ground
We have been working on several projects as part of the On Common Ground initiative this year, a partnership with the National Museum and Galleries, Wales.
In Penywaun we have made a photo exhibition with local young people, exploring their own lives and showing it how they want it to be shown. These projects are making new art works with young people, exploring heritage from a new angle (theirs) and creating new pieces of art and history.
With Torfaen Opportunities Group (TOGs) we have made a video and taken photos. The group itself is called TAGs (Torfaen Action Group) and is a Youth Club for young disabled people. We have been inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of this diverse group of young people who have a wealth of abilities and have been making a film with them about their lives and the group.
Penywaen Youth Media Project
In April 2005 our project facilitators
Alson McGann and Amy Peckham began working with a young group of teenagers
from Penywaen near Aberdare on a photography and video project exploring
the area they live in, as part of the On Common Ground project. The
photographs and video footage the group have created are funny, thought-provoking
and insightful, and we enjoyed sharing their views on life. We produced
an exhibition and video which will be shown in venues throughout Wales
in 2006, and as well as having their work displayed and shown across
Wales the group will also get accredited for their efforts. Keep an
eye open in the future for more images from this talented bunch! Thanks
to the On Common Ground programme, National Museum and Galleries, Wales,
which has supported this project and encouraged more young people in
Wales to explore their identity, heritage, culture and future.
Live Your Dreams -
Cwmaman Murals project
Visual Arts worker Tim Smith facilitated this project and enjoyed working with a new group in Spring 2005, in Cwmaman, near Aberdare in the South Wales valleys. Tim worked with the girls to create a mural for the YWCA Centre to brighten it up, and they explored the theme of their dreams and future hopes.
The Place to Be
Our summerscheme in July 2005 to be held in the village
of Betws where we are based - and offering local children creative
opportunities during the summer holidays when many have little to do,
cannot leave the village, and the local crime rate increases rapidly
with the temperature. This year we’ll be working with the whole
team in a multimedia and arts project as part of our Person Centred
Creativity programme, funded by The Arts Council of Wales and supported
by a grant from Bridgend County Borough Council, as part of the Extending
Entitlement programme, working towards a multimedia performance on
the theme of exploring Betws through a creative journey.
Our World
After the success of the video Our World - Our Journeys (see part of the film here - broadband recommended) made by young asylum seekers and local young people from Willows Highs School in Cardiff with Valley and Vale Community Arts, the group wanted to take their work one step further and make sure young people throughout Wales had a better understanding about asylum seekers. Thanks to funding from the Welsh Assembly and British Council of Wales, the group made a teaching pack this year with help from our project facilitators Ali Franks and Katja Stiller, and in 2006 this resource will be sent to schools all over Wales in order to raise awareness of the situation and backgrounds of young asylum seekers in this country. The group felt that it would be good to encourage young people in Wales to discuss culture, situations in different countries and human rights issues, and we hope this resource pack will do that:
"In this group are so many different countries represented we can answer questions about so many different counties and what it is like to live in a country where there is war" (Rosi, aged 14)
Family Album
We worked on a new project with The National Museum and
Galleries of Wales in 2005, which was launched on International Women's
Day 2005 at the National Museum in Cardiff. The project invited women
living in Wales to take part in a portraits exhibition, gathering over
100 faces and quotes about their lives as women, and other women made
short videos exploring how life has changed for women in Wales over
the generations. This visual arts and multi-media installation included
films, photographs, poetry, interviews, art work, words and music
to explore women's lives, looking at many issues including marriage,
home, gender, roles and relationships. The installation was seen
by over 3,000 during its display in Cardiff and received much acclaim
and interest.
