Weaver Vale Project

Since January I have been working with a group of men who live in Weaver Vale houses throughout Cheshire. Each week we meet to discuss and practically explore creativity.  Throughout they were kind enough to let me take some pictures of their art and them at work and note their individual journeys through the project.

Celebration event was great. Lovely to meet a new Weaver Vale resident Artist and support worker. Thanks to Denise from Weaver Vale for coming along. Met new friends through Carolyn's contacts and people came to support the participants. 

 

More pictures here

Some of our group members talking on why they like the group

Notes on the project to Date:

There are a multitude of questions which pop up as part of our sessions but some of them are outlined alongside each participant below with a plan for future experiements.

P

P: P has a background in comtemporary dance and was inspired by the ballet he had seen the week before. He had never used paint before the project and prefers the written word to drawing. He is a great originator of ideas but by his own admission struggles with staying with one idea for long. He wanted to explore the idea of movement through paint.
Week 3
What we discussed: We talked about how you don't have to show a person in a movement to express movement and looked at the work of Jackson Pollock and how the gestures of applying the paint give an indicatuion of movement.

 And Yves Klein's action paintings

And at the other extreme Dega and his technique of having the dancers leaving the picture plane.

 

Artists worth looking at for next week could include: 

Matisse

Keith Harring

Milton Resnick

 P enjoyed the freedom of this week. At the end of the session we talked about artistic intent and composition and he wants to explore this more next week.One of the tasks I set him was around our discussions on Artistic intent. P was worried that his art is all about instinct. dropping paint on paper and wasn't sure how much intent there was in it.

 Idea for next week: Discuss with P about the varoius gestures you might use in dance. Arrange these into a simple line drawn composition. P teaches another in the group the moves. The other person takes up the brush. P directs them to create the line drawn composition without them being able to see the line drawing. Hopefully this will be an extreme version on intent as every move will have to be considered and conveyed to another.

Week 4
P used 2 of the Weaver Vale support workers as his brushes. He used Nicola to create the first part of his painting.

He then went on to rework the painting with the help of Denise.

Manchester Trip

P's love of the curious sees him photographing the coke cup at the foot of the statue rather than the statue. Person after my own heart.

P was involved in spray painting as part of the 2 days making. Unfortunatly day 2 saw him unwell so he was unable to come back for the second day. 

Week 5ish
P had always wanted to try working in felt and he worked to combine this into his ideas around dance. The restraints of a flat canvas were making him feel demoralised but bringing the work off the flat plane and into 3dimensions allowed him to explore his rebelious untamed side. The good thing about each persons growth in the group is that they have each had the opportunity to pursue things in the way they want to go with helpfrom me if they need it. P is a flibberty jibbet like me with ideas buzzing around his head like flies. He vears from high balls of energy to worn out. On the worn out days we might not see him but when he comes he makes up for the time lost by working with such speed and focus. Plus he always makes us a well received brew. P's generosity of spirit spreads out into the group and he has a keen eye for potential collaborations.  He gets everybody involved this week in taking photos of his felt men for potential animations.

Week 6ish
Pat has been off ill for a week and I worried if he would return. I managed to get him on the phone and he tells me that he will definatly come and that "I really felt like I was part of something last time I came".  He comes with fresh energy and adds colour to the spray canvses he had previous created. We bob next door to the gallery to see the Cheshire Art Show and he tells us "There is just so much." Carolyn at Artwork chats to him about possibilities with dance at events she is planning. He aknowledges that dancing without the rest of his group may be outside his comfort circle at the moment but will consider it for the future.  Come home time he is the last to leave as he looks at art and infects us with his excitement.


 Week 7ish and beyond
The project as a whole is all but over. Official sessions are no longer funded but we all want to carry on. We are going to meet up for a brew in a Northwich Cafe for a while to see where it goes from here. We still have our exhibition in May as part of Roots Exhibition at Artwork in May. P is going to show his sprayed canvas and dancing men canvas. He may well create some other bits and pieces from the materials he took home with him.

 

I

I: I has used drawing as a way of communicating and expressing words without writing for many years. He draws small pictures of key things he needs to remember or express. Since joining us five weeks ago I has grown a collection of art materials and each week he delights us with the drawings he has created. This week he has begun to experiment with Acylic paints. Looking through his sketch books shows the progress he is making through practicing and building a relationship with his materials. I has not had the opportunity to learn the tricks of art like shading and mixing paints and that is what we have been working on during our sessions. I suspect that I will use some of these techniques in the future and decide to abandon others as he finds his own way of creating the art he wants to create.

Week 3
What we Discussed: We talked about the way that we can create a sense of light in a picture by deciding on where the light is coming from and creating shadow which follows the rules of this decision. We experiemented in light and shadow using pencil and paint. I created a series of sketches to explore this and then went on to shade one of his drawings using the ideas we had explored.

We discussed the following artists:
 Kandinsky

Alfred Wallis

In terms of composition and style.

Other artists worth looking at might be:
Mike Bernard Ri

Ideas for next week: Introducing colour. Colour mixing and colour harmonies and jarrings etc. Washes and thick paint, opaic and tranlusent.
Week 4
We explored the idea of primary colours and how they can mix all colours with a little black and white. I spent some time mixing different shades of green and brown. We looked at some of I's past pictures and considered how adding different tones can give shadow etc. He then went on to use what he had learnt to create a tree. He was very pleased with the results.

Week: lost count

Ian has been very prolific in his painting since we last met. We had tutorials and discussed ways forward and ways to make the paintings he has already created better. His trees are coming along great but now a bit of focus on the sky and creating depth through fading or more blue toned colours.

Week:beyond lost count
Through Artwork, Northwich the group got the opportunity to send some collaborative work to New York. I mocked up the design below to send using parts of each person's art. When I took it for approval by the group I looked at it and approved. It was only after looking at it for a while that he said "That's my boat". I think that this did so much for the confidence of I and the rest of the group, knowing that their work would be in an exhibition on the other side of the world. "Fame at last" they said.

I has been kind enough to come with me to meet the framer and pick up the finished framed work. Here are a few pictures of us at the Station Gallery in Cuddington. Thanks to Bryan for he framing and for taking the pictures for us. It is great to see the groups work in properly custom made frames. Its a deceleration that these are good and deserve to be presented well.

B

B is a very acomplished drawer who likes to paint from nature books and diagrams. He has a very good understanding of how to use materials and shade and light etc. We had a look through his past work and I set him a task far outside his usual comfort circles. I gave him a fairly large sheet of paper and paint, a short amount of time and nothing to copy from. The brief: to fill the paper with paint in the time. It didn't have to be a masterpiece and he could use collage chop it up whatever he liked. This was an effort to really stretch B. Half way through he had gone very small and detailed with a small image in the centre of the page. With his permission I drew some large scrawly shapes on the paper and he set off again. To my observations he seemed much freer after I had scribbled. What was there to loose now? On reflection B said that he found the process and the finished painting unsatisfactory and he couldn't see why I had asked him to do it. I said that I will reveal why next week to give him time to think about why i'd set this task just for him.

We looked at some of the great classic masters including:
Boticelli
 
Michalangelo

Rembrandt

Ideas for next week: B has strong ideas about how works of art could be improved. Next week I will take in some of the great works of art and ask B to consider how the composition could be improved by creating his own interpretation of the Art works.

Week 4
B went on  to re-design Botticelli's Venus. We chatted about composition and how the space around characters, the negative space can be as important as the characters themselves.

 Week lost count
We went along to artwork. Brian tells me that he is pleased that I pushed him to try new things and that it has helped him see what he is good at and try new things.

Week: beyond lost count
When B first joined the group he seemed a bit grumpy towards us. I wondered if we would get on or rub each other up the wrong way. We would give him tips and ideas and he would say that he had done it before or didn't want to try it. He was very good at telling others in the group what to do and giving his opinion on what they could do better. I can identify as I can be bossy when I don't watch myself too.  Last week one of the workers who hadn't seen B for a while came to a session and most noted the change in B. How comfortable and confident he seemed and dare we say, happy. Today we met for the first of our informal meet ups. B made his own way from Winsford to Northwich spent the morning looking around town and then met us for a coffee. The full group couldn't make it and when we were discussing what to do next he was amazingly understanding of the needs of others. He aknowledged that we can't plan everything without getting their opinion too and he mused on what art they liked to do. I think that this is the real B which he wouldn't let us see at first. One who cares for others and wants to share his knowledge. I'm glad to note that we have all got along just fine and despite a few tricky moments we have all become good friends.

L

Week 1
L is the youngest of our group and he seems more youthful. His interests are more in line with the young people I work with.  His humour and love of football start to tie him into the hearts of the other members. He seems a little unsure of himself but when he speaks we laugh and listen and this allows him to share a bit more of himself.

Week 2
L wasn't able to make this week but he is big into ideas and likes a bit of mischief within his art. He likes the work of Banksy and is interested in creating work which responds to his work.

Other artists which might  be worth a look at which have that sense of mischief and fun might be:

Blek Le Rat

Week 4

L started to work on his ideas around a Banksy inspired fire extinguisher. He was then inspired by I's box of stencils and he begun to work in pattern using these.

Banksy

Adam-okuciejewski

Week 5
L pursued his dream of trying a bit of spray art and crerated the largest piece of the project. Inspired by the work of Jamie Shovlin. It is a spoof prop for an alien film.

Week: Lost Count
Despite best efforts we had to pospone a few weeks of the sessions for one reason or another. I think this has a bigger impact than we might like to think.  Apart from the sessions L doesn't have many structured things to go to. A big gap gives time for things to become unstuck. We loose L for a few weeks but I eventually get him on the phone. He says that he will come and despite crossing my fingers I worry he wont. When I see him coming down the road with the others its a genuine whoop. Good to have all the group back together for cake and a last official session. L settles to writing a rap about the group. He is lightning quick at it. The next task it to write a rap about his Alien space ship he has created from old furniture. We await it with baited breath.

 

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