Residency for Flintshire’s Arts, Culture and Events service – on the theme of Riddles and Rhymes – collage and stencil printing

Taking a poem as a starting point for drawing, I worked with children in three Flintshire primary schools over three weeks. Some pupils made printing plates using collage, while others made cut paper stencils; all the pupils used my portable etching press to produce their prints. The nature of printing means that multiple pieces can be produced, so one set of prints could be combined to make a large artwork for permanent display, two in each school.

I completed a second residency with Flintshire schools, with the focus on migration of birds and the bird reserve at Talacre.

Pilgrim’s Passport Stamp Project for the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way - collage printing

The Pilgrim’s Way is a walking route of over 130 miles from Basingwerk Abbey in Flintshire to Bardsey Island off the Llŷn Peninsula. I was asked to run printmaking workshops at eleven schools in Flintshire and Denbighshire that were located near the route. I worked with one class in each school. The children all made striking black and white prints from collage printing plates they designed and made themselves. One print from each school was turned into a rubber stamp and has been located at the relevant site on the route. Walkers are able to collect a ‘passport’ at the start of their walk and stamp their passports, as a souvenir, as they continue along the route.

www.pilgrims-way-north-wales.org

Criw Celf workshops –
collage and stencil printing

Criw Celf is organised by local authorities across North Wales and provides artist-led workshops for more able and talented children in Years 7 – 9, outside of school hours. I have run workshops with children in Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy.

www.criwcelf.co.uk

Moving Spaces –
banners on the theme of landscape

This three day project was held at Ruthin Craft Centre and was a collaboration with NEWdance. I worked with children who had attended Criw Celf workshops to make banners to be hung in the courtyard of the Craft Centre that would provide an area for the performers to dance in and around. We made drawings of the striking architecture of the Craft Centre, which reflects the surrounding hills, and turned these into stencils. We also printed directly from natural objects. The banners were made from tracing paper and muslin and wafted gently in the breeze on the evening of the performance.

Arts and wellbeing

I have led a number of workshops with various adult support groups that have a focus on a particular need or circumstance. Examples of these include stencil printing with Deafblind adults; printing from natural objects with a group affected by cancer; printing from natural objects and collage printing with a group of carers, as part of the Gwanwyn Festival (celebrating creativity in older age); and printing from natural objects with adults who have suffered a stroke.