Friday Art Club is a space created to enable creativity, boost skills and empower carers to create with their children. It is a space to collaborate with artists, children and families to develop connections within and across our communities.
Oxfordshire Kindness Wave wanted to provide a series of Art Clubs that enable creative fun and engagement in a safe context during these restrictive times. We spoke with a group of children, parents and carers and they all agreed to try an online art club. We meet once a month on a Friday early evening as suggested by the families. We launched the first one with roasted coffee donated by Quarter Horse Roast and cafetieres donated by Lucinda Whiteley to the Kinship Carers and the creative task of making Pinch Pots with Michelle Johnson, who donned her art apron from the days of being Head of Art at Cheney School. ‘How to make pinch pots’ went down well with the children who created clay sculptures, volcanoes and pots. Next we took to experimental drawing led by George O’Shaughnessy and our most recent session with the Ashmolean Museum’s Jude Barrett who shared images of different vessels from the museum’s collection to inspire the families. Our next one will be based on Greek Myths and we are looking forward to linking again with the Ashmolean Museum and experiencing their collection further. We are not sure how long it will be until we can visit a museum and do face to face art sessions but in the meantime we can continue our virtual connections, enjoying being creative together and having a space to express ourselves and through art.
Thank you to all the families and children who have taken part already and if you would like to join in our next session please do contact us at hello@populate.org.uk
