AN artist walks into a community and what happens next can depend on so many different elements.
In February of this year I walked down Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road and went to see if anyone wanted to do an art project. The reason I approached this area in particular is that in my earlier trips around bonfires to get a different perspective, this area was very welcoming, family-friendly and they had moved to a smaller, beacon-style bonfire for the 11th night festivities and a fun fair early the next day.
The Diamond Women’s Group, connected to Charter NI, were responsible. The murals have all been transformed, depicting, among other images, the Belfast Giants, where some young people play in the youth team.
Receiving a positive response, the group applied for funding from the Arts Council Of Northern Ireland small grants programme which is funded by the National Lottery and as we waited on the outcome we considered what would be of most benefit to the community. One idea was to run a week-long art scheme which is jokingly called the Loyalist Art Summer Scheme (LASS). The idea was to run it the week before the 12th of July when the children are just off school and excited at freedom and the holidays.
There is a great facility that’s been given to the group by the Housing Executive – a community hub on the downstairs of a series of houses with an indoor and outdoor space for art making. Three artists took over the space for a week and ran two sessions every day, which included workshops on collage, sketchbooks, printmaking in both monoprints and etching and two days of ceramics and photography. 49 children in all participated and it was great fun getting to know them and seeing what they would produce.
We found the children very creative with a desire to learn and create, and in particular we noticed how they were good at helping each other. Each day we would arrive to a queue forming outside as we prepared the room for the day. There was great joy and squeals of delight when the results of the art experimentation went well.
Light Painting in Lord Street
With the ceramics the idea was that we would use the bonfire as a kiln, using what was available culturally in the area, based on a technique called Raku. While it did not turn out one hundred per cent it produced interest and excitement and more awareness of ceramics.
With the photography we gave the children disposable black and white cameras to see what they were looking at during the July holidays. It showed our ages and the speed of technology when most of the children had never seen an analogue camera before but immediately started to take selfies with each other, being amazed that they physically had to wind the images on. The results came very much from a child’s perspective with a strong focus on the fun fair that arrives annually in They learnt also about exposure speeds and making photographs in the dark.
We came back for another week in August, this time taking the children out to galleries as well, with visits to Pssquared, Belfast Exposed and the Mac. All the galleries were happy to facilitate the group, from asking if they were going to see the Mona Lisa to making photograms in the dark room of Belfast Exposed. This was all topped off with an exhibition in Pssquared where the community came to support the children and their work.
The children got to see how art can be a profession and there is real talent among the group. Art is now on the radar of the community in being a tool for self-expression and all the multiple benefits that can come when we humans have creative outlets. In a recent needs survey in the community locally, art and crafts as an option was included for the first time as families saw the benefit of it. Communities can benefit by working with artists in so many different ways.
The small grants programme is open on a rolling basis from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and available to registered charities and other organisations which cannot distribute profits, groups of organisations working together to deliver specific projects, and formally constituted parent-teacher associations – all details on the ACNI website. You do not have to have specific artists in mind to apply for a project as advice can be given on how to select them.
Taking Liberties! from Jamie Reid has opened in the University of Ulster gallery in the new building on York Street. Reid is most famous for his punk queen collage art work for the Sex Pistols. It’s great to see a new gallery open in the city and the graphic nature of the political art works well in the setting. Also nice to see another gallery open on a Sunday.
Ulster University art gallery open Monday to Saturday 9am to 8pm and Sunday 10am to 6pm.
