light up the night pembroke dock

the third annual pembroke dock lantern procession was blessed with perfect weather and more than six hundred people turned out to see a spectacular procession of 150 lanterns made by over 200 workshop participants from local schools, community groups and the community at large

with pyrotechnics in the park stiltwalkers, santa claus and samba doc, the winter lantern procession is becoming one of the highlights of the pembroke dock calendar

view the gallery of photographs taken by gwen griffiths here

mythical wild and human

Oriel y Parc Gallery & Visitor’s Centre in St David’s was the location for a programme of school and community workshops inspired by the 150 carved stone corbels of mythical beasts, wild animals and human heads that adorn the Bishop’s Palace in St David’s.

Organised by the Arts Council of Wales and Cadw as part of their Cauldrons & Furnaces project and funded by the Legacy Trust, the project is part of the Cultural Olympiad programme, and is one of many events taking place over the next three years across the UK in the run up to the London Olympics in 2012.

view a gallery of images here

making faces (2) bush school pembroke

Following on from a pilot project being undertaken by SPAN to engage young people in the Arts, Guy Norman and Pip Lewis worked with pupils from the school's Nurture Unit on a mask making and self-portraiture project.

Overten sessions the students experimented with a variety of materials making masks on different themes. The project included the creation of two large-scale painted canvases for hanging within the Nurture Unit.

See a selection of masks and the completed canvases here

ceramic panel neyland community school

Over 90 children from years 1-3 participated in ceramic tile making sessions with Artist Pip Lewis. The tiles were designed around the theme of Neyland's maritime heritage and its ongoing links with the sea.

Colourful tiles depicting an array of trains ships sea creatures chains and anchors surround letters and symbols glazed in school colours that together make up a ceramic panel that will take pride of place in Neyland's new community school.

see the finished ceramic wall panel here

transition information dvd action for children

Pip Lewis worked with two groups of young people with disabilities living in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion to create artwork for a film exploring their experiences of making the transition from children's to adult services.

the film, commissioned by action for children wales, was made by the young people themselves with the support of sharron harris a local independant film-maker.

the artwork produced was animated by joelle brindley to create a series of animated titles to introduce each section of the film

totem

Guy Norman worked with primary aged children from two small schools near Llandovery, Cil y Cwm and Capel Cynfab to make a series of animal and bird masks for a new musical work Totem created by Helen Adam for the Small Nations Festival

The new work funded by the Arts Council of Wales was premiered in Cil y Cwm school in the first week of July before going on to the Small Nations Festival later in the month

See a selection of bird masks here and animal masks here

hands up banner

Around 90 children from Fenton Community School in Haverfordwest put their hands up to show their support for Haverfordwest Going Plastic Bag Free.

The children painted their hands onto a giant 60 foot banner which proclaimed the message loud and clear from its position strung across the high street in the county town throughout July.

making faces bush school pembroke

As part of a pilot project being undertaken by SPAN to engage young people in the Arts, Guy Norman worked with pupils from the school's Nurture Unit on a mask making project.

Over six sessions the students experimented with a variety of materials making masks on different themes. The project included the creation of two large scale pieces Melonie and The Red Devil which went on to take pride of place at the Mexican Fiesta street party during Pembroke Dock's Midsummer Festival.

See a selection of masks here

pembrokeshire fishweek 10th anniversary

A day of drop-in visual arts activities was provided for around 200 visitors of all ages and abilities to mark the opening day of Pembrokeshire Fishweek now in its tenth year.

Other arts activities during the 9 day festival included: a pilot project working with the Darwin Science Festival to make prints with primary school children from their direct observation of life in rockpools; input into the development and judging of a sculpture competition; a second visual arts workshop at Fishguard Library making masks and headdresses.

see a selection of fishy masks masks and headresses here

mexican fiesta pembroke dock midsummer festival

A mexican theme provided the inspiration for this years festival. Over 100 primary school children and several hundred local people of all ages got involved in school and community workshops making masks and headdresses inspired by the colourful traditions of mexico.

The theme was developed with the creation of papel picardo colourful paper street decorations and pinata traditional sweet filled decorations building to a climax for the mexican fiesta a grand street party to mark the fourth year of Pembroke Dock's Midsummer festival.

see a selection of pictures from the festival here

mask making santes ffair

St Mary's Junior School in Pembroke Dock joined forces with Golden Grove School in Pembroke and invited us along to work with their holiday club to make masks for an afternoon.