Following the success of Durham Sixth Form Centre’s artist-in-residence (AiR) programme, the first in a series of the community art classes officially launched this term in the Visual Arts Centre. The aim of these classes is to alleviate the impact of the pandemic and offer the wider community accessible workshops. Beginning with artist Stuart Mel Wilson, his experimental drawing session complemented his collaborative exhibition in the VAC with students from DSFC. He used mythology, fables, and tales as a platform to explore contemporary life.       

This first workshop started with a tour of Wilson’s exhibition and insights about the process of collaboration with the students. In Wilson’s words, he enjoys “making workshops fun and engaging”. The class brought together a range of people from the local community. They took part in engaging drawing activities including large scale collaborative drawing. Opportunities to interact in pairs and in groups cultivated a positive and creative atmosphere. Participants said the workshop was ‘friendly, accessible and welcoming’ others said the workshop was ‘very exciting and creative’ and ‘alot was packed in!’.

Following on from the first workshop, ceramics artist Jack Warren has led a four week course of ceramics for beginners. Participants experienced working with coil pots, slab building, pinch pots and glazing techniques.This busy class allowed participants to get to know each other over the four weeks and created a body of ceramic creations. These are fired in the school kilns and then will be available for collection once finished. One participant claimed ‘This is the highlight of my week!’ with others asking when they can come back for more. The class brought together a group of strangers and created a safe and relaxed space for people to enjoy a cup of tea and the company of others. We are hoping to secure funding going forward to continue and extend our community work which will eventually move into our new gallery space on site.

Funded by Durham Community Foundation, the community art classes consist of a range of  workshops and classes with  botanical painting, sketching and digital illustration still to come.