Christine Mockett and I spent a fun spring and summer working with the diverse group at Blair Court Community House. The workshop was an opportunity for the inhabitants of the surrounding housing, who normally would not have access to the materials and instruction, to express themselves and learn some skills in sculpture and painting.
Using a method created by Christine, our students created a variety of characters by wrapping and bundling scraps of recycled fabric onto wire armatures before finally coating the sculptures with a layer of fabric hardener. Among the figures which emerged were a sassy unicorn, a robust zebra, and large garden spider. There were also a number of seated figures sporting hats, shawls or skirts. There were both figures engaged in solitary pursuits and family groupings.
Over the course of the spring and summer we hosted both a workshop for a adults and workshop for children. In some cases the adults and children worked together. While many of the figures went home with the participants some of them will be turning up in the back-garden of Blair Court.
The class we taught was the most recent in a series of workshops at Community Houses and Health Centres made possible by grants from the Ontario Arts Council. Other workshops were hosted by Rochester Heights, Winthrop Court and Somerset West Community Health Centre.
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