On Saturday 24th August 2024, local engineer and STEM ambassador, Alisha Bell, ran a special event at Keighley Creative.
The event was titled Engineering and Arts Exploration and Alisha and the team welcomed local families to come along and join in the fun activities exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths through arts and crafts.
A highlight of the event was a visit by Toylab, encouraging children to create their own unique creations from reusing old and broken toys.
There were also various other activities and experiments for local children to get involved in, illustrating how fun and exciting science and engineering can be!
The event also exhibited the work of local artists who had created special pieces to showcase the engineering heritage of Keighley, with paintings from Leonie Briggs, Jane Fielder, Nicola Smith, Andrea Shevloff, Andy, Anne Marie, Serena Redferne, Judy Sale and Nicola Storr.
The Engineering and Arts Exploration exhibition is on display in our gallery area and will up for the next few weeks. Feel free to pop in to our premises on Cooke Lane to have a look.
The Engineering and Arts Exploration project was funded by The Leap, partnered with the Arts Council England, Creative People and Places and Bradford Council and hosted and supported by Keighley Creative.
Keighley Creative Maker Fayre and Open Studios event. Photo: Bob Smith Photography
On Saturday 17th August 2024, our studio artists were thrilled to welcome more people than ever before to their open studio event.
Nearly 100 people came to visit, had a tour, met the artists and viewed their huge range of artwork and creativity.
Sean Jukes aka Rambling Art (R)Jane Fielder (L)Naseem Darbey (L)Bill Parker (R)Visitors enjoying exploring the studios
The artists that hosted included Jane Fielder, Dripsy, Naseem Darbey, Jonathan Britten, Martin Cosgrove, Sean Jukes aka Rambling Art, Bill Parker and Leonie Briggs.
The first floor studios were opened up to the public whilst a makers fair went out downstairs. Local creatives had stalls selling their handmade products and visitors enjoyed browsing and shopping.
Black Craft by CKDripsyCharles HumphreysMiss Hue DesignsHoping SewOakfield CraftsAnna Gouws ArtworkKat Rose Illustration
Goods on sale included jewellery, paintings, quilts, prints, homewares and gifts. Stallholders included Black Craft by CK, Charles Humphreys, Miss Hue Designs, Oakfield Crafts, Anna Gouws Artwork, Dripsy, Kat Rose Illustration and Hoping Sew.
Due to the success of the previous events another one has already been booked in for Saturday 30th November 2024. The event will again include artists opening up their studios as well as a makers fair, perfectly timed for Christmas shopping.
To apply for a stall at the next one, please follow the link below:
Pippa Vellacott, four, shows off the wind chime she made at the creative nature event at Cliffe Castle organised by Keighley Creative Photo: Bob Smith Photography
On Saturday 17th August 2024, 100s of Keighley people came along to Cliffe Castle park and joined in some fun, creative sessions run by Keighley Creative that focused on learning about the environment.
Families who attended were given the opportunity to join in with all sorts of activities and everyone was welcomed to get stuck in, no matter what their age or ability.
Approximately 350 visitors took part in various activities using and celebrating nature including making journals, sharing stories, making wind chimes, taking a story stick for a walk and adding their self-made pom-poms to the “Blanket Bog Blanket”.
Some of the comments from families that attended included:
“My kids really, really loved it all. It was so nice to see so many people getting involved.”
“Pom-pom making is so satisfying and calming.”
“I made a journal and I’m going to record in here every day of the summer holidays.”
“Making wind chimes was a very therapeutic activity.”
The creative nature event at Cliffe Castle organised by Keighley Creative Photo: Bob Smith Photography
Local artist, educator and project lead, Naseem Darbey, was thrilled that the event was such a success and said:
“It was a family celebration enjoyed by all and we got so much positive feedback evidencing how much the workshops were loved. People left with their nature gift bags stuffed full of all their own fabulous handmade goods including journals, wind chimes, pom-poms and recipes, and even stories to share. Cliffe Castle park was buzzing and it was fab to see so many smiles.”
The Pledges to the Landscape event was a celebration of a ongoing project run by the charity alongside Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP), and funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Community Climate Grants. Local school children from Year 5 at Eastwood, Victoria, Riddlesden St. Mary’s, Worth Valley, Holycroft and Merlin Top primaries were involved as classes were given their own “micro-peatbogs” to look after and then took part in interactive art workshops in the classroom.
The aim of the Pledges to the Landscape project and the event was not only to get creative but to help educate participants about the environment around them and particularly the importance of Yorkshire’s peat bogs, their plants and wildlife.
Lucy Lee from Yorkshire Peat Partnership with the “Blanket Bog Blanket”. Photo: Bob Smith Photography
Spokesperson from YPP, Lucy Lee, said: “Our unique landscapes, peatlands and their plants are truly beautiful but they are also critical to the preservation of our natural environment. It’s important that we all learn about how important bogs are so we are keen to get children involved from as young an age as possible.”
The workshops have been designed and delivered by Naseem, who visited the schools and helped children study their own classroom “micro-bog”. She encouraged pupils to be inspired by the plants that were growing in the bog and to study them using hand-lenses and identification cards. They then used their senses to observe and their drawing skills to record what they had discovered.
Naseem said: “The children that have been involved in the classroom project learnt about the importance of the plants and landscapes around them and how their preservation is essential. We looked at the past, present and future of these environments to help the children understand how they work and they documented the peatbogs using drawing materials. They tried different drawing techniques which helped the children really engage with the bog and they created some beautiful art in the process.”
Showing off the Worth Valley Primary School bog at the creative nature event at Cliffe Castle are, from left, Naseem Darbey, Victoria Townson and Lucy Lee. Photo: Bob Smith Photography
As Naseem continued: “The sessions provided by YPP and I were designed to engage the children by having fun, being creative and sometimes getting messy! This hands-on approach really helped the children understand their local environment and has hopefully inspired the next generation to contribute to the conservation of our peatlands.”
The project has been funded by Bradford Council, the Mayor of West Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Community Climate Grants.
Newly appointed Creative Director, Paula Clark finished by saying: “As a newcomer to Keighley Creative I am so excited by the energy and enthusiasm of the people of Keighley to get involved in this creative and collaborative community project. It’s also fantastic to see the commitment of the talented Keighley Creative team and Yorkshire Peat Partnership to make meaningful projects like this happen. I’m looking forward to everything that is to come next!”
For more information on your local peatlands, please contact Yorkshire Peat Partnership. For more information on arts and crafts workshop offerings from Keighley Creative and Naseem Darbey, please email admin@keighleycreative.org
Paula Clark, who has been appointed creative director of Keighley Creative. Photo: Bob Smith Photography
Art charity Keighley Creative has appointed a woman with more than 25 years’ experience working with communities throughout the North to lead its creative team.
Paula Clark said she is very excited to step into the post of creative director at a crucial time for the expanding organisation.
She will lead the team in ensuring delivery of existing projects and new ventures as the charity looks forward to a move into its new home in the former Sunwin House on Hanover Street. Keighley Creative currently runs weekly Arts for Brain Health sessions; the Drawing Box Project; hosts studios for artists, along with their pop-up shops and Makers’ Fairs at its present base in the former Argos building on Cooke Lane.
The charity is also collaborating with Yorkshire Peat Partnership in the Bog in a Drawing Box project, culminating in a family creative-nature day on 10 August in Cliffe Castle Park and is hosting a series of watercolour painting workshops with artist Linda Hollingshead. It also holds regular artist get-togethers. Keighley Towns Fund board recently commissioned the organisation to consult with communities on the town’s long-term plan.
Paula, who was born in north Wales but who has been based in York since she was 10, was impressed with Keighley when she first visited the town. She said: “I’m really new to Keighley but I’ve already picked up that it feels a really vibrant place.
“I have been given such a warm welcome; people are really friendly. It feels like a town that, despite challenges, is still living and breathing. There’s so much there to celebrate and build on.”
The new creative director said social cohesion is an important part of building communities. “People have been really struggling. Covid 19 and the cost of living crisis have had a huge impact on people socially and financially. I’m from a disadvantaged background, and know first-hand how accessing creativity can improve wellbeing, mental health, reduce social isolation and bring joy. So, to me it’s important to be working on people’s doorstep and making sure everyone is getting access to these kinds of provisions and cultural experiences that can bring people together, help us to heal and look forward to a better future.
“We know the power that arts and creativity have to bind us together and it can be a game-changer, especially for young people and people who face barriers to accessing opportunities. It’s only by listening to and working together with our community, that we can learn more about how people are already engaging with culture, what they would really like to see more of and challenge the perception that arts and culture is only for those that can afford it.
“At Keighley Creative we want to include everyone and make sure the people of Keighley know that their ideas and opinions are valued and cared about.
“I’m very excited to be joining Keighley Creative at what feels like an exciting moment in time for the organisation and I’m really looking forward to working with the incredibly talented team here to create vision for the next 12 months that is all about celebrating Keighley and its residents, everything it’s already got going on, but also all of the new possibilities that will come with the redevelopment of Keighley Creative’s former home, Sunwin House, that will hopefully put Keighley on the map as a cultural hub and bring new people into town”
Paula worked at York Theatre Royal in various roles, including outreach director, for 10 years. She was head of programme for Creative Scene in Dewsbury, an Arts Council-Creative People and Places organisation; set up her own female-led community-interest company Bolshee and has extensive experience working with young people and communities in socially engaged practice.
Paula’s appointment follows that of former Keighley Creative trustee Riaz Meer as executive director, funded by and seconded from the Kala Sangam charity. The Bradford-based organisation also funded Lauren Kelly’s post of arts and heritage officer with Keighley Creative. Cat Murray continues in her post as event manager, with Naseem Darbey creative lead. Naseem has been running the Bog in a Drawing Box and the Pledges to the Landscape project with schoolchildren. Two new artists have recently been added to the team of studio holders and there will be an open studios event during the Makers’ Fair on 17 August, when the public can view the work of the Keighley Creative studio holders.
