I was recently given the opportunity to interview the lovely ladies behind a brand new project taking place in Nottingham for the Renewal Trust.
Suzannah gave me a little bit of information about the history of the Renewal Trust and what they do for the community...
"The Renewal Trust is a nationally recognised community regeneration trust. Since 1997 we have developed a strong base of community delivery that provides direct support to local people as well as being seen as the ‘go to’ organisation in the area for making connections of excellence.
We operate within the inner city communities of St. Ann’s and Sneinton; areas that experience high and occasionally extreme levels of deprivation.
Our creative programme allows us the opportunity to broker arts opportunities of the highest calibre – a level of excellence that other young people may be able to take for granted. This has resulted in individuals being talent spotted by regional dance agency Dance4 for their Centre for Advanced Training, where scholarships are available."
This is a partnership between The Renewal Trust and Bromley House Library to create artworks of postcard size for submission to an exhibition called ‘Secret Postcard Art Show, to be held at Bromley House Library November/December 2016. The Renewal Trust are delighted to be hosting a Santander Placement from Nottingham Trent’s School of Art and Design, and have shaped a project to work with a small number of community groups across the placement, delivering workshops to create artworks for exhibiting locally with a selection of 1 postcard per participant going forwards to the Bromley House Secret Postcard Exhibition.
From that alone it was clear to me, their upcoming project was going to be a brilliant one! Not only that it was a combined project with the absolutely lovely Naomi, a second year student at Nottingham Trent University.
Hi Naomi,
1. So what do you study at
University?
I am a
second year (going in to third year) ntu student studying Textile Design,
specialising in embroidery.
2. What made you want to take
this as a degree?
I have
always been creative, so always knew that I would want to do a course that
allowed this; I love texture, colour and being experimental- which textile
design allows. I love fashion but with a focus on finer details and
embellishments, textile design allows me to focus upon these and visualise them
into garments rather than having to get into the technicalities of pattern
cutting.
3. Had you heard about the
renewal trust before?
Before
hearing about the summer internship I hadn’t heard of the Renewal Trust; I feel
that now I do, it has truly opened my eyes to the bigger picture of what else
is happening in Notts- there are so many exciting projects that Renewal run for
the community that I didn’t even know existed!
4. What does your project
with them involve?
I am running art workshops with
three different community groups, three times a week, we have been working on
collage work and also I have been teaching basic embroidery stitches that can
be used as a decorative art. The groups are extremely diverse; I have been
working with adults with a range of abilities, ages and circumstances from the
Sneinton and St Ann’s communities. Working to the postcard dimensions means that
some of the pieces will be selected to go forward to The Bromley House Secret post
card show. the show will
showcase anonymous works from local artists, individuals and even some
celebrities that will take place later this year (November/December) in the
Bromley House library- a beautiful hidden gem, members library on Angel Row.
Aside from Bromley House’s exhibition we will host our own exhibition on the 15th
July in Sneinton Market units to showcase all of the works, celebrate the
beautiful outcomes and also as a social event to unite the groups that have
been working separately on the same project.
5. What made you want to get
involved with the Renewal trust?
Without
sounding too cliché… I know that I have also been very privileged with the
opportunities and encouragement that I have been given in terms of education
and creativity; I felt that sometimes arts aren’t always given the value or
time that they deserve but that creativity is so important, so I wanted to
share some of my creative knowledge with people who perhaps wouldn’t normally
do arts or embroidery. I find embroidery such a good release from day to day
stress, from the concentration to the sense of achievement of having actually
created something to be proud of totally by hand- I have found this to be the
case with some of the individuals in my groups too who have told me how relaxed
they’ve felt after the classes, which is so lovely.
The work
that The Renewal Trust do is so rewarding, the workshops are so much more than
‘just’ making postcards; but to learn a new skill, create working partnerships
within groups, to see a project through to an end and to have fun and be
creative along the way. I am so enjoying teaching and working on such a heartfelt
project and to have a positive impact.
Naomi also kindly sent me 2 websites all about the health benefits of sewing as this is something that she had bared in mind when applying for her position and planning the workshops. Feel free to click the link and check them out!
This was a little paragraph Naomi also sent me as something that she thought was really interesting to know...
And that hand-eye coordination is good for our brains and for keeping our fingers nimble. Having agile minds and bodies tend to make us feel more agile and alert. Plus being able to make does wonders for our self –esteem- the self-satisfaction of actually creating something from scratch is something lovely in itself regardless of personal circumstances and a lot of the time our busy day to day lives do not allow for this sort of output.
I am so glad I was able to talk to both Suzannah and Naomi as it is very clear that they are both so passionate about what they do and this ongoing project. I have also attached 'The Renewal Trusts' website so you can check them out for yourselves!
