Children from a local school have been getting up close and personal with world class artwork at Tŷ Pawb!
Pupils from St Mary’s RC Primary School in Wrexham are taking part in a series of artist led workshops inspired by Tŷ Pawb’s current exhibitions: Julie Cope’s Grand Tour: The Story of a Life by Grayson Perry and Uptwist Downtwist.
The Grayson Perry exhibition features two enormous tapestries which tell the colourful tale of a fictional character – Julie Cope.
Uptwist Downtwist runs alongside the Grayson Perry exhibition and celebrates Wrexham’s own weaving heritage at the former Celanese factory on the industrial estate.
A creative collaboration
The school workshops are part of the Arts Council Wales Creative Collaborations project which aims to promote new and innovative ways of engaging with arts and culture.
A different artist is leading the workshops each week, introducing the children to new creative techniques. This week artist Amy Caswell introduced the pupils to silk screen printing. The spectacular results reached the very top of Gallery 2’s vast roof!
“Having this on our doorstep is so valuable”
Katie Edwards, a teacher at St Mary’s school, said: “We’ve had such a blast getting creative at Tŷ Pawb this week. Before this place existed we would have had to travel much further to places like Liverpool and Manchester to see works by artists like Grayson Perry so having this on our doorstep is and so valuable and inspirational for local young people.
“It’s a great space for children to work in. Nice and bright with a high ceiling. The children have had a great time learning about screen printing onto silk and drawing ideas from the exhibitions.
“The results look so impressive and I’d like to thank the Amy Caswell, Ellie Ashby (Tŷ Pawb Learning Coordinator) and all the teachers, staff and volunteers from Tŷ Pawb who helped with the session.”
Weaving a story through Wrexham
Lead Member for People – Communities, Partnerships Public Protection and Community Safety, Cllr Hugh Jones, said: “The real triumph of these exhibitions is the way they have managed to weave world class artwork from a turner prize winning artist, Grayson Perry, together with Wrexham’s own local textile heritage, involving everyone from ex-factory staff to college students and local school pupils along the way.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and thanks must go to the team at Tŷ Pawb for the huge amount of work they’ve put in to make this possible.”
Uptwist Downtiwst and Julie Cope’s Grand Tour: The Story of a Life by Grayson Perry are on show at Tŷ Pawb until April 22.
