Arts, Culture and Heritage

The Digital Youth Artist in Residence was conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to engage our community, particularly youth, in art-led activities. The project was Heritage Lottery Funded and project enabled us to:

• Employ student Kloee Huberdeau as a ‘Digital Artist in Residence’ to engage youth through creative activities – i.e., a photo exhibition, art-led workshops with local primary schools, creating a short video with school pupils to address world leaders at COP26 – and setting up an Instagram account to showcase this content.
• Purchasing digital equipment, essential for engaging with youth in our under-served communities.

The project involved the following activities:

Claypits Photo Competition, 30^th-31^st July 2021

Most Scenic Photo Carol Smith (L)  Funniest Photo Smita Odedra (R)

As part of the re-opening celebrations for the Hamiltonhill Claypits LNR, Kloee invited visitors to submit a photo they had taken on the site for a photo competition. 4 winners were chosen for most scenic photo, funniest photo, selfie or portrait, and young photographer. The winners each received a £15 gift card to spend at Locavore, a local sustainability and community focused wholefoods business.

St Theresa’s Primary School Workshops

Credit: Kloee Huberdeau

Kloee undertook a series of workshops with students from St Teresa’s Primary School.

• In Workshop 1, pupils were encouraged ‘to “find their eyes” and become more aware of the space as they took photos, which would then be used in a descriptive writing task during their school week.’ This involved undertaking a series of exercises with students at the Claypits, walking them through the site and making them aware of their space, before employing prompts to encourage them to photograph first what caught their eye, and second where a particular creature, real or imagined might be.
• Credit: Kloee Huberdeau

• In Workshop 2, Kloee asked ‘pupils to consider what they already knew/had learned about the claypits and what they are curious to learn more about.’ This involved another walk through the site, discussing the Claypits history, including the location of ginger beer factory near the site. Pupils were encouraged to search for bottle pieces, discussing their age and possible origin, and their impact on the wildlife and people who frequented the site.
• In Workshop 3, Kloee got pupils to to form groups to “report” on the claypits in whatever way they felt comfortable to do so. Some stood in front of the camera and spoke, some sat in pairs and discussed in a “vlog” style. For those who did not feel comfortable speaking or being on camera, Kloee encouraged them to take more footage of the area with more focus on framing, content and composition.
  • Link to twitter video from the teachers: https://twitter.com/mcgeady_lisa/status/1438164027998457866
• In Workshop 4, Kloee encouraged pupils to reflect upon everything they had learned about the claypits to begin to think about the site within a larger context. I led them through a meditation to recall their memories and ignite their imaginations.

St Back Garden Workshop, 16^th September 2021

Claypits Youth Artists, the youth collective formed by Kloee Huberdeau to undertake her projects, visited the Back Garden Outdoor Play group to work with the children to create sculptures using natural and found materials around them, inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy and other natural sculpture artists.

The children were shown examples of this kind of work, along with a photo guide of different animals, insects and plants, that can be found in the claypits to inspire them. As the children’s ages ranged from 5-9 years, building an animal or plant from that list was optional. The focus was on helping them to develop a creative vision, gather materials, and create an art piece. Back Garden staff reported that engagement levels for this kind of sustained activity (the workshop lasted 1 hour) were very good.

See photos of the artworks created here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUanFfAK3u7

Credit: Kloee Huberdeau

Carnival Arts collaboration and Shine a Light event, 31^st October 2021

Credit: Melissa Mitchell

Claypits Youth Artists worked with Carnival Arts Yard for the duration of the residency to help plan an event on Oct 31^st to mark both Halloween and COP26 called Shine a Light. The event consisted of a zombie/Halloween walk from the top of the site down to the area near the National Theatre of Scotland. The event showcased art installations, fire performers, small handheld and large-scale lanterns, dance performances and more.

The key contribution from Claypits Youth Artists was in building connections between the Claypits, Carnival Arts and St. Teresa’s primary school, building on the rapport that was built through previous workshops. Kloee Huberdeau and Julie Murray worked with pupils to write letters to world leaders attending COP26 with messages they felt were important to deliver.

Lois Hyatt then used the letters to create a video installation that was projected on a wall of the canal basin during Shine a Light. Carnival Arts artists also delivered a lantern making workshop with the school – the class was professionally photographed with their lanterns at the end of the process by Melissa Mitchell.