Upcycled Accessories

The range of accessories designed and made by Year 1 textile students at Tresham College, many of who participated in the New Vistas project we staged during the Big Draw last year. Inspired by the Textures set of photographs taken by artist Carole Miles along the Brampton Valley Way earlier this year.

New Images From Aleksandra

We also had another email from Aleksandra who has been taking her drawing a stage further and using them to create her own prints. Here are her initial ideas and she has promised to send more when she has made them. We are delighted to hear that she really enjoyed the drawing day at the Cube and look forward to seeing what she makes next!

A building (Grosvenor House)

Interpretation of a building

A view and stairs

 Corby Cube

 Monoprint

 Monoprint

 Monoprint

And here are her latest prints which are looking great!

New Vistas Upload from Bethany Olechnowicz

We have just received this lovely image and message from Bethany Olechnowicz

"I am a student from Tresham College, Kettering, from the FdA Graphics Class. A few weeks ago you gave our class a tour of the Corby Cube. I never managed to upload anything to your blog in time for screen printing. But I hoped it would still be okay to email you one of my ideas, so that you could post it on the blog, I'd like to show that I participated. 

Beth."

and are delighted to be able to share it on our Blog. Many thanks Beth!

New Vistas / Wider Horizons Exhibition Opening

Back to Books is a Corby based, county wide voluntary arts organization which has, during the last month been working with artist Carole Miles to stage the first visual arts workshops throughout The Cube, as part of The Big Draw, a yearly nationwide initiative begun by the Campaign For Drawing.  There was a mix of working with locally based professional artists on some fun up-cycling of old china, textiles workshops with adults & students from Tresham college & drawing workshops for all ages & levels of experience.

On the back of all this activity we developed the first art installation in the Chamber Foyer, which includes 16 suspended fabric columns, hung on arms, rather like mobiles, so they float, bob, shift and inhabit the space: produced by Carole Miles, in response to the work created during the public workshops. The textiles and ceramics up-cycled during the workshops are on display and open to the public until December 16th.

  

The Mayor of Corby, Gail McDade and Corby Borough Council's Chief Executive, Chris Mallender walk and talk amongst the Floating Columns

We thought it would be good to try and bring the outside inside the cube and to try and inhabit the long Chamber Foyer space in a way that would add softness and movement whilst reflecting the strong shapes made by the existing concrete columns, so artist Carole Miles in conversation with J Devereux, Corby’s Strategic Arts & Cultural Officer, devised a series of floating fabric columns which could carry reproductions of some of the drawings made. Participants who came to the Family Drawing Days made drawings of the landscape from various windows inside the Cube, a selection of these were made into stencils and screen printed onto cotton strips, other drawings were scanned and applied with sublimation heat transfers.

Images by – Ann Leonard, Lisa Wilkinson, Sarah Stringer, Kate Dyer, Maureen Walvin, Shula Hawes, Willy Gilder, Carole Miles, Bethany Walker, Hayley Langwith, Mollie Durrant-Jones, Bethany Pacan, Rachel Wood, Monica Maguire, Evie Price, Louisa Walker, Hayley Waltham, Olivia Reed, Jason Croucher, Emma Meakins, Aleks Armonlene, Lyndsay Grant Muller, Cathie Shuttleworth, Dora Shrive, Sophie Cullinan, Oscar Cullinan, Adam Kay,  Maggie, Gwen & Rhona from the Stevie Way Art Group, Becky Shippe, Nigel Shippe, Millie Ballard, the Padayach Family, Milec Saba & Family, the Bantin Family, Suryaudit & Family, Kitty Chan & Family , The Davidson Family, the Miln Family, the Finan Family, the Dunne Family and many more….

The Family Drawing Days were devised and delivered by artist Carole Miles and assisted by Sarah Stringer and  Lisa Wilkinson for Back To Books. 

Hoops & Hangers by Michael Miles, Scanning by Sarah Stringer and help with stitching, Kate Dyer. Many thanks to Marie Taylor, Carol Parfitt, Guy Newton, Andy Eathorne and Lubelia Watkin-Wynn and Tresham College for helping to make this such a successful project!

Guests and participants mingle amongst the Floating Columns

Hamish Young helping to animate the space!

 

The Mayor of Corby, Gail McDade, Corby Borough Council's Chief Executive, Chris Mallender and J Devereux, Corby’s Strategic Arts & Cultural Officer admire the cake stands made during the Tea With A View Day. 

Participants made drawings of the landscape from various windows inside the Cube and transferred them onto old crockery to create a series of up-cycled cake stands – observational drawings, sculptural forms and recycling discarded domestic ware, brought together to mark the changing landscape and to hint at all the celebrations that will take place inside the Cube.

 

The Mayor of Corby, Gail McDade, Corby Borough Council's Chief Executive, Chris Mallender

Works are by - Ann Leonard, Emma Boulton Roe, Marian Anderson, Cathie Shuttleworth, Dora Shrive, Sophie Cullinan, Oscar Cullinan, Meriel White, Lisa Wilkinson, Sarah Stringer, Kate Dyer, Lesley Hagger, Jean Chapman, Maureen Walvin, Allan Davies, Sonia Hawes, Shula Hawes and Lyndsay Grant Muller. The workshop was devised by artist Carole Miles and inspired by the work of Esther Coombes

Sarah Stringer making sure all the cushions have been secured to the sofas before the exhibition opening.

The Mayor of Corby, Gail McDade said "I cannot get over the drawing and embroidery of the changing Corby landscape." The Mayor is pictured here with cushions by Jennifer Helliwell and Ros Stoddart. 

Participants made drawings of the landscape from various windows inside the Cube and translated them into a series of cushions to temporarily adorn the sofas in the Chamber Foyer and to add a touch of softness to the environment, an intervention that would remind people of their homes, of conversations with friends or family, of warmth and comfort.

Works are by – Jennie Helliwell, Lorraine Dziarkowska. Ros Stoddart, Ann Leonard, Meriel White, Lisa Wilkinson, Sarah Stringer, Kate Dyer, Maureen Walvin, Sonia Hawes, Shula Hawes, Willy Gilder, Carole Miles, Bethany Walker, Hayley Langwith, Mollie Durrant-Jones, Bethany Pacan, Rachel Wood, Monica Maguire, Evie Price, Louisa Walker, Hayley Waltham, Olivia Reed, Jason Croucher, Emma Meakins, Aleks Armonlene.

 

The project has been delivered in partnership with Corby Borough Council, Corby Cube and supported by The Northamptonshire Community Foundation with funds from the Constance Travis Trust. We would also like to thank J Devereux, Corby’s Strategic Arts & Cultural Officer who has been a source of help, inspiration and refreshments throughout the course of this project!

Photographs by Andrew Rushton & Carole Miles

More Tresham Views from the Cube

On the 1st of November textile students from Tresham came to spend the morning drawing in the Cube.Later in the week their drawings were photographed and printed onto fabric Lubelia Watkin-Wynn and Andy Eathorne were invaluable support to the project helping to get stencils ready for screen printing and sumblimation prints for application to the fabric - plus a host of other brilliantly helpful interventions - we couldnt have managed without them! On Thursday Carole spent the day in the Tresham print studio with some of the textile students who helped to print drawings by other participants onto the fabric for the column installation in the Cube.

Lubelia 

Andy

A large number of printed fabric strips for Carole to sew!

New Vistas - Family Drawing Day - Oct 22nd

Saturday was a beautiful day in Corby, everything was suffused with strong Autumnal light and picked out the colours in the landscape. We weren't sure exactly where we would be drawing until we arrived at the Cube. Originally we were due to be in the Chamber Foyer but as four weddings were taking place during the course of the day we needed a different space to work in. However the bursts of festive, family activity in the Chamber Foyer helped to add to the happy atmosphere during the day.

We were based in the Gretton and Weldon Rooms which were just off the Chamber Foyer.These rooms turned out to be great spaces to work from and both the Librarians and Emma Boulton Roe did a wonderful job directing people to us after they had finished their morning activities or visit to the Library. 

The rooms, normally used for meetings and Council business could have seemed sterile or intimidating but instead they became warm and welcoming, places for exploring the view from the windows, the variety of drawing materials and very quickly new friendships were formed.

The recesses by the windows made ideal spaces for drawing and we loved how this young artist used the surface he was sitting on to create marks and textures.

One of the themes of this year's Big Draw is Drawing Age a celebration of drawing in the modern age and the recognition of it's importance in fashion, engineering, product design, children's books and graphic novels, cartoons, advertising, computer games and much more. 

The Campaign For Drawing wants to know this year how drawing is used and just why it remains so vital. There are many fabulous electronic tools for drawing and many sumptuous traditional drawing materials that could have been used, but because we were working in a very new building we thought it wise to stick to pencils and pens.

J Devereux was with us again helping to show participants to a variety of 'secret spacess' in the Cube

whilst artists Carole Miles, Lisa Wilkinson and Sarah Stringer were on hand to give advice and encouragement to all who came to join in.

 Lisa pointing out an interesting angle

Sarah giving some drawing tips to David who felt that a drawing lesson might be the best way to start.

All of the artists present reassured him that taking a good look and then making a mark were a good way to start drawing. When confronted with a landscape it's often hard to know just what to focus on. 

William, David's son thought the lamp posts looked like dinosaurs and there was some talk about Corby in Jurassic times and whether dinosaurs had once roamed through the town centre, showing the strong connection between imagination and mark making. For more information about Jurassic Corby there are half term events for children at the Heritage Centre in the Old Village

 

Having overcome a certain shyness about drawing, father and son settled into a peaceful drawing space.

Ann Leonard joined us again, 

 this time with her Granddaughter Millie 

  Ann said afterwards "We enjoyed our day.

 Fun and homemade cakes were had by all!"

 The cakes were made by Lisa and are about to be pounced on by Sarah!

Before the Big Draw events Carole paid a visit to the Stevie Way Art Group which is run on a voluntary basis by Ann and Sue Bird. It's a wonderful group with a great atmosphere, they meet every Monday at Stephenson Way Community Centre to get creative in good company. 

Ann managed to persuade group members Maggie

 Gwen and Rhona to come along and take part.

Sometimes it's hard to make sense of what you are 

seeing, these two artists started off using the 

window as a light box, tracing from photographs, 

 however it wasn't long before they started 

 making their own freehand drawings!

 Tresham College had also encouraged 

their art students to come and take part

 Aleksandra working with very fine lines

 

  Colette and her daughter loved sitting in the window spaces,

 drawing and dreaming.

 Colette said afterwards"This has been great, drawing and relaxing, Absolutely brilliant. Thank you!"

Willy Gilder BBC politics reporter, artist, dog walker and dad (his own description) joined us in the afternoon and was soon making guerilla portrait sorties throughout the building! 

He said "It's really nice to see people of different ages joining in with this...I'm fascinated by how many teenagers there are in Corby Library.......what an amazing building and what a transformation for the town centre. The Cube really is a fantastic space."

"I've been thinking about why it is that so many adults have problems with drawing. I suspect people are worried about getting things "wrong" so are reluctant to have a go. And perhaps they weren't into art at school - and have since been convinced that it's only for certain arty people. How can we convince more folk to grab a pencil / hunk of charcoal / pen and have a go?"

This father and son certainly managed to overcome their nervousness about drawing, coming to see that progress is made through practice and starting the process can be a total pleasure. They left us with a simple shopping list of drawing basics and were off to buy them. We're hoping that drawing will start to become a big part of their lives!

Pausing at the top of the spiral staircase, this family shared childhood memories and took in familiar landmarks. What they also noticed was just how many pockets of green could be seen amongst all the houses and other buildings, they said that they felt uplifted and revitalised by the view, the building and by the events of the day.

If you would like to find out more about the Campaign for Drawing please visit their website

If you would like to support the Campaign for Drawing they have a shop full of lovely things

If you would like to know more about Northamptonshire Community Foundation who have helped to make this project possible please visit their website here