A RANGE of family friendly artistic events are taking place at the town’s Arrow Valley Lake and Forge Mill Needle Museum over the summer holidays as part of the Scour II art sessions, taking inspiration from nature and local history, writes Sophie Nixon.
Starting on Saturday, August 3, artists Keith Ashford and Liz Turner will be busy sculpting a grass cut map at the Five Tunnels site in the Arrow Valley Park.
The aim is to portray the man-made waterways of Redditch to reflect how hydropower and waterflow impacted 19th Century life and the needle mills of the Arrow Valley.
Keith and Liz return on Saturday, August 10 with videographer, John James who will be displaying his flying drone camera.
It offers a one off opportunity for the people to view the artwork from above.
Both of these experiences will take place between 2pm and 4pm.
For a more hands-on experience, a ‘Learn to Draw Botanicals’ session is available to book for Thursday August 8 from 11am to 4pm where for £15 per adult (children free), botanical artist Nicky Ashford will teach a range of drawing and painting techniques taking inspiration from plants around Arrow Valley.
On Saturday, August 17 at Morton Stanley Festival from 12noon to 5.30pm, people can get creative and have fun with scrap materials and block printing to make a 3D mobile.
The inspiration for the mobiles come from Redditch’s Forge Mill Museum collection which include fishing equipment, needle motifs and more.
Finally, on Friday August 30, from 11am to 4pm at Arrow Valley Country Park, residents are encouraged to explore the historic south end of the grounds with a leisurely walk for the ‘Make your own Map’ workshop.
No art experience is required, just a curious mind and appropriate footwear. Cost: £15 for adults, children free, families welcome.
Project artist Liz said: “The sessions taking place are a fantastic way to entertain the family as well as being educational; learning some new skills and hopefully a bit more about the local history and heritage of our town.
“We’ve had a lot of interest in our Grass Cut Map so far and as artists we’d love to share this with as many residents and visitors as possible. We’re really fortunate to have a drone coming to our session so that the full scale of the work can be seen so if you can come along, please do!”
To book places on any of the workshops go to www.forgemill.org.uk or call 01527 62509.
