OUT & ABOUT
A work of
Faces set with concentration as concrete is carefully poured into moulds to make pots. Printing fabric with paint-dipped plants and petals to fashion cushions and textiles. Brightening the streets of South Yorkshire with larger-than-life abstract murals.
Daring to paint over perceptions and sculpt bright futures saturated with creativity.
This is the portrait of Artworks:
a not-for-profit creative arts organisation that supports adults with disabilities to flourish in life. Since launching in 2015, Artworks has helped many people with autism, learning or physical disabilities to achieve their artistic potential and brush up on their life skills through creative workshops and placements. Not just pens and pencils, Artworks work alongside
professionals in a range of mediums from artists and animators to photographers and dancers to provide conceptual projects filled with boundless creativity. The idea was launched by Kayleigh Cruickshank and Liz Carrington who met while working for a plastics recycling centre in Sheffield that offered therapeutic earnings work to people with disabilities. With a career in television
production, Kayleigh volunteered at the centre in her spare time before being offered a job to regenerate the site following a fire there. She joined the team to work alongside Liz, who has been a special needs teacher and worked with adults with disabilities for 17 years. With friends in the art industry, Liz had previously organised gallery exhibitions for the centre’s staff with the help of Sheffield’s Bradbury and Blanchard. Together, Kayleigh and Liz shared a bigger vision to open up this creative movement to more people across South Yorkshire and so took a leap of faith to launch Artworks with the mentorship and guidance of fellow director, Deborah Bullivant, the woman behind Rotherham’s literary centre, Grimm & Co.
Like an easel and canvas, Kayleigh and Liz work together in harmony to create a masterpiece partnership; Kayleigh the blank canvas with inspiring ideas, Liz the grounded easel who
Working at Wentworth stabilises the logistics.
They started off with an arts centre at St Polycarps Community Centre in Malin Bridge, Sheffield before opening a studio at Parson Cross.
And this September, they are moving over the border into Rotherham by opening a third centre on Brook Hill, Thorpe Hesley thanks to £100,000 in development grants from Key Fund and Veolia Environmental Trust.
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
“When I was on maternity leave with my twin daughters last year, I was approached by the team at Community Catalyst who had heard about the service we offered in Sheffield. As they too worked with people with disabilities, Community Catalyst knew how well received the service would be in Rotherham. “I’d be at business and finance meetings trying to organise everything while juggling two young babies but am so glad we took the plunge,” Kayleigh says. As an ex-location manager for the likes of BBC, ITV, Film4 and Sky, Kayleigh became engrossed in finding the right building they could call home while Liz continued to focus on the Sheffield sites. They soon found the perfect spot, the former Thorpe Hesley and Scholes OAP and Community Centre. Similar to the Malin Bridge site, the new Rotherham centre will be open during the week for Artworks
while still being able to be used as a community centre for the neighbouring nursery, local groups or the elderly.
Offering an eclectic mix of engaging workshops all based around the expressive arts, service users will be able to immerse themselves in a range of mediums, from screen painting to film, along with joining in the many community projects that Artworks undertake. In the past, the group has produced pure, thought-provoking pieces such as working on a Suffragettes banner to hang in Rotherham Town Hall and designing a mural outside the Theatre Deli in Sheffield.
Since starting out with just five people, Artworks currently support over 35 service users ranging in age from 16 to 65. Some come to try their hand at a range of art forms; others who aren’t that creative just come for the company. But all have developed skills and experiences to take with them in the future. For talented illustrator, Josh, who has autism, he’d struggled to get his work noticed and didn’t know how to self-publicise. The team organised for Josh to have his own two-week gallery exhibition at Theatre Deli in July where he showcased his many cartoon and woodland-themed designs.
Josh has also had the backing from Artworks to produce a book
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