On 22nd March, Sheffield Town Hall staged a Celebration event for Family Learning. One of our resident artists ran a craft session to record the learning journey in a creative way, using a Jigsaw design to build up a collage of their different experiences. The smaller individual collages were then assembled into one larger “journey”. Participants commented on how great projects like this are for facilitating adults’ involvement with art as well as children. Family Learning thoroughly enjoyed the event, saying it was “very successful” and look forward to working with Art in the Park in the future.

Throughout October and November Art in the Park worked with local schools and community groups to create permanent banners, street furniture, welcome markers and notice boards for the Broomhall area. These will be designed and created in collaboration with local residents and our professional artists. Our aim was to raise the profile of the area by challenging people’s preconceptions. The permanent pieces will bring colour and creativity to an often neglected area of Sheffield and we hope to encourage a renewed sense of pride in Broomhall.

Broomhall Nursery and Childrens Centre, 21st October

We worked with parents and staff at Primrose Children's Centre to make signs for the local area to make the entrance to the Centre more prominent. The way in can be difficult to find, and lots of new parents struggle. Staff at the centre wanted signs to point people in the right direction! They wanted signs not just at adult height, but ones also at child level so that children could feel they were part of getting there.

Artist Michelle worked with children and their parents to create the signs. They were based on the story 'We're going on a bear hunt' by Michael Rosen. Participants used paper, pens and paints to cut, stick and draw images from the story. Michelle has brought these pieces together digtally to create the basis for several signs that can be used around the children's centre.

At Firth Park the artist, parents and children made a whole series of individual hands with which they created a large scale wall mounted piece on the front of the building by the entrance. “We thought bold, bright, patterned, textured and hands referencing the different users of the community building. Different people came and went and made their mark on the project, holiday sessions working with clay and mosaic tempted many into making a great variety of fabulous colourful and unique hands for the project. Now we have to weather proof them, the hard part will be choosing which ones to mount for the final piece!”

At Brightside we offered a series of playful art sessions exploring materials and making use of the new space in creating a variety of exciting artwork. Parents and children under 5 dropped in to the weekly sessions experimenting with large brushes and paint , rolling inks over great lengths of paper, sponging colour on fabric and collaged fantastic self portraits. From the collection of work they began to make a second set of art pieces, mobiles to display in the main room.

An account by one of our volunteers Charlie Hill:

Hearing the whistle of the kettle as Ruthie (the artist) and I walk up to the allomenet in Firth Park it was time for some creative gardening! Volunteering on a community allotment project has been and excitng and rewarding experience. The activites were community lead and varied from building a fantastic whithie arch to creating crazy bugs from plastic bottles. It was great getting to know a few regulars and watch children and parents work alongside each other in the rain and the sun! Being creative and outside seemed the perfect combination for both children and adults. During the project I witnessed the alloment change and develop into a vibrant space for the Sheffield community.

This session provided den making activities for parents and toddlers. Drop in activities were focused around weaving and drawing on fabric to create a den using materials that could be easily found/ used at home. Young children particularly enjoyed the sensory aspect of the den building, such as softness of the wool we were weaving with. One of the parent helpers was keen to make a similar den at home with her child!