Sensory Workshops

Barlow Road Community Gardens was a site for creative collaboration and sensory activities across September and October 2022.

Working with the Peer Support Group who meet weekly at the Gardens (an initiative run by charity Ideal for All) we invited Real Arts Workshops (R.A.W) members Alex Vann and Gary O’Dowd to run two workshops on the site. Participants explored the fascianting history of Barlow Road Community Gardens which was originally owned by the famous Cadbury family and, later on, the Patent Shaft Company. Through drawing, painting and making, participants depicted this history of what was once known as the ‘cow field’.

Together, they created a series of bright and bold inter-connected bark wood panels to tell the site’s story. Many of the materials used in the artwork were natural items found on site and their process focused on participatory and accessible art making. Along the way, the group also designed and created individual artworks on ceramic tiles and slate coasters which they were able to take away with them.

Alongside the workshops with RAW, we invited artists Vik Chandla and Shaun Hill to deliver workshops, where they explored mindfulness, movement, and grounding through the senses. They invited participants to come together as hunter-gatherers to explore the garden in new ways. The group tested the edges of their comfort zones and empowered each other to play with collaborative poetry and story; they made a mandala out of foraged materials, and discussed the connections between the natural world, their own lives, and ephemeral art. Together, the group created a poem, which can be read below.

The project concluded with a celebration event at the Gardens in which the work produced by the participants was displayed. The event was an opportunity to reflect on what was learnt, admire what everyone produced, and a space for meeting members of the group and wider friends/family.