Our Art sessions at 25 Prospect Street are a welcoming space for you to explore your creative potential whilst learning and developing skills in a range of art mediums.
Led by our ArtSpeak resident artist Anna Roebuck, sessions are fun, engaging and stimulating.
With the opportunity to try something new each week, there will be something to suit all interests and abilities. This is a welcoming, encouraging and social space for you to be curious, experimental, and enjoy a tea and a chat.
No prior experience or knowledge in art is necessary.
Anna has many skills and a lot of experience so will come full of ideas for the group to try. She welcomes input from regular participants as to what to do in future sessions.
Sessions take place on the first and third Wednesday of the month from 15:00 - 17:00, there is no obligation to attend each session. Booking is required so get in touch and come along when you can.
Anna will run the first session of the month and the third will be group led.
Sessions are £5 which you can pay by cash or card at the start of the session. All materials are included.
To book any of the following dates contact us by calling 0115 978 6133
Anna is a mixed media artist, working in lots of mediums, but her main specialisation is recycling and specifically recycled plastics.
We now also have painting workshops which will run on the second and forth Tuesday of the month. These sessions are run by local Artist Mark Beaven at 25 Prospect Street. For more information please visit our Creative Workshops page.
January & February
Jewellery Making
The start of the year has been an opportunity to have a go at a range of jewellery making. As well as making their own beads, the group have been learning the art of wire work to create earrings, necklaces and bracelets.
December -
Macramé and bead making
The final session of the year was a bead making session led by Art club member Jane who has years of art experience. She taught the group the art of making Tyvek beads. The results were beautiful.
During December the group learnt the skill of macramé and made delicate Christmas trees which could be used as tree decorations.
Macramé is a form of textile produced using knotting techniques. The primary knots of macramé are the square and forms of "hitching": various combinations of half hitches.
October - November -
Autumnal Weaving and basket making
Members enjoyed foraging in their gardens, allotments, local parks and green spaces to gather sticks, flowers, leaves and foliage for the Autumnal weaving session.
By incorporating wool into their designs they could control the pattern more and each made a unique wreath like structure.
Once the group got used to working with willow they started work on creating some baskets. The results were fantastic, ideal for displaying something special at home.
August - September
Metal embossing -
Some examples of the beautiful designs that members have been creating during the sessions.
They've been learning about different embossing techniques to get the varying effects and trying them out on pieces of copper and aluminum.
Sherwood Art Week - Arts in Shops
Sanita's Flowers
Thank you to Anna Roebuck and all the art club members who participated in making this rainforest display for Sherwood Art week. Sherwood Art Week ran from Saturday 25 June - Sunday 3 July.
Thanks to Sanita for being so accommodating and having the installation. Her wonderful flower shop is the perfect temporary home for Giles! The installation will stay in the window throughout the summer. If you're in Sherwood anytime soon, go and check it out. The shop is on the main highstreet on Mansfield Road.
Giles the Orangutan is at the heart of the installation - 'Gardener of the Forest'. The life size Orangutan model is made from recycled plastics produced by members of Anna's Friday Craft Club at her studio The Making House in Burton on Trent and was originally made for St Giles Hospice. Over the course of six sessions, members of Sherwood Art Club created the rainforest scene by producing large scale flowers and painted a leaf backdrop for this eye catching tropical display.
This was a fantastic collaborative opportunity for group members.
APRIL - JUNE
Members have been working hard and making these fantastic tropical flowers for the rainforest display. They've really come to life with the additional detail by using paint.
One member has been upcycling at home and made this parrot out of a range of household items, the results are amazing.
FEBRUARY - MARCH
The group have continued to work with felting and taken inspiration from different landscapes they like or have visited, to develop their designs.
The pieces are a work in progress and show a mix of coastal and countryside views.
The completed art work with trees and flowers has been produced by Anna.
Leading up to Easter the group also made felt eggs and decorated them with their unique and beautiful patterns.
During February the Art Club members tried their hand at wet felting. It's a nice tactile exercise that produces some really organic results.
The each chose what colour fibres they wanted to work with and produced their own unique flowers.
JANUARY
During the January art club sessions the group did faux stone carving. This was done over two sessions starting with a simple relief design in session one and then members built up to a more sculptural piece in session two.
This was a really effective technique and the group produced some really interesting results. Member John's design was produced using a Shire Horse Brass as he was inspired by a workshop around canal art that was delivered by Radford Care Group Artist in residence Annette Waterfield.
Member Lorna produced two stone carvings which she has displayed in her garden, adding some great sculptural interest amongst the flowers.
DECEMBER
Participants had the option of continuing to work on their linocut designs today. One member brought in brown paper bags to print onto and intends to use them as gift bags for family and friends.
The group also had a go at wire work which they found very relaxing. Some made little Christmas inspired scenes and others were inspired by wildlife.
NOVEMBER
The group continued to work on their linocut designs this week and each made their own detailed prints.
They took inspiration from a range of sources to each produce a unique design.
Next session Anna is going to show how this printing technique can be transferred to the art of woodcuts.
OCTOBER CONTINUED
Last year Anna decided printing her own festive cards was to be an annual event and this is the inspiration for our latest set of Artspeak sessions.
Today the group began to plan their designs, thinking about how they will develop them and what parts they need to cut out. Some began practising using the lino cutting tools; it's always good to get confident with a technique before embarking on your final design. Others had a go at using foam to create simple stamps, perfect for wrapping paper and tags. Not many photos today as we were all busy creating!
OCTOBER
During the October session the group were inspired by Autumn leaves and members explored a variety of techniques. They started with simple wax rubbings which picked up so much amazing detail and could be used as collage/decoupage material in the future or as stand alone designs; it's something you can easily do at home, Anna found it addictive!! The printing inks came out and they started to look at printing techniques using the leaves themselves, making easy stamps whilst getting to grips with using rollers and inks.
SEPTEMBER -
Using scraps of old fabric and some beautiful patterned samples that were donated to Radford Care Group from John Lewis the group made little owls. Owls symbolise wisdom, intuition, independent thinking and observant listening - we think these ones are pretty cute too! Look out for the design template in our next Art Book for you to try at home.
Earlier in the month and throughout August, members of the Art Club have been learning the dotting painting technique and explored different surfaces to add decorative patterns to.
THE BUNTING IS UP -
Volunteer gardener's Kirsty and Eddie have been busy working in the garden at 25 Prospect Street to get it ready for the official opening of the building on Friday 17 September. We've put up the bunting made by the Art Group to add some extra colour and festive flair!
Another resident Artist on the ArtSpeak programme is Annette Waterfield. Annette has been working with the Radford Care Group members once a week and has created bird feeders from old china cups. Can you spot these in the above photos? We're hoping they help attract lots more birds into the garden.
JULY AND AUGUST
Using the same technique as explored in session one, the participants learnt about the endless possibilities when working with plastics and made tea light shades.
The shades are designed to be used over a wine glass, when a tealight is placed in the glass a beautiful light is created. Anna shared her own example of a nautical themed design and participants were inspired to use flora and fauna in their shades.
New members joined the group and enjoyed learning this technique, the group started considering what else they could produce whilst working in this particular artform.
JULY -
During the first session, Anna and the group members worked with recycled plastics and used a simple yet incredibly effective technique of bonding plastic to produce bunting which will be displayed in the garden at 25 Prospect Street.
Each participant worked on their own design, drawing images and using pieces of different coloured plastic bags to add vibrancy to their pieces.
Some beautiful results have been achieved, and some of the members used the skills they learnt to produce some additional designs at home. One member had a go at incorporating dried flowers into pieces of bunting and another used the technique to make intricately designed broaches building up layers of cut petals.