One of the largest parts of my arts practice is community arts projects; this is working co-creatively with groups of people towards a creative outcome.
The Spirit of Wakefield, commissioned by Wakefield Museums and Castles, is one of these projects. For this I worked with a group of young people to respond to and explore the Wakefield Pageant of 1933.
The pageant was very much about bringing people to together to celebrate the history of Wakefield, promote current businesses and industry as well as encouraging people to look to the future. It saw huge numbers of people re-enact historical eras and happenings from Queen Elizabeth the first granting a charter for a school through to John Nevison, the infamous highway man. The pageant lasted over the course of a week.
Based on the ethos of the pageant a large scale textile installation was to be made for a case in the atrium of Wakefield One.
As with much of my artwork, this project began with research into the pageant, what and who took place, sourcing photographs and items from the museum collections for the young people to respond to during a series of workshops.
The central figure in the installation is the Spirit of Wakefield, a prominent part in the pageant. She wears a dress made from a 1930s pattern overlaid with photographs from the pageant printed on to fabric. There are names of some of those who took part in the pageant hand embroidered on to the dress. The Spirit holds a scroll with images from businesses that supported the pageant and the scenes of the pageant embroidered around these.
Behind the Spirit of Wakefield are items from the museum collection that reflect those businesses and industry that were around at the time of the pageant. In front of the Spirit are textile sculptures created for this project that reference the businesses and industry that have come after the pageant.
The pageant encouraged people to look to the future; what they would like to see and how they thought the future would be. The banners at the top of the installation is a reference to this; they share the young people's hopes and dreams for their future. The images and words chosen are very poignant and many amazing conversations took place around this.
Working on this textile installation project was so very interesting and enjoyable. Being able to project manage a community arts installation from the beginning through to the end is always rewarding and you learn so much each time. The Spirit of Wakefield installation is in the atrium of Wakefield One and can be seen at anytime during the opening hours. The installation is in place now and will remain there until at least February 2025.
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