Sidmouth Faces
A unique ceramic tile work installation of up to 1000 tiles of people's faces sculpted in clay to form a public exhibition "tile wall" to represent the community.
More fabulous tiles created at our January workshops at Dissenter of Sidmouth, Kennaway House, with student and town councillors, local groups, children, young people and families - everyone unique!
Creating a community artwork
Sidmouth Faces aims to create up to 1000 unique ceramic tiles, self- portraits of the faces of children, young people and adults, made by a diverse cross section of the people of Sidmouth.
Once fired the tiles will form a collective installation - a collaboration that captures the people of Sidmouth and its 'hidden' diversity.
Led by ceramists and artist facilitators through a series of creative, fun and experimental workshops with schools, community groups and via public open access workshops, they will offer an opportunity to try new things, learn new skills and be part of something bigger - exploring creativity in unexpected places.
Workshops with Sidmouth College, Sidmouth Primary School, St Johns International School took place through October and November.
We were joined by people of all ages at our public drop in workshops. This project seems to have captured everyone's imagination. It was a joy to work with generations within families, individuals and friends. Each one is so different, everyone learnt a new skill and had some fun!
Exploring and expressing through clay
Endless possibilities and permission to play!
Workshops will guide and provide tips to keep things simple, to learn about yourself and most of all to have fun.
Everyone will be encouraged to explore their own faces, find their features and to have a go.
Molding, smoothing, flattening, pinching, coiling, rolling, scraping - there will be plenty of variety. Using hands and simple tools - everyone can play with clay.
A wonderful medium to explore ideas, thoughts and feelings, a sensory experience with textures helping everyone to freely express, a little bit of therapeutic play...another pathway to wellbeing.
A public installation
The artwork will be a collective expression of identity - the make-up of our community.
The tiles will form an installation adjacent to the Sidmouth Wallspace public gallery at the Ham carpark.
This ambitious co-created artwork is inspired by the vibrant civic society of Sidmouth and involves a wide range of individuals from all generations, whose contribution, place and voice in the community often goes unnoticed and is rarely seen side by side.
Sidmouth Faces - self portraits in clay
Working with Year 9s at St John's School in Sidmouth was a pleasure, Coco Hodgkinson led the workshop supported by Billie Crofts. Students learnt a range of new skills and had fun creating their 'face' tile and giving each other peer feedback on which they liked and why, what they felt the artist had been able to capture about themselves.
