Workshops

This is ‘Our Bridge’ or  Bridge 51 on the Rochdale Canal.  Oficially called the Ben Healy bridge.

It replaced the orginal canal bridge in 2001 when major engineering works took place to replace the old bridge, raise the road level and open the canal to boat traffic for the firrst time since it last operated as a working canal a few decades earlier.

We (that is Paul Pickford and Brian Raymond) are working with a group of young people at Fairbridge North Manchester to learn more about the Rochdale Canal, it’s history, it’s people and how it all works.  Togther we will explore different options for making an artwork that will be installed on or next to the bridge. 

Led by Ben the team at Fairbridge are; Becky, Mark, Nichola, Anthony, Lee, John, Kim and Shaiid.  They are joined by Lee and Nicky who are trainee Occupational Therapists.

Paul and Brian are working on:

1. 3 mini projects with Fairbridge to be completed by early Dec 09 :                                        See the Pages on the right for more info about these.
2. Developing ideas for an artwork by End of Jan 2010.                                                              See the Artwork Development Page on the right for more info.
3. Completed Artwork proposal.  This will appear on the blog once we have gained approval from The Waterways Trust

How are we recording the progress of this project? 

Paul is keeping a traditional artists diary through the project.

Brian is keeping the Blog up to date.  Select the pages on the right or tabs at the top.

Watch a brief overview of the Art Workshops in this Video made by Paul and the group.

Coming Soon – I hope!

 All these ways of record keeping are essential ways to track the creative process, record influences, inspiration, feedback on the workshops & our the development of our ideas.  The Blog will hopefully become a lively space for exchanging ideas with the young people (& others!)  throughout the project.

Hope you enjoy finding out more about our project – please leave comments.

Regards

Brian & Paul