After a year’s hard work pottering at our Clay Club, our participants were finally able to show off their newly learnt skills at Clay Club: The Exhibition.
Based in Trencherfield Mill in Wigan town centre, Clay Club: The Exhibition was open for one day only to showcase the artwork made by our weekly pottery group. Supported by The National Lottery Community Fund Awards For All, our weekly Clay Club sessions have been an opportunity for those experiencing barriers in accessing the arts, to use ceramics as a form of creative expression. Bonded together by each other's shared experiences and acceptance of differences, a true community has been formed with art as a tool for wellness at its centre. The opening of the exhibition felt like a real celebration of artworks made and friendships formed over the last year.
After spending a few months honing their skills and learning the basics, the group started to work on pottery with the exhibition’s theme in mind - Wigan’s past and their hopes for the future. Looking over the exhibited work, you could see a few pies, a Wigan rugby player and several birds such as pigeons and ducks. We asked the club what their memories of Wigan were which allowed them to come up with ideas such as family members represented by miners, nights out at Wigan Casino remembered as records and dancers and rugby games at Central Park represented with a plaque of the stadium's façade.
Throughout the day we had almost 100 visitors from the local community and raised a whopping £400 from sales of pottery in the exhibition, which will all go towards the continuation of Clay Club. A big thank you to everyone who supported the show, whether you came to have a look and a brew or bought a piece of artwork!
We also want to say a huge thank you to Mrs T’s Homemade Treats for the donation of the gorgeous cake, Cross St Arts and Joe Kiney Whitmore for the loan of the plinths, Neil from Kath’s Haberdashery for the donation of ribbon, Wigan Today for coming to photograph the exhibition and Wigan Council for giving us the space (and lights!) to put on such a fantastic event!
Our Clay Club project was supported by The National Lottery Community Fund Awards for All, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible!
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