Celebration marks the successful end of Wath-based arts project
PROFESSIONAL artists have spent years working with Wath’s Community Connect organisation to help tap into the creative abilities of their clients.
The long-running project was sponsored by an Arts Council grant, and the not-for-profit company has now held a celebration - attended by Rotherham’s mayor Cllr Sheila Cowen - to mark the success of the project.
Its landmark project was the Creature of Curiosity, a large camel-like sculpture, created around a wooden frame with a beaten metal exterior which is now among the attractions in the gardens at Wentworth Woodhouse.
Several artists have been involved in the work, which has ranged from drawing to woodwork and the exotic metal sculptures created alongside Jason Turpin-Thomson.
Community Connect’s in-house worker Mark Swallow, a former carpenter, helped guide the woodworking on the Creature of Curiosity, while artist Teresa Sayner and volunteer Rachel Lewis contributed to other projects.
Community Connect was set up almost seven years ago by Kathryn Atherton and Dianne Stalker, to provide a day service for adults and young people with learning disabilities.
They had just one client at that point, and needed a Lottery grant to get the project off the ground, but since then it has grown to provide placements for more than 40 people.
Kathryn said the art project had been a great success in helping to stimulate the interest of clients and help to develop their skills.
Working on the Creature of Curiosity involved intricate hammer work, putting patterns onto the metal cladding for the sculpture, she said.
“Mark did most of the woodwork for the structure.”
“Jason designed it and Mark got the structure out with the clients; they put it together and put the tin on it.
“They absolutely loved it. It was great to watch, because it was so intricate,” she said.
Kathryn and Dianne recognised a need in the community when they decided to set up the business in Moor Road, with a commitment to do so on a not-for-profit basis, to help ensure it remained focused on the needs of clients.
Their intention was to keep it small, though it has since expanded beyond their original intentions.
“We don’t want to get too big, we want to keep a homely feel,” she said.