Today the EIBP completed our Mosaic Art Workshops focused on stimulating Cultural and religious awareness and peace amongst children in East Ilford. In total 42 Children aged between 5 and 11 enjoyed learning about the historic art of mosaics. Our Surveys indicated that 100% of children felt they had gained more confidence in art and had gained new transferable skills, that they were more aware of the principles of other local faiths, that they had made new friends and that they had learned that all faiths were equally important.
The wonderful pieces of art that included flowers, snails, people and trees (representing life), patterns and spirals, Om Symbol, Khlasa Symbol, Crosses (representing diversity), crosses, doves, rainbows and fish (representing peace), were described as "of a high calibre" Gary Drostle the artist responsible for the workshops said; "The children of East ilford are very talented and ever so well behaved, it was a pleasure to work with them, they taught me a few things about mosaic patterns too!"
Hannah Chowdhry a young participant (9 years) said; "When I started I thought it was going to be difficult, the teacher made it very easy for us to create our images."
Tatyana Ngeze (8 years) said; "It was so much fun I wish we could do it again, I made lots of new friends"
Simran Sangha (9 years) said; "Usually holidays can be boring, this was so exciting and I learnt a new skill."
Pastor Bryon from the Apostolic Church, Ilford based on Connaught Road was one of five community faith leaders that talked about the principles of his faith. The leaders provided images to inspire the artwork created by children. He said;
"I was grateful to be invited to get involved with this project, initiatives like this develop better understandings in communities and can be the start of lifelong friendships."
Chairman of the Hindu Human Rights Group, Ranbir Singh said; "Classes like this engage with young people, open their minds and allow them to contribute to wider society."
There were also talks from Danny O'Brien of Anti-knife UK and the local police team.
The Artwork will be displayed In Redbridge Central Library on the 1st floor foyer from this week until January 2014.
We hope to bring similar classes to our centre in the future that are focused on concepts of peace hope and unity and will lead to new mosaics being installed into the base of our local Peace Monument.
Our thanks to Church Urban Fund for their grant towards this project.
Children busy in designing their artwork.
Children deep in concentration.
C
local children of different origins shared time together.
Some practised on plates before making their final designs.
Support form teachers ensured a high quality of artwork and many new transferable skills.
Children even used tools to shape their own tiles.
Children learnt the need for good preparation
Children represented a broad spectrum of faiths.
100% of participants said they learnt new skills.
Children exhibited great concentration and were very methodical and neat.
The sun.
A flower
A cross
A star
A mountain
A person.
A tree.
A flower.
A snail
Pastor Bryon describing concepts of peace within Christianity.
Children eager to respond to questions.
Taking pride in their work.
Images provided by guests speakers inspired the artwork.
Sheer joy expressed by children.
Children worked well together.
No comments:
Post a Comment