STAFF BLOG: Laura

Hi everyone! I’m Laura, I started working with SOLA in 2017 as a freelance tutor digital skills tutor as part of the ‘All in One Studio’ programme. Now I’m SOLA’s Creative Play Development Coordinator and Mentor.

Since I started I’ve worked on various projects including working on the ‘Imagine-In’ project with young people to make stop frame animations of journeys both real and imagined. I really enjoyed working with the group, you can see the films they made here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPkOWtuvIcI

I’m now working on the ‘Creative Confidence’ project as a creative mentor and creative development worker. I deliver outreach arts and crafts workshops with groups and will be working with individuals supporting them to explore their employability in creative ways. The workshops I’ve been running started working with an organisation set up by a group of mums to support parents of children on the Autistic spectrum. We have been exploring different creative techniques. So far we have made felt using wet felting which we then stitched into it and crafted things out of the felt we had made. We have also explored making our own cards and decorations.

I’m looking forward to getting to know a new group in a few weeks time. We are planning to make a wall hanging using printing and collage. The group are keen to include inspiration from outdoors, so were thinking of printing with leaves and making ‘Woodland Wind chimes’ using sticks.

I also run an Art Group on Thursday Afternoons at Toxteth Town Hall where SOLA are based. We have been looking at different materials and techniques each week and we usually have a theme or an object for inspiration. Last week we tried out pastels, we used both chalk and oil pastels and used plants and flowers to inspire us. We are planning to have an exhibition of some of the work produced in the group soon, so people will see more of what we have been up to.