Impact Arts

A new block of Creative Pathways has
kicked off in North Ayrshire, where 10 young people who are currently not in
work education or training are working with our artists to pick up new creative
and practical skills!

It’s been a busy first few weeks as they
group – all aged 16-17 – have been learning the basics of photography, before
creating colourful experiments through translating their pictures into trace
monoprints.

Getting deeper into photographic
techniques, the team built their own pinhole cameras out of recycled cardboard
boxes, old cans and duct tape. They took to the local area to get some pictures
and developed these in darkroom they prepared themselves in the Impact Arts
office in Irvine.

They have also been making concrete
plantpots, cast themselves by mixing cement and pouring it into recycled
yoghurt pots, milk cartons and other vessels. They then decorated these using
designs inspired by the abstract art of Jackson Pollock and Piet Mondrian.

This project is funded by Skills
Development Scotland, Inspiring Scotland and Our Bright Future, which backs
projects helping young people to lead progressive change in their communities.

The group will also receive one-to-one
support with job hunting and CV writing and gain SQA qualifications in Employability.

Artist Portia Velarde is leading the project for Impact Arts,
alongside assistant Allan Whyte. She says this is a fantastic opportunity for
young people to unleash their creativity while learning about important issues.

“We are so pleased to be bringing Creative Pathways back to North
Ayrshire after such fantastic outcomes from the previous project.

“The work will have a strong environmental focus, encouraging
young people to really think about environmental issues facing their local
community and the wider world.

“The course is designed to be fun and engaging whilst having
a really positive impact on the lives of the participants – I can’t wait to see
the brilliant ideas the group come up with this time.”

• For more about Impact Arts’ work with young
  people, please visit this section of our website.
• For a list of opportunities currently open to
  join our projects, see the Join a Project page on the site.