Harmony Project & Dawn Woolley

Through our community engagement programme we worked closely with refugees and migrants across Leeds and Wakefield, creating opportunities for all four galleries to welcome new and diverse audiences.

In this project Yorkshire Sculpture Park explored the potential of creative learning through sculpture to support ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learning. The gallery worked with the Community Harmony Project, an initiative that helps migrants to settle into Wakefield and become part of the local community, to develop a series of workshops for 27 women and their children who were under the age of five.

These women explored Yorkshire Sculpture International with artist Dawn Woolley and artist educator Bryony Pritchard. Participants made connections between the artworks and their lives through drawing, sculpture making and conversation.

Artists Dawn Woolley and Bryony Pritchard work with Community Harmony Project as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Nick Singleton

Artists Dawn Woolley and Bryony Pritchard work with Community Harmony Project as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Nick Singleton

Artists Dawn Woolley and Bryony Pritchard work with Community Harmony Project as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Nick Singleton

Artists Dawn Woolley and Bryony Pritchard work with Community Harmony Project as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Nick Singleton

Visits included Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth Wakefield where they applied their learning and experiences, finding resonance and relevance to their world and embroidering their creative responses in fabric.

Participants also attended the Yorkshire Sculpture International Community Street Party, in central Wakefield, where they shared food and experiences with other engagement project participants from across the Yorkshire Sculpture International partnership. This culminated in a celebration event for the women and their wider families, where 53 people came to Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Dawn Woolley unveiled her large-scale photographic banners and flags which document the women’s sculptures and creative work made during the project.