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.
Responding to the provocation ‘Not many people have access to a lump of clay’ by Phyllida Barlow for Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019, artist Rachel Kidd worked with the residents of Urban House Wakefield. Running as an initial accommodation centre for asylum seekers, Urban House can have up to 300 residents at one time. A constantly changing community, most people stay for about 21 days while the legal aspects of their asylum claim are being processed.
Artist Rachael Kidd running workshops with Urban House, Wakefield for Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Joseph Legg
Artist Rachael Kidd running workshops with Urban House, Wakefield for Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Joseph Legg
Artist Rachael Kidd running workshops with Urban House, Wakefield for Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. Photography Joseph Legg
From April to June 2019, weekly drop-in clay workshops called Lumps of Clay took place with the residents. Each week Kidd provided a large lump of clay, some tools, tables and chairs and without words invited people to simply make. Over time, with each new person being given clay, a library of sculptural objects began to build. Patterns emerged and demonstrated a basic human impulse to mould animals, architectural structures, household objects, natural forms and modes of transport. The workshops became a place to share skills and stories and leave traces of these encounters through the objects left behind. This provided valuable time spent removed from the daily challenges of being in a new environment and the asylum system, as well as the universal enjoyment of connecting with materials.
Lumps of Clay was displayed at the Yorkshire Sculpture International Street Party in Wakefield as part of the festival’s opening weekend. This was a celebration of Yorkshire Sculpture International’s work with local communities, bringing this together with other positive initiatives happening across Wakefield and the surrounding areas.
Yorkshire Sculpture International has an extensive engagement programme, spanning education, community collaborations and artist support.
We explore sculpture with people of all ages, connecting them with the materials and processes used in making sculpture today and showing how sculpture can be found all around us. We are currently working with a group of 25 artists across Yorkshire as part of our 2022 Sculpture Network.
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