Edgecumbe & Matisse
Edgecumbe Training and Resource Centre provides day support for adults who are registered with severe learning disabilities and who live in East Belfast and Castlereagh. The project group was recruited from among several classes and met on Thursday mornings for five weeks. About twenty people in total joined in.
Most of the participants were able to come to the launch of their artwork at the Museum on 6 December and group leader Geraldine Turner said, "All the students felt so proud and had a sense of being ambassadors for Edgecumbe TRC".
The inspiration for our first set of panels came from one of the treasures of the Museum's Applied Art collection: a pair of wallhangings by Henri Matisse, Le Ciel (The Sky) and La Mer (The Sea). These were designed by Matisse, using paper cut-outs, and they represent sea-life in the South Pacific. The group also looked at seaweed, coral and seashells from the Natural History collections (and some collected from Holywood beach!).
The process started with looking at Matisse's work and identifying the creatures depicted: jellyfish, sharks, birds and coral. We then took turns at dipping for shells and seaweed in a 'rock pool' made from a large plastic basin. The group then made their own drawings and collages of the shells and seaweed.
Anu then enlarged the drawings and collages, cut them into stencils and painted them on to the canvas panels with acrylic paint. Everyone made their own decisions about what was needed and the finished work is a true collaboration between Anu and the participants - the shapes and patterns are all the group's own designs, Anu initially placed the stencils and everyone had a say in the choice of colours.