As Learning & Engagement Officer at Lakeland Arts I had the pleasure of working with Emilie Taylor and Space2Create on the Yellow Wallpaper Project.
'The Yellow Wallpaper' was a ceramic installation at Blackwell the Art & Crafts House inspired by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic text of the same name. Women from Space2Create, a mental health charity in Kendal, worked with ceramicist and art therapist Emilie Taylor to create a site-specific piece over a ten-week period. My role was to make the group feel welcome at Blackwell, support Emilie Taylor in delivering workshops, and to provide links to the Arts & Crafts movement and historic collections at Lakeland Arts.
Over a ten-week period, participants produced ceramic tiles that explored their lived experiences with mental health issues in response to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s work.
Feedback from participants:
[what was it like…] “Took me on an emotional journey seeing other people’s minds and thought and transferring them onto pottery tiles. Seeing myself in the story and understanding more about myself and feeling proud of myself”
[what did you enjoy…] “being ‘part’ of something and being encouraged to produce something”
[I gained…] “friendship, understanding & perhaps some skill”
Working alongside Emilie Taylor and women from Space2Create was incredibly inspiring. It reinforced to me the importance of mental health projects in museum & galleries. The project also helped me understand the deep impact of running longer projects with small groups and the value of maintaining community partnerships as I continued to work with Space2Create over my next 4 years at Lakeland Arts.