Newbury’s City Arts marks 10 years in the community with wall of faces

On Saturday, excitement was building within the walls of City Arts, who celebrate their 10th anniversary on Friday)

Between 10am and 8pm people were dropping into the community arts venue in Hampton Road to take part in the 10 Hours of Art project to make a commemorative hanging.

Under the guidance of potter Katherine Kingdon they were making a series of clay tiles with faces, which she will fire and they will hang together as a community wall.

In the afternoon the word ART was spelled out as a giant 3D artwork in three one hour sessions, guided by Sabrina Talana-Carruth, the letters made up using cardboard and upcycled colour coordinated elements in red, yellow and blue. They will be fixed on a panel to go up the main double height space in the café area.

And in the evening, a collective large willow woven heart was constructed under the guidance of Sarah Beeson, to hang between the Art and the Community.

“It was a busy weekend,” said City Arts co-founder Isabel Carmona.

“The artwork will represent us all at City Arts as a collective where Art and Community come together.”

An exhibition of work produced during the many free art workshops offered by the community arts hub over the years is on display until Sunday.

Saturday’s sessions were free but donations of £10 were invited towards fundraising for City Arts Newbury charitable activities in the community.

“We love making art together, sharing our expertise and seeing people come together via art activities, being surprised by their own talents, friendships are made and we have quite a few laughs in the process," added Isabel.

“Sunday saw the launch of our 10 Year Apple Juice bottles that are now for sale at City Arts, with apples collected from the community by co founder Claire Struthers Semple.”

Happy anniversay City Arts!