ALPHABETICA’s Our Caring World Through Art at Kingswood Library

Do you like art?

Join artist-illustrator Kremena Dimitrova for the exciting research project called ALPHABETICA: ‘Activating learning paths: Holistic arts-based education and training for inclusion and awareness’, a collaboration between Oxford Brookes University, The Open University and Southwark Libraries and Archives. The project aims to support young people from all backgrounds to become involved in arts for education and learning. 

What is your story? Use art to share, learn about, and visualise stories about your connection to the Kingswood area and its nature and wildlife. Use art as an opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings about the wider world and your life.

We would love to invite you and your child to take part in a series of fun and creative art workshops on the following Saturdays:

• 4th October 2 to 4pm - Rhythms and Rhymes and Illustration and Comics

Erasure poetry, also known as blackout poetry, blanked verse, and found poetry, is a form of creative writing. An artist takes an existing text and highlights, erases, blacks out, or otherwise hides a large portion of the text, creating a wholly new work from what remains. The poem will then be visualised through Illustration and comics which are forms of storytelling used to clarify, decorate, and visually explain. 

• 11th October 2 to 4pm - Recycled Book Sculpture Art

Book art breathes new life into used books by making 3D art sculptures while experimenting with painting, drawing, sponging, splattering, texture-making, cutting, gluing, sticking, and pasting. The world of book recycling art is filled with colourful magic, playful fun, and experimental surprises…

• 18th October 2 to 4pm -Local Nature and Wildlife Art through Monoprinting (the unexplored technique)

Similar to drawing, this exciting technique creates a single, unique print by applying ink to a surface and then transferring the image to paper. It is one of the simplest ways to make an original print. Experimenting with textures and mark making, monoprinting creates spontaneous and expressive art. 

• 25 October 2 to 4 pm - Cut, Fold, Paste Collage Art

Collage making combines different techniques, such as drawing, painting, monoprinting, photography, comics, and any other images by cutting them out into shapes, arranging them, and sticking them onto a surface to create a new artwork. A collage can be about people, nature, travel, hobbies, emotions, personal memories, social issues, history, current events, and more! We will use images from the local history library’s archives to reimagine the people who once upon a time lived in Kingswood House. 

•  1 November 2 to 4pm - Our Kingswood Area: Poster Art and Graphic Design

Poster art and design uses attractive application of colour and design, text, fonts, and letter forms on paper to achieve two primary goals: 1 - to share and promote a message, a topic, or an issue. 2 - to engage people with the message, topic, and issue.

For more information please email k.dimitrova@brookes.ac.uk or emilie.lewis@southwark.gov.uk

ALPHABETICA has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101177819