Families in Blackpool can get hands-on with clay in neighbourhood green spaces this summer, as LeftCoast launches a series of free creative workshops. The sessions are led by ceramicist and Abundance Artist in Residence Laura Negus, exploring the links between creativity, nature and the town’s outdoor spaces. Booking is open now for sessions taking place on 15 July and 25 August.
The first workshop, Bee Watering Stations, runs from 11am to 2pm at Bostonway Community Garden on 15 July. Participants will create ceramic watering stations designed to support local pollinators, experimenting with texture, pattern and surface. A second session, Clay Orchard, takes place at Mereside Orchard on 25 August, again from 11am to 2pm. Here, families will work together to build a temporary clay installation inspired by the orchard during its growing season, with the evolving sculpture captured through time-lapse. A third session, Smoke Firing, follows on 30 September, giving participants the chance to fire their earlier creations outdoors using natural materials.
The workshops sit within LeftCoast’s wider Abundance programme, which sets out to reframe the narrative around Blackpool by spotlighting the wealth of knowledge, skills and creativity already present in its neighbourhoods. The arts organisation has been running community-led projects across the town since 2013, funded by Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund. Laura Negus’s residency has already included a beach foraging session where locals gathered seaweed, moss, grasses and sand to test how these materials influence colour and surface when combined with clay and glazes.
All materials are provided free of charge, with under-14s required to be accompanied by an adult. Spaces are limited and booking is essential via email to Creative Producer Catherine Peters at [email protected]. Mereside Orchard is also the site of the ongoing Field of Dreams project, a collaboration with artists Ivan Morison and Heather Peak that began with planting a wildflower meadow and will eventually evolve into a large-scale artwork exploring growing, gathering and collective making.
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