Coalville Library Community Outdoor Art Project
In the second year of our Creative Expressions in Libraries projects, funded by Arts Council England, the team at Coalville Library decided to move forward with a Community Outdoor Art project. Following a competitive recruitment process, local artist Llynda Baugh was commissioned to deliver the project, with a plan of creating a community mosaic that would embody both Coalville’s substantial contribution to varied industries and Coalville’s inclusion in the National Forest and its connection to the natural world.
Over 100 children, young people, parents and carers took part with 68 leaves created by participants that are all included in the tree. Llynda Baugh, the Creative Practitioner also held an Artist in Residence session at the library for people to watch the mosaic develop and chat with Llynda about the process. During the project, we also held workshops with staff to deepen understand of co-creation and working with creative practitioners: one with the library site team and one with the Participation Team.
We worked with 10 community groups made up of children and families who had two workshops to create a leaf for the community mosaic and craft their own small mosaic to take home. These groups included open sessions for all, specialised SEND workshops, partnerships with our partners at Family Learning (LALS), Virtual School for children in care, Young Carers and Coalville CAN, and two schools: Belvoirdale Primary Cedar Class and Forest Way School.
We consulted with local people via social media about the local industries that should be included in the mosaic. We also met with local historians to ensure that we represented Coalville accurately, and Llynda herself is local and has family going back generations.
The resulting Community Mosaic is a beautiful testament to Coalville’s unique past, present and future.
Community Participation Workers within the Culture Leicestershire team manage the work of Creative Practitioners, providing support, direction, and advice.
Stephanie Strange is the Community Participation Worker managing this project. Please email or call with any enquiries: stephanie.strange@leics.gov.uk 0116 3058760.
Leaves for our Coalville Library Community Mosaic
The fabulous mosaics that have been designed, created and taken home
Learning about Coalville’s Industrial Heritage with Llynda’s ‘Heritage in a Bag’ game!
