Art flourishes under lockdown in Ardfern
Hannah Tofts has been running an art class in Craignish Village Hall for several years, but the COVID-19 lockdown has added another dimension.
Hannah's gentle guidance is always to the fore, encouraging everyone to experiment, try new approaches and consider new materials.
A warm, supportive and welcoming group to be a part of, there is also a half time coffee break to look forward to.
When ‘lockdown' was introduced, the group quickly realised how much the Tuesday meetings would be missed and decided to attempt a weekly art challenge online from home.
Members of the group are taking it in turns to choose a theme each week. Everyone submits work by email on a Monday night, then an email is sent to all those taking part on Tuesday at 10am, when class would normally be starting at the hall, showing completed work and revealing the brief for the coming week.
After a successful first week working with ‘Daffodil', the second week challenge of 'Footwear' – to celebrate still being able to go for a walk – was opened up and shared with the wider community.
The group was mindful there may be many others stuck at home, now with some additional time, who may welcome some distraction and an invite to give it a go.
Using the Craignish Community Facebook page, the group reached out under the banner of ‘Hannah's Craignish Art Challenge' attracting several new members and the response has been fantastic.
The rules are basically there are no rules – anything goes – any medium, any size, any style.
A gallery of work will be added to the Craignish Community page each Tuesday during lockdown.
The group has had incredibly uplifting feedback from many people – those taking part in the challenges and those happy to just browse through the brilliantl work on the virtual gallery. With no idea when classes will resume, everyone is enjoying being able to meet ‘virtually' and doing so is encouraging everyone to keep going and produce something.