Royal Berks Fire and Rescue has
SOUTH Hill Park Arts Centre is set to host a new exhibition promoting water safety.
Bodies of Water sees Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) collaborating with the centre and with young people to create an art project which encourages the understanding of water as a force of nature.
Staff from the centre commissioned artist Hermione Thomson to work with textiles students at King’s Academy, Binfield, in a series of workshops to create a piece which was composed using cyanotypes.
This is a camera-free image recording process more than two centuries old, and the blue tint from which the process gets its name was used to evoke the reference of water.
Creative media students at Bracknell and Wokingham College were also invited to document the creation of the artwork as part of a work experience programme.
The exhibition opened last week in South Hill Park’s Arts centre, Bracknell
Dave Crease, Group Manager, RBFRS, said: “We approached staff at South Hill Park as we wanted their expertise in how we could better engage with young people around the issue of water safety.
“As a fire and rescue service we have been called to a number of tragic incidents on
Berkshire’s waterways, and we were keen to explore the use of art to illustrate the dangers of swimming in unsupervised bodies of water.”
Becky Jones, Learning, participation and community engagement co-ordinator at South Hill Park Arts Centre, commented: “It has been such a highlight for South Hill Park to design and produce this project, culminating in a truly poignant, engaging arts exhibition.