Our Open Space 70 Creative Workshops & Courses 

We are proud to provide varied creative opportunities for our local community. Open Space 70 is an environmental arts project in Calderdale and beyond, but creativity begins at home. We want to make change happen through art, storytelling, vision, and empowerment.

These creative courses were run from April to June to connect you with nature, our local environment and environmental change, to appreciate what we have on our doorstep, interpret what is happening, and inspire you to act. 

Work made in the workshops and courses will be shared at the Open Space 70 Arts Trail on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 July.  
You can still join in a workshop over the weekend of Open Space 70 - take a look here

TEXTILE REPURPOSING WORKSHOPS
​Sat 17 and Sun 18 June 2023
£40/£28 and £30/£20
10.30am-3.30pm
​​Northlight Art Studio, Hebden Bridge

Rag Rug Wall Hangings
Saturday 17 June £40 / £28
Over the course of the day Emma Wilkinson will be teaching you how to use the ancient technique of rag rugging using a latch hook tool, to create a unique piece of art using recycled fabrics on the theme of climate emergency.​​​

Clothes to Coiled Pots
Sunday 18 June £30 / £20
​Recycle your unwanted clothes using a technique used by ancient civilisations. Create coiled pots by wrapping, coiling and stitching strips fabric into beautiful bowls and sculptural pieces.​

Emma Wilkinson

Emma Wilkinson is a local artist and textiles tutor, based in Todmorden. She graduated from Todmorden community college in 2008 with a First Class degree in fine art.
​Since then, Emma has been developing her practice alongside bringing up her four children, as well as teaching creative textiles at various venues around the Calder valley.

BODIES OF WATER - MUSIC WORKSHOPS & PERFORMANCE PROJECT 
Tues 20 & 27 June; plus performance Sun 16 July 2023
£Pay what you can afford 
7-9pm - only 15 spaces
The Space, Hebden Bridge Town Hall

Join percussionist, composer and producer Delia Stevens as part of a small ensemble of people who want to be able to use our local waterways safely. Help to create sound pieces and soundscapes over two Tuesday evening workshops, to be performed as part of Open Space 70 festival in the Town Hall on Sunday 16 July (you'll be needed from 9am to 1pm on this day). 

This short course is suitable for those age 16+

Are you concerned about the pollution of our rivers? An environmental champion that feels frustrated? A wild swimmer who understands the importance of nature? Or just someone who wants to make a difference?

In the UK no river is currently safe to swim in due to pollution. 

In 2022, the River Calder was reported as the UK’s second most polluted. In 2021 alone, 30,000 hours of sewage was released into our river. 

We think that this is unacceptable!

Amplify your voice, create a splash and make some noise! It’s time to use the power of music to start a movement. It’s not too late to reclaim our rivers! 

Join in our "we care about our water" percussion ensemble. 

Workshops: Tue 20 & 27 June, 7-9
Rehearsal: Sun 16 July 9-10am
Performances: Sun 16 July 10.30am & 12.30pm
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All sessions take place at the Town Hall, Hebden Bridge, HX7 7BY which is accessible. 

Delia Stevens

​Delia Stevens is a percussionist at the forefront of her generation: a pioneer of future-facing ideas, visionary of sound and generous collaborator with “burning chops and a cosmic imagination”. 

Bodies of Water is a public performance project conceived of by Delia and working with SheChoir, Fantasy Orchestra & Choir and a public percussion ensemble.

POETRY MASTERCLASS 
Sat 24 June 2023
​£15/£10
1.30pm-4.30pm
Terrace Room, Hebden Bridge Town Hall

‘How like wishes to reveal themselves, even when they’re buried - the way ripples on an ocean wheel like fins’
(Katherine Horrex)

Water features frequently in poet Katherine Horrex’s work. From a social standpoint, she is interested in how water can become part of the process of gentrification, becoming a thing for which we have to pay.  For Open Space 70, Katherine will be inviting participants to look at Hebden and its waters in new ways, to draw from past and present-day local experiences and to put these into poetry which ebbs and flows.
 
In this 3-hour poetry masterclass, led by Katherine, a range of techniques will be used to produce new poems for Open Space 70. We’ll be brainstorming, reading, spending a little time by the river running alongside the Town Hall, and looking at local history, as well as how water has shaped the town. 

Katherine Horrex

Katherine Horrex has been published by The Guardian, Poetry London and The Times Literary Supplement, and has work forthcoming in The Poetry Review. Her collection Growlery (2020) is published by Carcanet and was shortlisted for The Seamus Heaney First Collection award, as well as commended in The Forward Prizes Anthology.

ARK WORKSHOPS by Wilson/Pike (Amanda Dalton & Amanda Stoodley) 
​Sun 11 June 2023
£Pay what you can afford
​Hebden Bridge Bowling Club Pavilion

ARK is a unique site responsive installation created by the artist and writer duo Wilson/Pike and members of the public. Inspired by its watery position and the riverside and woodland approach walks, ARK transforms the Hebden Bridge Bowling Club Pavilion into an exploration of the idea and meaning of an ark, referencing not only the story of Noah’s boat, but also ‘ark’ as a place of refuge, and as a chest or repository. – here containing precious fragments of the natural world all gathered from the nearby landscape.

​It will be open as part of Open Space 7O Arts Trail happening on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 July (10am-5pm) with drop-in creative activities for everyone and a warm invitation to view, wander, read, listen and explore.

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ARK: Treasured - Little Pieces of the World...
Led by theatre designer and artist Amanda Stoodley of Wilson/Pike
Sun 11 June at 11am-2pm
Hebden Bridge Bowling Club Pavilion​

In this friendly art-based workshop for adults and children aged 11+, we’ll be taking a short walk along the riverbank before playing with drawing, making and assembling gathered objects from the natural world, creating our own miniature treasure trove that will form a key part of ARK, an interactive installation for everyone. ​

ARK: Mapping The Beaten Track
Led by poet and playwright Amanda Dalton of Wilson/Pike
​Saturday 27 May at 2pm-5pm
Hebden Bridge Bowling Club Pavilion

In this creative writing session suitable for everyone aged 16+, we’ll be going for a short walk to collect ideas, images and objects. Then recreating the journey through a series of lively, accessible writing and free-form mapping activities, producing notes, maps and small pieces of text that will form a key part of ARK, an interactive installation for all.

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Amanda Dalton

​Amanda Dalton is a freelance poet & playwright, & currently visiting lecturer at Manchester University and MMU’s Writing School.

​Her poetry collections are published by Bloodaxe and she has recent pamphlets with Arc (2021) and smith|doorstop (2022). 

ARK

​Course Leaders: Wilson/Pike ​

Wilson/Pike are writer Amanda Dalton and theatre designer and artist Amanda Stoodley, both based in Hebden Bridge. 
​
​As a creative duo, they have collaborated on several large-scale projects for Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, including work for performance, festivals and interactive installation.

​All of their collaborations have involved co-curation and facilitation with communities and audiences.

Amanda Stoodley

Amanda Stoodley is an award-winning set and costume designer, working in theatre, opera, installation & exhibition. Previously studying and working in illustration, graphic, interior & stained glass design, she trained in theatre and performance design at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts graduating in 2009. ​

CERAMIC PROTEST PLAQUE AND PLATES WEEKEND
Sat 10 and Sun 11 June 2023
£60/£42
10am-1pm
​Northlight Art Studio, Hebden Bridge

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Experience Level: All levels including beginners  ​

Join Hebden Bridge Arts and Katch Skinner for this weekend course to create art on the theme of climate emergency for the Open Space 70 festival. 
​
Through these two sessions you will be designing and making work inspired by your response to the festival theme, of climate emergency and more widely the environment.

Over the two sessions you will be designing and learning to make plates using recycled clay slabs which will be decorated with slips and underglazes, using mono printing, stencilling and sgraffito to really immerse yourself in playful decoration of the ceramic surface.  

Katch Skinner

Katch Skinner is a tutor and maker of ceramics with over 10 years of teaching experience with children, adult education and degree level.
Within her own practice she makes domestic ware for gallery shops and one off pieces for museums and galleries, including the National Portrait Gallery 

BIRD WILLOW LANTERN MAKING WEEKEND
Sat 3 and Sun 4 June 2023
£40/£28
10.30am-4.30pm
​Big Tin Shed, Victoria Road, Hebden Bridge

Join Hebden Bridge Arts and Sue Walpole for this weekend course to create art on the theme of climate emergency for the Open Space 70 festival.

Through these two sessions you will create a moorland nesting bird (Curlew or Lapwing) which will become part of an artist Installation for Open Space 70 arts trail.

As part of the environment and nature theme of the festival we're focussing on nesting birds, which are of significant interest to this area, with the moorland so close by.

Sue Walpole

Sue is a lantern maker who creates giant puppets for Light Night and day parades, performances and theater predominantly using natural, compostable or recycled materials. 

GENERATION HOPE: ENVIRONMENTAL ZINE MAKING PROJECT
​Half term course with CLOUD YOUTH for ages 11-16
Tues 30, Wed 31 May & Fri 2 June 2023
FREE
1pm-4pm each day
​Machpelah Mill, New Road, Hebden Bridge

If you're aged 11-16 and like getting creative and sharing your passions, come along to Cloud Youth on three afternoons in May half term. You will work with others to make your own zine about climate emergency and the environment.  

The world of Zine making is a largely underground. Zines are a perfect way to express ideas or feelings that are not fit for the main stream due to their personal content or unpopular ideas. Zines are the fastest way for writers and artists to produce self published works. This project is generously 
​funded by The Rotary Club of Hebden Bridge which means it is free to join in with.

Alex Abel

Alex is a local artist and illustrator who loves working with young people. She believes drawing and graphics are a great way to get your point across. 

DIGITAL STORYTELLING BIKING ADVENTURE DAY - for ages 10-19
Thurs 1 June 2023
FREE - booking essential 
10am-4pm
​Ash Green School, Mixenden, Halifax, HX2 8QD

Participants must be able to ride a bike confidently. Lunch and refreshments and a bike to ride are all provided.
 
A digital storytelling project with Time Out utilising bikes to explore and celebrate the natural environment and wildlife in our local community and think about how we can sustain and improve these natural habitats in the face of climate change. The day's activities will include sessions as follows:

Led by Paul Knights - 'Climate, Nature and Your Community' - We'll look around the school grounds and surrounding streets at the nature that's already here, and then look into the future at how things could be better, for wildlife, for the climate and for people.'

READ MORE

 
Led by Kate Edwards (Time Out at Healthy Minds Calderdale) - Creative writing exercise in response to themes explored with Paul Knights.
 
Led by artist Alex Harwood - Storyboarding and audio recording - We will visually plan the video footage we aim to capture while out on our bike ride while also taking it in turns to create audio recordings reading our pieces of creative writing
 
Cycling led by West Yorkshire Police Early Intervention team, through CI Adventures and Alex Harwood/Cargodale staff - Bike ride/filming video footage exploring nature and wildlife in school grounds and local community.

Alex Harwood

Alex is a visual/digital artist and filmmaker with an experimental and multidisciplinary approach to his practice, and a strong focus on producing collaborative, socially engaged work. Working in a broad range of media including paint/mixed media, drawing, collage, digital arts/animation and video, his work centres around the act of storytelling and documenting personal histories while exploring social, cultural and political themes. ​

CREATIVE COLLAGE WORKSHOP
​Sun 21 May 2023
​£10/£7​​
​1.30pm-4.30pm
​Mytholmroyd Community Centre

Let’s explore the natural world and create a collage inspired by surface textures, rubbings and patterns from our local environment.
​
We’ll use leaves, tree bark, seeds and wild materials to make colourful artworks to celebrate where we walk, live and play with artist, Jeffrey Andrews. 

The session will begin with an introduction and presentation. 
Suitable for ages 11+ 

The work made by participants will be displayed in an exhibition on 15-16 July as part of the Open Space 70 arts trail after which it is yours to keep.

Materials and cold drinks / snacks are included. 

Jeffrey Andrews

 Jeffrey Andrews studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London.
Previous works include contemporary fossils of a lawn mower cast in concrete in the
‘From Art to Archaeology’ South Bank Touring exhibition and rubbings of the Battersea
Arts Centre and Riverside Studios in London using recycled, condemned hospital sheets.

EARTH DEITIES - NATURE SPIRIT FIGURE WORKSHOP
Sat 27 May 2023
£15/£10
11am-2pm
​Nutclough Woods, Hebden Bridge

Under 16s to be accompanied.
Feel free to bring a packed lunch. 

​This Earth Deities workshop from Hebden Bridge Arts and Rachel Shore is an opportunity to be immersed in sensory art making by creating your own nature spirit figure inspired by the natural beauty of Nutclough Woods.

​In response to references of ancient earth worshipping traditions across world cultures, participants will spend time exploring a range of locally sourced organic materials to bring to life their own nature deity.

​The created gods, goddesses and mythical beings will be installed outside at an Arts Trail venue over the Open Space 70 arts trail weekend and will then be yours to take home and install outside to be allowed to naturally decompose.

Rachel Shore

​Rachel Shore is arts practitioner and creative therapist with specialisms in conceptual nature art and ecotherapy. The workshop requires no artistic experience for participants. All that is needed is a head full of wild imagination and hands full of earthly wonders