Archive of Community Projects

Kresen Kernow, 2019

The Kresen Kernow project, to bring a new archive center to Cornwall has recently finished a creative project to create an installation of tiles to be displayed in the new building when it opens in Redruth in 2019.

The Tiles project was a partnership between Kresen Kernow, Carefree Cornwall, the Leach Pottery and artist Fleur Winter and worked with seven children in care to design tiles inspired by Cornwall’s archive collections, landscape and heritage.  The young people spent time at Cornwall Record Office and the Cornish Studies Library and enjoyed tours of the strong rooms, photographic workshops, quill pen writing and full immersion in the archives. They also visited the former brewery site in Redruth, the home of Kresen Kernow  and explored the landscape at Carn Brea. After two days of inspiration they spent two days in the Clore Learning Studio at The Leach Pottery, where they were introduced to a range of decorating techniques using slips, paper resist and scraffitto, glazes, oxides and transfers. They also toured the Pottery’s museum, gallery and shop, and were astounded by a throwing demonstration on the original kick wheels.  The project resulted in the production of 90 tiles, including transferred images from the archive strong rooms, silhouettes, and Bernard Leach-inspired ink drawings.

The young people, who ranged from 12-19 in age, are all in foster care in Cornwall and carried out their Arts Award Explore qualification as part of the project. Their certificates were recently presented to them at a cream tea event and they were able to choose the final design for the tile installation.

Chloe Phillips, Learning Lead for Kresen Kernow who organised the project, said “We loved working with the young people, and the partner organisations, and were delighted with the results of this partnership project. The tiles look brilliant and really show how archives can be used to inspire art. We can’t wait to install them in our new building next year.”

Fleur Winter, Learning and Participation Officer at the Leach Pottery says, “The project was a creative process bringing together of a number of organisations to create and develop this fantastic project for children in care to experience clay and to feel valued.  It has been an excellent opportunity for the Leach Pottery to widen its audience participation and inspire children who would not normally have the opportunity to attend such workshops.  They responded positively to the Leach Pottery site and its history and were fascinated by the processes they saw in the museum and learning studio.  Working with clay is both creative and intuitive and all the children got something out of the different processes and techniques taught.  On behalf of the Leach Pottery, I would like to say thank you to everybody involved for bringing to the table their skills, making the project such a successful one.  And as an organisation we would be delighted to continue with future projects working with Kresen Kernow and Carefree Cornwall.”

Alex Mason, youth worker at Carefree Cornwall, says: “The young people really enjoyed the project. Being given access to historic records, the Kresen Kernow construction site and The Leach Pottery instilled a sense of responsibility and trust into the group. With this, and the goal of producing an exhibit to be on display in a prominent new building, the young people pulled together and worked diligently to create the final piece on time.  The opportunities this project gave for individuals to express themselves in their own ways was one of the keys to everyone’s successful engagement.”

The Kresen Kernow project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Cornwall Council.