L is for Lifelong

There is no retirement age for creativity.

Being creative is not diminished or limited by how old we are.  

Creativity is age friendly, supporting ideas, innovation and imagination from the cradle to the grave.

There are many artists who started creating their work when they were in their 50’s, 60’s 70’s or even 80’s. One example is Cornish artist Alfred Wallis who started to paint in and around the seaside town of St. Ives in his later years.

Find out more about Alfred Wallis here,

https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/history/people/alfred_wallis.htm

Alfred Wallis Rediscovered

Explore further works made by older artists from the Whitworth’s collection, here

http://gallerysearch.ds.man.ac.uk/Browse/6056

A report on the Whitworth’s findings about how cultural organisations work with older artists was supported by the Baring Foundation. It follows successful work with older audiences through research and participatory projects with partners such as Age Friendly Manchester and MICRA (Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing, the University of Manchester).

Download the report here,

Age Friendly Whitworth

The Age Friendly Whitworth programme at the gallery was developed in 2009 with the implementation of a City-wide Cultural Offer for older people across Manchester.

Over the last eleven years we have delivered a wide range of Age Friendly projects with hundreds of older people. During the closure of the gallery for redevelopment in 2013-15, we developed a project with a local Care facility when we worked with older men and this culminated in an exhibition in the new gallery for the reopening.

More information on the 2015 Danger! Men at Work exhibition can be found here,

http://gallerysearch.ds.man.ac.uk/Browse/5866

Since reopening in 2015 the Whitworth has developed a regular core programme around a weekly craft session, Handmade.

The Age Friendly Whitworth Programme is committed to a cultural offer for people aged 50+

At the core is the Handmade craft based FREE sessions, these are weekly during term time and are facilitated by artists.

Throughout 2020, amidst the Covid 19 pandemic, the handmade programme has continued to run online as handmadeathome. When lockdown restrictions eased slightly through the summer months we also ran a project with local group Unity Arts.

For International Older Peoples day (IOPD) on 1st October, a group from the Handmade and Unity Arts sessions got together to create a short video. Watch the resulting film, here

For more information on IOPD go to,

https://www.un.org/en/observances/older-persons-day

Hear programme producer Claire Cowell talk about the Whitworth’s Age Friendly work, here

For more information on the Age Friendly Programme, explore the following links,

https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/learn/adults/agefriendly/

https://www.facebook.com/AFMCulture

https://www.instagram.com/afwhitworth/

M is for Manchester

Manchester is famed for its history of diversity, arts and cultural creativity.

From cotton, comedy, computers and composing to marches, Madchester’s Mondays and media city –they have all played their role in creatively shaping the city that we live and work in.

What do you think is the best thing about Manchester’s creativity and it’s claim as the UK’s creative cultural capital!?

Here are some links to Manchester’s creative and cultural history to start the conversation.

Cottonopollis

https://confidentials.com/manchester/a-short-history-of-manchester-the-rise-and-fall-of-cottonopolis

Manchester Music

https://www.visitmanchester.com/ideas-and-inspiration/music

Factory Records

https://www.facebook.com/fac515

History and Socialism

Homepage

https://manchesterhistories.co.uk/

Radical Manchester Women

https://ilovemanchester.com/sex-city-manchester-celebrates-100-years-radical-women

Manchester Pride

https://www.manchesterpride.com/festival

Alan Turing

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/history-heritage/history/heroes/alan-turing/

Walter Crane

https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/search-resources/special-collections/guide-to-special-collections/a-to-z/collection/?match=Walter+Crane+Archive

Creative Education

https://www.art.mmu.ac.uk/

MCEP (Manchester Cultural Education Partnership) http://creativeeducationmcr.com/

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/

Media

https://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/

Creative Tourism

https://www.creativetourist.com/

https://m20collective.wordpress.com/

https://macfest.org.uk/

Explore more artworks with links to Manchester from the Whitworth’s collection, here

http://gallerysearch.ds.man.ac.uk/Browse/6071

N is for Nature

Nature is the ultimate creative!

Natural patterns, structures, chemistries and creations have inspired science, medicine, technology and art throughout history.

Artists have repeatedly used natural patterns in their work, ranging from landscape paintings to motifs that decorate textile designs.

Explore more artworks from the Whitworth’s collection with a natural theme, here

http://gallerysearch.ds.man.ac.uk/Browse/6060

Get Creative – Art Activity

Below are nature inspired activities designed and developed by children from Gatley Primary School when the gallery reopened in 2015.

Enjoy their full Green Guide, here

http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=26060

The Natural and Cultural Health Service is a programme of outdoor activities that promote good physical and mental wellbeing. From Meditating in Nature, Tai-Chi for Wellbeing to Gardening for good health (GROW), at the Whitworth we have something for everyone, every week.

Find out What’s On, here.

https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/events/naturalcultural/

At the Whitworth our Learning Studio opens directly onto an art garden which connects the inside to the natural world outside. 

Nature plays a large part in the engagement programmes and activities at the Whitworth.

We get outside and in the park as much as we can.

Outdoor Art Club is our environmental & nature inspired art programme set in the beautiful Whitworth Park. For families with children of all ages it explores mud painting, water play, den building, bug hunting and lots more led by artists and forest school practitioners.

O is for Online

Online creativity defines the digital age.

Over the last twenty years the Whitworth has embraced the possibilities of new technologies. From cataloguing and searching the collection to making digital resources and games with audiences of all ages we have been keen to explore how the internet can widen our reach.

Below is a series of resources devised by staff, why not take a look!

Get Creative – Online Activity

Explore the world of textiles – learn about techniques, materials and patterns 

Introduction

To mark the gallery’s reopening in 2015, the Whitworth created a Minecraft map transforming our spaces into a virtual gallery for users to craft, create and share their stories. Our Whitworth Minecraft  is now a popular workshop with schools and families.

Watch the Minecraft video, here

Over the last few months our Primary School Producer has been playing Animal Crossing, developing an office of useful art ‘Arte Util’ and having fun recreating art works from our collection.

Get Creative – Art Activity

Why not download these creations so you can have a little bit of the Whitworth in your home? 

P is for Play

Play unlocks possibilities and enables us to be truly creative.

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.”
John Cleese

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw

Early years children have the ability to continuously create. The Whitworth’s Early Years Atelier (or art studio) fuses play, materials and learning through creative exploration in an enabling arts environment. Our Atelier runs every Monday. This free, drop-in space is based on the early years philosophy of Reggio Emilia, where the atelier is a place for child-led artistic exploration, a laboratory for trying out ideas and playing with materials.

Get Creative – Play Activity

Play along with our Dance and Movement practitioner Annabel, here

PLAY Live

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic we have taken our Early Years programme online. On the first Monday of each month, we are running live Zoom play workshops.

We invite you to play along with us in these workshops specially designed for under 5s and their grown-ups. These sessions are 45 minutes long are led by an artist who will guide you through playful activities demonstrating and modelling how simple materials you will have to hand can be used playfully at home.  All activities and objects will be suggested and adapted for different ages, including babies under 2yrs.

Book here for the next session

For loads more PLAY ideas that you can do at home in your own time using simple materials visit the Early Years section of the website.

PLAYTIME

Every summer holiday the Whitworth explores the art of play through activities designed for all, from babies and toddlers through to teens and grandparents.

PLAYTIME adopts a new, more open ended, approach which involves activities that can be enjoyed in a family’s own time and at their own pace. Activities that families can drop in and out of that don’t have an end result.

PLAYTIME aimed to open up the Whitworth’s spaces both inside and out to be more welcoming to the communities that surround it. PLAYTIME was launched in the summer of 2018 with a Sand Pit Studio and engaged 26,400 family visitors in 6 weeks.

Based on the success of PLAYTIME in 2018, 2019 saw the idea being developed this time with a Splash Studio replacing the sand. In 2019 we welcomed 30,205 families in the 6 week holiday period.

PLAYTIME at Home

2020 looked a little different as we were in the throws of a Pandemic but that didn’t stop PLAY. Using the planned MUD theme we shared weekly activities on social media for families to do at home. We then created a film bringing together all the home footage and photographs that families sent in.