Yolanda has called New Romney home for 13 years and has used her skillset to not only set up the creative group Marsh Mosaics but also as a way of making “some great new friends”.
Her love of being involved with community projects has seen her involved in creating stained glass windows for Hope Church working with the IMOS foundation, working with local groups such as MIND, schools, etc. Yolanda tells CommunityAd she “loves everyone who comes along to share their stories with us, create amazing things and generally enriching the community”.
Yolanda and the Marsh Mosaics are another example of creativity thriving here, “I do think the Marsh is a creative hub and could easily challenge some of the other areas such as Margate, Whitstable and Folkestone. We love to open our studio to other creatives to provide even more creative opportunities from local artists who are willing to share their skills. Many of my students have gone on to run workshops or become part of the Teach Me team and in particular in working on the Marsh Mosaics”.
So, Yolanda, please do tell our readers about the Marsh Mosaics?
Teach Me has opened up creative opportunities on the Marsh by organising a number of weekly workshops and day courses for people of all ages. We were approached by the Fifth Continent and the Kent Wildlife Trust to create ten mosaic designs for each of ten churches across the Marsh – those at Dymchurch, Ivychurch, Brookland, Burmarsh, Brenzett, Lydd, Newchurch, New Romney, East Guldeford and St Mary in the Marsh. It has been quite a challenge to incorporate all the historical elements as well as local wildlife and flora into each of the mosaics and make them unique to each church. To help them master some of the key mosaics skills every participant gets to make a free coaster which they can take home with them, before moving on to work on one of the large mosaics.
How long have you been involved and what do you enjoy most about the classes?
Teach Me has evolved over the past five years and we now hold regular mosaic classes at our studio as well as teaching and working with all things glass (fused, copper foil and stained), jewellery making, painting, upcycling to name but a few. My love is to see what those who attend create and after saying “I can’t make anything; I am rubbish at art” to then go on and create some really fantastic and stunning pieces.
As well as the crafting and the skills that attendees no doubt gain, there’s also a fantastic social benefit, isn’t there?
Both the Marsh Mosaic project and the regular weekly classes have enabled people to make some great new friendships and classes are usually fully booked as people use these opportunities to meet on a social level. There is always much laughter, tea, biscuits and banter! We also get quite a few family and friends who want to do a bespoke day, tailored to a specific craft for a day. One day courses include all materials, tea, coffee, biscuits, a lovely lunch and afternoon cream tea.
Creative activities such as this are so beneficial to one’s mental health, aren’t they?
Creativity has been core to helping with mental health, in particular painting and mosaics as these are really lovely and calming crafts. We love to help support local groups such as MIND for which we had a regular group attend our classes before lockdown. We hope to resume these very soon as well as offering some free sessions to Cubs, Brownies and other local groups.
Anything else to add at all?
We would, of course, appreciate greater local funding for community projects. However, it is important to realise what motivates us at Teach Me and that is the delight on people’s faces when they create wonderful artworks.