An art and story project for Gwynedd families has released a book following a series of creative workshops at the Children’s Unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd and for children linked to Derwen, an Integrated Team for Disabled Children in the county.
Gwynedd Council’s Community Arts Unit has been working in partnership with artist Catrin Williams and storyteller Fiona Collins to deliver an art and story project for children and families in Gwynedd since November 2014.
The project’s main aim was to deliver a series of creative activities to create, collect and share images and stories made by children and young people. The work has been collated and published in a new book. This new book will hopefully encourage children and families to read together and will raise awareness of the benefits of creativity on health and wellbeing.
The ‘Silff Storis’ book contains a wide variety of stories created by the children; tales about cowboys, a spaceman, a crocodile and invisible flying rabbits.
Storyteller, Fiona Collins who was part of the workshops said: “It has been a pleasure to be involved in this initiative. I am always amazed when I hear the children’s stories, their creativity and imagination is so rich.”
The book also includes artwork made by the children who have been busy drawing characters and depicting scenes from the stories.
Catrin Williams, the artist, added: “The artworks created by the children are wonderful and have been used throughout the book to illustrate the stories. There is also a section at the back of the publication where other children and families can create their own stories too.”
During recent weeks Fiona and Catrin staged a series of performances of the stories to the children and their families which were a lot of fun. A beautiful chest of costumes, masks and props created as part of the project will be left for the Derwen team to continue with creative activities such as reading, performing and drawing together.
Copies of the book are available to download free of charge or a paper copy can be purchased for £20 here: www.bit.ly/silffstoris, and copies will also be available at Gwynedd Libraries in due course.
For more information please contact Gwynedd Council’s Community Arts Unit by phoning 01286 679721 / 07789 032517 or e-mail celf@gwynedd.gov.uk
