For this new exhibition in the Arts Café, Peterlee based artist Ruth Flowers has worked with year 3 students from Easington Primary School. Through a series of workshops the students have created new works inspired by local legends and folklore. Additional new work by Ruth will be exhibited, that has come about through research and development of work using the story of ‘The Easington Hare’ as inspiration; with its themes of community, ageism, and the esoteric.

Join us for the exhibition opening on Friday 17th May, 3-5pm. The exhibition will be open on weekdays, 9am - 4pm until the 3rd July 2024.

The original account of ‘The Easington Hare’, as published in 1886 by William Brockie, retells the tale of accusations of witchcraft, particularly shapeshifting, being pointed at an older woman within the Easington community. Though perhaps read in a light-hearted manner now, for Ruth, it made her think of ‘otherness’ and the older women in her life growing up as well as their influence on her existing worldview. Drawing upon positive memories of waking up to the smell of baking, and raiding her grandmother’s cloth chest for art materials, Ruth’s work champions craft, craft based learning, and wise – or ‘crafty’ – women.

Wanting to explore the community aspect of this project further, Ruth led the ‘Many Hands’ workshops, in which the clay-based works created by Year 3 children from Easington Primary School were made. Through subjects such as fantastical buildings, colourful hares, talismans, and ‘wish dolls’ the children created an imagined vision of their own communities utilising clay hand building skills. In response to their creations, Ruth bridges the ideas of ‘outsider-ness’ and belonging through co-creation and reframing of the children’s work, combining it with her own childhood memories, generating a collective playful vision of home and its connotations, as well as the stories we might tell ourselves about it.