Creativity on display in summer Respect Fest workshops

Families and young people in Tavistock and Okehampton have had a summer of creativity as part of exploring ideas around identity, connection and belonging through art.

The resulting work will be exhibited at Tavistock Library, Printworks and Butchers’ Hall during the Respect Fest events and celebrations, which take place between September 12-20 and are free to everyone in the community.

At Tavi Youth Café local artists from diverse backgrounds have led a series of workshops on the festival theme of Everyone Different Everyone Equal.

Gill Cairns explored dyslexia and communicating without words.

She said: “There is a universal visual language and we usually create similar marks to depict and express feelings, emotions and express a mood, which we can recognise respond to.”

Lorna Legg explored portraiture of people from different parts of the world in charcoal. “In drawing a person, we can find hidden traces of our commonality/common ancestry… a face can only show one facet/side of us at a single point in time – it cannot tell the whole story,” she said.

Kathy Wray explored themes of identity, connection, nature and emotional wellbeing through expressive drawing, mark-making and creative writing.

At Tavistock Library and the Ockment Centre in Okehampton, families explored identity and belonging through a series of workshops with Andy Cairns from West Devon Art Workshops, looking at wishing trees, printed pattern portraits and fusion fashion.

The festival exhibitions include additional work from Tavistock Primary School, Horrabridge Primary School and Tavistock College and ten designs from Tavistock Primary School pupils will be featured on banners around the town.

To find out more about Respect Fest and access the full programme of events visit their Facebook Page ‘RespectFest26’ and Instagram account ‘respect_fest_tavi’ or pick up a programme from local shops, venues and Tavistock Library.