Inspiring young women in Leeds to express themselves creatively

An exciting project in Leeds aimed at to inspiring young women in the city to express themselves creatively culminates in a summer school and exhibition this week.

An exciting project in Leeds aimed at to inspiring young women in the city to express themselves creatively culminates in a summer school and exhibition this week.

Funded by Soroptimist International Leeds, Art School for Rebel Girls explores the power of images and confronts the ways that social media and ‘selfie culture’ shape attitudes and beliefs about women.

The project, which began earlier in the year, is organised by visual arts organisation Pavilion, in partnership with the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies.

A cohort of young women across two Leeds secondary schools, Carr Manor Community School and The Co-operative Academy of Leeds, embarked on a programme of activities and learning that offers a much freer and more expansive approach to art than that enabled by the mainstream school curriculum.

Sarah Richardson and Elspeth Mitchell, Art School for Rebel Girls producers, said:

“We’re excited to be delivering a programme that is critically engaged with issues of representation but that also fosters confidence, creativity and collaboration within and between the girls.

“Our aim is to inspire these women to dream big, to value themselves highly as individuals and to believe they can succeed.”

Expanding ideas of what art is and who makes it, after-school workshops in 2018 have centred on exploring personal experiences in relation to the work and ideas of female artists.

These sessions have equipped the group with new image-making tools and techniques and introduced them to artists working today and throughout history.

A week-long exhibition of collectively produced video, collage and sculpture will open to the public at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds.

It opens on Saturday 11 August and runs until the following Saturday, 18 August.

You can also follow the programme on Instagram at @artschoolforrebelgirls

See here for full details about the exhibition.

Image: Collage produced by a year 9 pupil for Art School for Rebel Girls, Leeds, 2018. Courtesy Pavilion.