Sat 14th, 10am-3pm
Gloucester Green | Free

Come join us and have some fun on Gloucester Green for an artsy-craftsy day of free activities for all the family.  

We’ll have six fabulous stalls where you can join in and create giant flowers to decorate Gloucester Green, make clay lamps and windows, help map the comings and goings in the market, receive or create a poetic cure, make a decorative mask or contribute to a collaborative quilting project.  

Bring the Light In 

An interactive clay workshop making Indian lamps (diyas) and colourful windows using textures, colour, glitter and your imagination to ‘’bring in the light’’ to our daily lives. Let us spread the light, good over evil and hope over despair.   

Diyas (Indian clay lamps) are lit on a dark moonless night to celebrate good over evil,  

bringing hope and good vibes. They can be a sign for new beginnings and end of the dark nights, while windows open up new possibilities and new beginnings and are a portal to outside inspiration.  

The idea of the workshop stemmed from the current situations in the world today. With the suffering, loss of lives, disease, and famine caused by unnecessary wars, hope seems distant and we need to be positive and let a ray of hope shine through.  

Gloucester Green in Bloom 

Help us to create giant blooms for Gloucester Green! Participants of all ages and abilities will help us make giant flowers constructed from colourful ‘spin paintings’ to create an evolving, collaborative piece of artwork during the Offbeat Festival.  

Making spin paintings is lots of fun and highly addictive, no two paintings are alike! Dot your paint on the paper, attach it to the spinner and see your abstract painting paint itself in front of your eyes! We’ll then make flowers from your spin paintings and ‘tie-dye’ filter paper then add them to our temporary Gloucester Green Garden.  

Map of the Day 

In Map of the Day, visitors to Offbeat are invited to work with artists Bennett & McDermott to co-create a large-scale map of Gloucester Green for each day of the festival.     

Together we will observe and record details of the area. Everything is relevant be it large, small or seemingly insignificant. We will use all our senses to orientate ourselves around the area, adding sights, smells, sounds, tactile objects and tastes to the map.   

With the guidance of the artists, visitors will be able to spend as much time as they like participating in the project. Taking time to stop and notice our immediate environment allows us to contemplate all that is going on around us in any given moment. Our observations and discussions will provide the raw material that we will archive onto the maps in a variety of creative ways. Learn new techniques for recording information creatively from simple printmaking and drawing methods to poetic writing. By the end of each day, with the energy of this collective effort, we will have produced a map that holds a snapshot of Gloucester Green for each of the two days of the festival.    

Masquerade 

Our lively art exchange stall will appeal to young and old – we have space for you to decorate a mask or a postcard, or both if you fancy! There will be facilities set up for a variety of enjoyable art techniques including painting, colouring, collage, stamping and printing.    

Choose from a selection of plain masks and decorate them using any of the methods available to make something colourful and fabulous - finish it off with a feather and a dusting of glitter to create a mask fit for carnival!  Or try your hand at simple gel printing or collage to produce a unique postcard. Draw directly into ink on the gel plate with a variety of tools or make an imprint with something textured like a leaf and print your final design onto the card – voila!  

This is your chance to try something new – even if you don’t feel confident,  we will be on hand to assist and encourage.  

Credit: Hannah Pye

Kandi-style collaborative quilting 

Embark on a journey of creativity and conversation as we invite you to participate in the creation of a hand-stitched Kawandi style collaborative quilt.  

Gather around one of our signature ‘talking triangles’ and let the prompts written on the base fabric serve as catalysts for reflection and inspiration igniting meaningful conversation and guiding creative choices to help shape the overall aesthetic of the quilt.  

Using small scrap fabric in various shapes and motifs help us create a quilt (by stitching, pinning or glueing, whatever suits you) inspired by the joyful memories shared during the workshop discussions. Think Matisse paper-cut style shapes, adding a vibrant and eclectic touch to the quilt.  

More about fostering wellbeing and mindfulness through the act of slow stitching as a community than quilting itself, community engagement and interaction are at the heart of this experience.  

Once completed, the individual triangles will be assembled into a larger community artwork, to be exhibited at Ark-T. All participants will have the opportunity to leave their mark on the quilt by including their name and age for inclusion.  

Join us for a workshop that celebrates creativity, community, and the art of living well. We can't wait to stitch together memories and stories with you.  

Oxford Poetry Pharmacy 

The Oxford Poetry Pharmacist awaits with a remedy for the soul. Here, amidst a stall of stanzas and couplets, lies a haven for those seeking solace or seeking to craft their own lyrical cure. Whether you come burdened with the weight of sorrow or brimming with joy, the Oxford pharmacist of poetry stands ready to prescribe the perfect tonic to ease your heart or inspire your mind.  

In this sanctuary of sonnets and haikus, the healing power of poetry is harnessed to address the ailments of the spirit. Just as a skilled apothecary blends herbs and extracts to concoct a potion, the Oxford Poetry Pharmacist blends words and emotions to create a potion of verse that soothes, uplifts and enlightens.   

The pharmacist, with a gentle touch, selects verses, offering a balm of empathy and understanding. Through the alchemy of language, the weight on your shoulders begins to lighten, as each word carries you closer to a place of peace.  

Or maybe you come with a mind ablaze with inspiration, eager to craft your own masterpiece. The pharmacist becomes your guide, leading you through the labyrinth of creativity, helping you distil your thoughts and feelings into lines that sing with beauty and truth. Together, you weave a tapestry of metaphor.  

As you linger in the presence of poetry, you realise that it is not just a form of expression, but a form of healing. Like a tonic for the soul, it has the power to uplift, to comfort, to provoke thought and to ignite passion. From the hands of the Oxford Poetry Pharmacist, you leave the sanctuary of verse, you carry with you not only the words that have been prescribed, or crafted, but also the knowledge that within pages of poetry, there lies a world of infinite possibility. Whether you seek solace or inspiration, the Oxford Poetry Pharmacist will always be there, ready to offer a dose of poetic medicine to heal whatever ails you.