National Civil War Centre in Newark say goodbye to first artist in residence, Samantha Jayne, whose community project combined art and history

An artist has enjoyed a successful residency in which she merged art and history in a virtual reality community art project.

Samantha Jayne has now come to the end of her artist residency at the National Civil War Centre in Newark after four months of working to explore history through the medium of art.

From May until the end of September she worked with visitors and residents to compile hundreds of pieces of artwork into a community art project embracing the heritage of Newark in the 17th century.

Over 700 people took part in special workshops and produced over 200 pieces of art which were then photographed and digitised by Samantha, before being collated and uploaded into a virtual reality (VR) experience.

Samantha said: “It’s been a really exciting time for me and I’ve loved seeing what all of the young people and kids have done.

“I was really interested in bringing the arts and heritage together and making them more accessible through digital technology.

“Museums can sometimes be a little boring for younger people, but what the National Civil War Centre does brilliantly is interactivity and I wanted to incorporate that into my work.

“So I went out to schools and art groups to hold workshops and show off this different way of working on a 360 degree canvas.

“It’s such a new and niche way or working and there is so much freedom that people get really lost in the experience.”

The VR experience transported participants back in time, dropping them down in a busy Newark Market Place in the 17th century.

Those taking part had a full 360 degree environment to explore, complete with an immersive soundscape and voice over which walked viewers through the idea behind the project and the history behind what they were seeing.

Hundreds of the public’s colourful drawings and paintings of people in period clothing had been layered over each other in 3D space, with large paintings of some of Newark’s oldest buildings surrounding them.

Alongside the community project was a second VR experience created by Samantha depicting an observatory and planets, where every object seen has been hand painted by the talented artist and digitally uploaded.

Samantha — who graduated from university in illustration last year — wanted to get involved with the centre and the project due to her interest in heritage and the arts.

Originally from Leicester, she praised Newark for it’s culture and enjoyed the time she spent in the town during her residency.

“Newark is a lovely town with a lovely community,” she said

“I wanted to thank all those that took part and the museum staff for their kindness and support.

“This was both my first artist residency and I was the centre’s first artist in residence and I think we have both learnt so much.

“I plan to continue working with heritage and using interactive workshops to make the arts more accessible.”

The project was run in collaboration with the Open Doors arts programme from the National Civil War Centre, which aims to inspire people in the district with free, creative and fun activities.

Samantha also worked with Junction Arts and The Mighty Creative to deliver the project.

The centre’s next artist in residence will be Venessa Stone, a mixed media collage artist from Balderton.

She will move into the studio later this month and stay until next March — during which time she will work with residents to take a hands on approach to art.

A community art project will be produced, promoting mindfulness, with a focus on sustainability and using locally sourced materials.