National Civil War Centre community project will come to life through digital technology

An artist will reveal the results of a large community project this weekend featuring hundreds of pieces of art by members of the public.

Samantha Jayne has been the artist in residence at the National Civil War Centre since May and in that time has used her artistic skills in combination with virtual reality (VR) technology to explore the 17th century and bring the digital arts to the community.

Over the past four months Samantha has held creative workshops in schools, community groups, art clubs and care homes across the district as well as during festivals in Newark.

Participants of all ages — from 3 to 80-years-old — embraced the teaching and explored art processes such as mono printing, collaging and VR drawing.

Roughly 730 people took part in the workshops, helping to produce over 200 pieces of art, which have now be collated digitally by Samantha and will be available to view in VR this weekend, from September 23 at the centre.

Samantha said: “I’ve been creating this community project to try and involve as many people as possible.

“I must have held over 30 workshops in the last four months to create this 17th century VR experience.

“We wanted to look at this moment in history, which was quite a tumultuous time with a plague, the civil war, witches and other key topics.

“I think it’s important to open up opportunities to work and and create in a new and inspiring way through the digital arts.

“We’re just thrilled by the number of people that have taken part.”

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

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.

The artwork produced by the public has been photographed and placed into the virtual reality experience for visitors to view and explore.

To see the community project, visit the National Civila War Centre this Saturday, September 23

During this project she has collaborated with Humza Malika Birmingham based script writer and Doo Rheea Bristol based sound artist.