We had the pleasure of hosting Rowan for their work placement during the first week of July. Here’s what Rowan had to say about their time at Skippko…

Monday

On my first day, I arrived at and was given a preliminary tour of the eclectic and colourful Skippko site (Even the office space had a variety of drapes in various colours hanging above the desks), and was formally introduced to the company’s only two full-time employees: Creative Lead Cath and Director Arthur. From here I was run through the comprehensive Health & Safety and Safeguarding procedures, and finally my diverse itinerary. Everything from rolling out clay for an outdoor arts group to a planning meeting concerning a French Salon-Esque exhibition was listed – although I imagine that this is only a microcosm of what occurs at Skippko.

There is something about running a community arts charity focusing on marginalised people from a 1960s industrial estate that feels delightfully subversive to me. The borderline monolithic building’s brutalist facade looms somewhat menacingly over car parks and a main road, ocular proof that appearances can be deceiving. The building’s interior feels like a cloistered community in and of itself, with charities and small businesses existing elbow-to-elbow with each other. Skippko’s general ethos – apparent from the moment you step inside their office or creative space – is one of cooperation and accommodation.

The first hands on task that I was given was prepping papier mache supplies for the following day’s “In The Frame” art project: the creation of a large pseudo-gilt frame (no surprises there, perhaps). This gave me an insight into the sheer breadth of supplies that Skippko has at its disposal. The fact that we managed to locate several bottles of gold and bronze paint, disposable plastic aprons, a random assortment of tubs and a ginormous sheet of non-descript brown paper, all in the span of about three minutes, I believe is testament to this. To attempt to list all of the various art supplies, previous projects, and general interesting stuff that I saw in this three-minute span would have me at my wit’s end.

After a pause for lunch, the three of us got to work for a while on our various independent projects – mine being this very blog. It was then that I realised how much my productivity was being boosted just by the engaging and fun environment around me. I’m tempted to start a petition for the mandatory installation of colourful drapes and randomly placed bunting in soulless open-plan offices up and down the country: the difference that just a pop of colour and variety can make is truly astounding.  We soon met with Anthony, a theatre director and one of Skippko’s freelance artists, to plan the schedule and visual setup of the upcoming “In The Frame” event.

Seeing the relationship between the full-time employees and their freelance counterpart was enlightening, and one gets the sense that – although technically ephemeral – the artists are treated as just as integral and important a part of the organisation as anyone else. Strong creative vision is not only tolerated but encouraged by the staff in almost every aspect. After the meeting, it was back to the office for one last bit of independent work before we wrapped it up at around 4 O’clock.

Tuesday

On my second day I first had the privilege of meeting some of Skippko’s participants, in this case the Monthly Art Group, who are an art group who meet – you guessed it – once a month. This session was facilitated by Annie and Rozi, two visual artists who do freelance work for the organisation. The Monthly Art Group had this uncanny ability to hold such a strong sense of community and culture whilst also welcoming a newcomer like me with open arms. This month’s focus was on watercolours, and everyone – including the facilitating artists and myself – was encouraged to participate. The group’s main ethos focused less on producing a “finished product”, but more on the experimentation and discovery that is inherent in the artistic process, but without the often-looming pressure of producing a “good” or “worthy” final product. This is the perfect example of how Skippko prioritises development and togetherness over traditional metrics of success.

Even with this approach, the variety and quality of works produced by the group was incredible. Despite everyone’s differing skill levels, styles, tastes and experience with the medium, everybody found their niche and produced something that they were proud of, and that was unique from everyone else’s work. One person painted multicoloured flowers inspired by a pattern they had seen online, for example, whereas another went more abstract, using random objects from around the room as templates for their shapes. Several people variated on an interlocking hands design, based on an example by one of the facilitators, but each version was distinctly unique. Such diversity in creativity, I believe, is a symptom of the process-focused approach of the workshop.

After lunch, Cath, some kind Monthly Art Group volunteers and I commenced the prop making for the “In The Frame” event, as had been prepped the previous day.  Although I had only met most of these people a few hours prior, we did our work with great efficiency and teamwork, and got much further in the process than if it had just been me and Cath. No one felt the need to fill the silences with awkward chit-chit, which I’ve always viewed as a sign of a successfully created sense of togetherness. After that, we spent some time rolling clay for tomorrow’s “Under the Canopy” group, and then the day was done.

Wednesday

On the Wednesday, I began my day not in the office but at Hollybush Conservation Centre, where I was to be helping out with the “Under The Canopy” group, who create art, drink varying concoctions and tell stories under the facilitation of freelancers Anne and Matthew. This week, they were creating objects using the clay that Cath and I had rolled out the previous afternoon, creating imprints on them using local wildlife and flora. Somewhat of a theme begins to emerge here of projects involving materials that had been prepped in-office the previous day. I personally enjoyed how this made the whole experience feel holistic: instead of five different days with five different projects, elements of each day’s work more often than not fed into other elements of other days. Some of the members of the “Under The Canopy” group were also present at the Monthly Art Group, which I believe shows that what makes Skippko effective is not its parts but its whole.

After I returned to the office, I aided Cath in further preparation for the “In The Frame” event. This time, we continued the frame and began work on several large cardboard cutouts, in keeping with the general surrealist theming of the event’s decor. Skippko’s “Unit 50” venue – in the same building as their office – was the location for this, and I got to bear witness to the space’s versatility during this time. Some of the room’s features include a wall full of photographs, a kitchenette, several paper trees – themselves home to paper birds – and (my personal favorite) a large cardboard duck pond, complete with rock-hard papier mache ducks. One gets the sense that the people running Skippko are loath to throw anything away, and rightly so, as every piece – regardless of size or complexity – forms a part of Skippko’s rich history and tells the story of all the people who have contributed to it.

After this, it was a trip back down to the office for a bit of blogging before the day was done.

Thursday

I began Thursday by helping out with the HOPE group, facilitated by Anne and Sally, another Skippko freelance artist. The HOPE group, consisting mostly of older people from the Halton and Osmondthorpe areas of Leeds, were working on a faux stained-glass piece reflecting their area’s history and community. Some tasks included drawing a representation of the notoriously ochre-hued Wyebeck, discussing the – now unfortunately nonexistent – ancient oak that many participants remembered as being iconic of the area, and tracing action shots of the participants onto sticky-back acetate, mimicking the look of stained glass. As a young person who is not familiar with the Halton and Osmondthorpe area, it was both delightful and enlightening to listen to these people celebrate and pay tribute to their community in a unique way – one that I daresay would not have been possible without the intervention of a social arts charity like Skippko. Some of the things that were discussed – the oak tree being one example – were things that I simply would never have known about had discussion and celebration of such historical aspects not been facilitated.

Afterwards, it was back up to Studio 50 for some more work on the In The Frame event’s decor – this time it was mostly painting. I find it interesting how there are two main facets to the project side of the work at Skippko: some of it is immediate, hands-on work with groups of people being facilitated by resident artists (such as the Monthly Art Club, Under The Canopy and HOPE), and some of it is long-term preparation for bigger, public events down the line (such as In The Frame. The combination of the two into one job makes for a varied experience and is a good representation of the range of services that Skippko provides to the groups and communities that they operate with. Then, it was a bit of computer work, before we wrapped up on the penultimate day of my placement.

Friday

On the last day of my placement, I started out once again out of the office. This time we were at Greenacre Hall, the venue for AVSED, a social charity for the elderly, and their Skippko affiliated group, Camera Connections. As you may have guessed, the Camera Connections group focuses on photography, and this week’s (inaugural) session was facilitated by Sally and Nicki, a photographer who works with Skippko. The majority of the session this week focused on looking at a series of different photos and describing the emotions evoked by them. It was interesting to hear the perspectives of the older people who participated, as I feel that their voices are not adequately represented in the mainstream. They certainly had interesting stories to tell of travelling the world and succeeding in professions that they had been told were not “for them.” Afterwards, the participants spent some time photographing the – initially at least – fairly unassuming room that we were in, however just the practice of photographing it made the previously mundane objects in the room feel special. This, I think, is the beauty of something like the Camera Connections project: it allows people to view their world afresh through new lenses (literally).

Conclusion

Looking back on the week that I spent at Skippko as a whole, I believe that I saw a brilliant cross-section of what the organisation does. The number of people that I met through the projects that were both implicitly and explicitly greatful for the opportunities provided for them is too many to count. For a company with only two permanent employees, the impact that they have clearly had on the community is astounding. Furthermore, I believe that instilling the idea of process over product is an invaluable lesson to maximise fulfilment in life. In today’s world, a lot of pressure is placed on the individual to be productive, constantly outputting work of all kinds, so for an organisation like Skippko to be providing a space in which the experience of the creative process is championed is more important than ever. Overall, Skippko fulfils its role as a community building, artist platforming, creativity facilitating organisation perfectly, and that is what I felt proud to be part of.

Rowan