We wish him every success in his new job, and look forward to continued working together, in fact Tyson has asked us to do the back drop for the upcoming Bowstock Festival in October.

Today members and volunteers gathered together for the final preparation session for the Sporting Superheros window display which is to be housed at Canary Wharf.

ArtEast was a hub of activity, with everyone working hard to put the finishing touches to all of the display items.

Amongst the objects being completed you could find Spiderman lurking by the cakes!

Members were asked how they felt about ArtEast and what the project meant to them.

Abdul 30 said “I’ve enjoyed making the objects, paper mache and getting involved with the people. The volunteers are good to work with.”

This is a common sentiment repeated by many of the other members who have all enjoyed working on such a high profile project.

“I’m impressed with the enthusiasm of the people in the group. Like everyone else, i’m excited to see the end project in the window.” – John (volunteer)

“I think ArtEast us fantastic – it’s a friendly group and i’ve enjoyed every moment.” – Ray

“I’ve enjoyed paper macho, painting and the silk screen printing. Everyone here is nice and polite.” – Thomas

It’s very good what they’re doing here. I like to make t-shirts and cups and taking photos.” – Jane

“It’s really good here, i’ve enjoyed everything. I like all the people they are really friendly.” – Justin

“I like coming here to paint and the food is good! I like going on the computer. It keeps me busy. The people here are friendly.”  Cyril

The ArtEast group were joined on their final session by three volunteers from Rothshild who all agreed they’d have a wonderful afternoon and were looking forward to joining the members for the grand unveiling of the display on the 1st May.

Danielle from Rothschild said “A pleasant and inspiring environment. The work that the members do completely out did my expectations.”

Before the egg hunt everyone paraded around Bob’s Park, singing Easter songs and wearing hats created in Art East class. The hats or ‘Easter bonnets’ were judged, by a panel of judges including Art East and Community Care staff. Robert, Wayne and Andrew were declared the bonnet design winners!

Races were held between carts created by Art East and Community Care and Cyril Ail’s Easter Rabbit cart triumphed in a dash around the centre.

Everyone finished with at least one Easter egg. Happy Easter.

4 Rothschild volunteers enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of creativity and engaging with the local community at the Bromley by Bow centre.
The mission of the afternoon was to create super-heroes in painting form along side some much needed tidying up of the Art cupboards!

‘The afternoon was so much fun! I got stuck in by helping to organise the cupboards in the first instance. Then of course… the temptation to paint overtook!
I had some lovely conversations with the local members and volunteers alike.  I will look forward to returning to the centre soon!’
Gina Kiely

‘Seeing all the smiley faces the minute I entered the room was so lovely! All the members were ultra friendly and made me feel very comfortable. I did a variety of different things and made a lot of friends. It was nice to get to know everyone. I would definitely recommend it to other people as I had a brilliant afternoon at Bromley by Bow centre’
Christina Neumann

‘I had a wonderful time at the afternoon session.  It was such a joy to get stuck in, and to work on the website which was something I had never tried before, but it was great fun to work with Abdul and Frank on updating the site.  I also had the chance to paint, which was very relaxing, and I enjoyed chatting to everyone around me as we all worked together.  I would definitely recommend volunteering at the centre.  Everyone is very friendly, and I felt very relaxed and welcome.’
Katie Davis

Arteast reporter Abdul interviewed fellow Arteast member Jane about the different soaps that they were making for the first time today.

Abdul: Jane, please tell us what you are doing.

Jane: We are smelling different scents, and deciding which smell to use, and which smells to use together in our soaps.

Abdul: What smells have you chosen?

Jane: Rose Geranium and Clary Sage

Adbul: They smell very nice.  Good choice of scents.

Jane also showed Abdul the Shea and Cocoa butters that are used to make the soaps soft.  Abdul reported that the butters were a little doughy in consistency and smelt very sweet.  The soaps are currently in the development stage, but will hopefully soon be for sale.

In May 2011, we produced a window in Canary Wharf Shopping Centre inspired by Avatar.  The avatar was modelled on Abdul, one of our members.  The Avatar was flying through Tower Bridge towards a view of Canary Wharf in the distance.

Abdul says “Fahd showed me how to make the tiger out of chicken wire and papier mache.  I like making all sorts of creatures and painting them.”

Kailam has been working with Audri, our sculpture tutor  to make a new range of Robots! These will be on sale at Bromley By Bow Centre on May 5th