Charity Work in a School in The Gambia

I have just returned from The Gambia! I've been out in West Africa working for a charity called F.R.O.G.S (friends of Gambian schools). It's a brilliant charity that works with over 100 schools all over Tha Gambia, working to improve education for children throughout the country. For those of you that don't know, I had raised £1000 to go and transform some classrooms in Bijilo Lower Basic School by cleaning, white-washing and painting their learning resources onto the walls. The school cannot afford to provide the children with textbooks so this enabled all children to access the learning...

The Gambia Girls team!

The classroom before we got our hands on it. The floors were crumbling away with huge holes in, the walls were dirty and bare... but not for long!

After a lot of elbow grease, we scrubbed, rinsed and white-washed the walls all ready for the learning resources to be painted onto them!

The respiratory system

Please excuse my hair and general scruffy appearance, when you're working hard in the 40 degree heat of Africa, there is no time for beautifying!

Adult and milk teeth diagrams, a cross-section of skin and the excretory system.

Traditional costumes of The Gambia

An 8-point compass with a cheeky elephant to help the children remember :)

The new improved chalk board

The Gambian crest

A map of The Gambia

We left our own little signatures to mark our hard work, each of us printed our hand and wrote our name

The most rewarding part was letting the children back into their new classroom and straight away they started using the resources on the walls. Here is a boy reading aloud the poem "you are what you eat" that we painted onto the wall.

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

The Head Teacher Mr Fatty and one of the teachers, Lamin, with some children enjoying the resources that we provided the school with!

I had the most incredible time in The Gambia, and already almost all of us are talking about returning to Africa again! I suspect that we will all be bogged down with a million things when we enter our NQT year of teaching so it might have to wait, but one day I will be going back!

Want to Commission yourself a piece of Art? Now's your chance!

As many of my Twitter friends are aware, I am going to be going to The Gambia in June 2011. I will be visiting a Gambian School representing the F.R.O.G.S charity (Friends of Gambian Schools) Where I will be, along with my fellow Primary Ed students from Leeds Trinity University, transforming classrooms into useable, vibrant learning environments. We will be painting the classrooms inside and out and painting their curriculum and learning resources onto their walls as they cannot afford books for the children and teachers. Here are a few photos of the hard work of previous students involved in the project: the difference they made to the school and the lives of the children was massive.

In order for me to be able to make a difference to this school, I need to raise £1000 before February. Alongside the fundraising I will be doing at university and back home, I am going to be selling paintings.

Have you ever wanted to commission a personalised piece of art? Well, now's your chance! I am going to be lending my artistic skills and creativity to the cause. If you look through my art below and like what you see and would like something similar (or something completely different!) send me an email (abehayden@hotmail.com) and I will create your piece of art. Alternatively you can go through my Etsy shop and "request custom item" from me.

Every single penny made will go towards my fundraising efforts to help Gambian schools. You will decide exactly how much you pay for your piece of art. As long as the cost of materials and postage is covered and at least £5 (or more depending on the piece) is going to the charity, you name your price.



















So, if you want a drawing, painting, or something a little bit different, or you want to give a special Christmas present, please don't wait... email me now! Also, if you could share a link to this blog, or retweet my tweets if you are of the Twitter persuasion, it would be much appreciated!

Painting - Tea, shoes, and above all else, polka dots!

I've had a day off from university and the house completely to myself for two days so I decided to have a lovely relaxing day (after the boring household chores were done) painting! I had gone out and stockpiled some canvasses the last time I felt the creative urge, so all I needed was some good music on and a little bit of inspiration!

I raided my kitchen cupboards and decided to paint my teapot and my gorgeous little polka dot vintage tea cup that a good friend got me for Christmas one year. I also raided my wardrobe and came across some of my favourite Simple shoes, a flower brooch and a bow hairclip... This is the result!

Polka Dot Lcae Up Shoe - $25 (£16)

Polka Dot Tea For One - $25 (£16)

Painting - Strawberry Layer Cake With Polka Dots!

I've been getting that creative vibe once again! I havn't been inspired to get my paints out for over a year now, and I suddenly got the urge to start painting again this morning. So, I went on the bus into Leeds city centre on this sunny Sunday morning to buy myself some new canvasses and dug my paints and brushes out of the spare room. I always try to create pieces of art that express a snippet of me and things that I love, so I have combined polka dots and scrummy cake for this little painting!

This painting is now for sale in my Etsy Shop All About Abbie. I also do commissioned pieces of art, whether it be painting or sketches, so if you want a little bit of art by my fair hand, don't hesitate to "request a custom item" in my Etsy Shop!

I have rediscovered my love for painting. The only down side is that I now have two full days of uni lined up... when really I'd love to stay at home, play some music, and spend my day with a brush in my hand painting pretty polka dotted things!

My humble "artists studio" aka... a cardboard box in my spare room... it's all glam in my house! I am a poor student after all, trying to make a few pennies to be able to afford the pretty things in life!

The Santa Marta Art Project in Rio de Janeiro!

The other day whilst perusing the news and internet I came across this little project in Rio de Janeiro. Inspired by earlier projects by artists Haas and Hahns with the Favela project, The O Morro project in Santa Marta has transformed the slums there. Haas and Hahns initiated community-driven art interventions in Rio's slums in 2006 with the Favela project, where huge murals were painted on building-sides by youths and people living in the slums: offering them a chance to learn a craft and earn money whilst doing so.

The artists have totally transformed the slum, and the community too! The locals that were involved with the massive project were trained in everything from different types of paint to safety when using scaffolding: good transferrable skills for their future. Due to the huge array of building materials used in the slums, it was a challenge for all involved to work with every different building...

When all the painting was completed the huge piece of art spanned over 34 houses and buildings and roughly 7000m2 of the hillside slums, converting the area into a a momument for the community. The goal is to raise enough funds to paint an entire hillside favela potentially transforming it into one of the greatest driven artworks of our time. To help realise the goal, you can donate money to suppor the O Morro project here.

This is a truly inspiring project that is not only helping create works of art for everyone to enjoy, but training and equiping the local with valuable skills.

I love this photo.

Business as usual for this local shop owner.

The local Samba school, one of the focal points of the community, celebrating in the main square.

Taking a well earned break!

The locals involved in the huge project.