Two Forth Valley College BA Hons Art and Design students have helped a Japanese Garden realise their Wishes for Wellbeing project.
Back in January 2023 The Japanese Garden, near Dollar, put a call out to the people of Clackmannanshire via the Alloa Advertiser – to help them fold 1000 paper cranes and to get involved in their Wishes for Wellbeing project.
They also reached out to Forth Valley College Creative Industries students for help and Beverley McNeil and Alina Wojciechowska took up the cause to make the dream a reality.
More than a year later the Japanese Garden are celebrating the completion of the project with an exhibition in their Garden Pavilion throughout March 2024. The exhibition showcases an art installation consisting of 1000 cranes, folded by 250 people from 18 different organisations around Clackmannanshire and beyond. It also shows animated films put together by young people from Ochils Youth Community Initiative and adults from Reach Out with Arts in Mind.
The exhibition provided an opportunity to champion artistic talent in the area, by employing Beverly and Alina – artists completing a BA(Hons) in Art and Design with Stirling University – alongside George Farrow-Hawkins, an animation artist working with Reach Out with Arts in Mind.
Beverly, who created the art installation using all 1000 cranes created, said: "Being given this opportunity has been an incredible journey and process. I have met the most amazing people who welcomed me with open arms and have fully immersed themselves in my thought process and creations for this project. This has been my first community project and through the camaraderie and kindness these people have shown to me they have set the bar high for any future community projects.”
The whole project has been rooted in promoting wellbeing, both in learning a new skill, in bringing people up to the garden to enjoy its environment, but also in promoting the benefits of working together to achieve a common goal. The Garden would like to thank all those who took part in the project, in particular their funders – EDF Burnfoot Hill Community Fund, The National Lottery Community Fund and The Hugh Fraser Foundation – and their wonderful team of volunteers who helped massively in driving the project forwards.
The exhibition will run for the whole of March and is included in the normal ticket price for the garden. To book tickets please visit www.cowdengarden.com
The photo was taken by Alina Wojciechowska.