Workshops

Abstract painting with dark blue and white brushstrokes, featuring circular and spiral patterns.

Breakfast Art Club

Bounce Arts Festival, 2023 A mixed media, accessible workshop incorporating wax resist and ink drawing and marbling techniques.

Assorted charcoal or ink prints and sketches on paper, including images of a house, a tree, an insect, and abstract designs.

Photo Lithographic Print

R-Space Gallery, 2019. Workshops introducing participants to the method of using photocopied images to make mono-prints on clay tiles. Each person rolled and cut their own ceramic tiles and prepared the images for printing, inking up and burnishing the image to the clay.

Three women in a shopping mall, one is holding colorful ribbon decorations up in the air, while the other two are looking at her. The mall has festive banners and shops in the background.

Wishtree Project

Creative Exchange Studio, 2017. The Wish Tree Forest - Artist Deirdre Robb (2016) (Assisted by Lesley Cherry, George Robb, Zara Lyness) Creative Exchange Studios, Belfast, as part of the Eastside 20/20 Arts Festival, hosted several visual arts events. Along with managing the volunteers for The Engine Room Gallery Exhibition I also spent a day at Connswater Shopping Centre helping with the Wish Tree Forest. This was an unexpectedly emotional experience as some of the visitors opened their hearts and told their stories as they made wishes for themselves, for others and their community.

Two women smiling at a table with colorful hedgehog-shaped pottery and figurines, with a computer monitor and kitchen in the background.

Staff Day Out

University of Atypical, April 2022. The first workshop since restrictions lifted was an invitation to run a staff workshop for the workforce of the University of Atypical at the Dunadry Hotel, Antrim. Working with participants with different background, abilities and experience, everyone made a unique character and they all survived the kiln.

Collage of four fossilized prehistoric animal and plant remains embedded in rock surfaces.

Bits and Bobs

R-Space Gallery, 2019. One person’s rubbish is another’s treasure! This workshop is an upcycling session where we will be creating sculptural 3D pictures using those odd items that you collect in the home or garage ‘just in case’. For this workshop we want you to rummage through that 2nd drawer down in the kitchen and bring in the random small objects that don’t fit anywhere else. You can create a landscape or figure, or go totally abstract in this workshop, securing these objects and shapes on a background and applying different painting techniques to create original pieces of art. Example of the sort of thing we can use are buttons, washers, bits of plastic, leads, nuts and bolts, springs, grips and clips, string, seeds, old broken costume jewellery…..

A group of people gathered around a table working on a project involving torn pieces of paper, glue sticks, magazines, and newspapers. The table is cluttered with various craft supplies and colorful papers.

Home School Gallery Day

R-Space Gallery, October 2019. Funded by L.C.C.C and hosted in R-Space Gallery, Lisburn, this programme of workshops ran in conjunction with the exhibition of art works selected from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Art Collection. The participants of the workshops were all home schooled and the gallery was filled with giggles and squiggles by the toddlers at one end of te gallery while the older children worked with collage and drawing one week and ceramics the following week.

Pair of handmade ceramic baby shoes painted with floral patterns, placed on a wooden surface, next to a pair of painted clay baby shoes with blue and white designs.

Baby Steps, ceramic workshop

R-Space Gallery, 2019. From childhood I have had an interest in shoes, borrowing mum’s for dressing up and then amassing an extensive collection from teens until now. Our first steps are anticipated with excitement by parents, the start of our journey to independence. In this workshop you will hand build a pair of children’s shoes. The process will include choosing a template, rolling and cutting the clay to size. Then you will ‘cobble’ your pieces together and, using colour, tools and oxides, design your very own pair. They can be made for cabinet display or to hang from a ribbon. When the clay shoes have dried they will fired in the kiln, and become a treasured reminder of childhood and how important it is to make some time for yourself to ‘play’. The processes involved will include slab building, score and slip, undergazing, sgraffito and or stamping.

Patterned collage featuring a spider web and a 3D spider sculpture on a white surface.

Allhallows Beginner Ceramic Workshop

R-Space, Lisburn, 2019. Ceramic workshop making spider and web tealight candle holders. This was a simple workshop and everyone created fun spider characters that were fired and ready in time for Halloween.

Close-up of layered pastel-colored watercolor paper in shades of pink, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple, with some rough and torn edges.

Papermaking Workshop

R-Space Gallery, 2019. In this workshop you will get the chance to have a go at each stage of this up-cycling paper making process. Using shredded paper, you will be preparing a paper pulp, choosing additional materials to add to your paper and make paper with different textures. Different sizes of frames and deckles, the tools used to filter the paper pulp, will be provided so you can experiment with size, shape and pattern. Different materials can be added to the mix to add embellishment to the paper such as flower petals, pineapple (crushed!), old paper holiday money, threads and fibres. We will also be making textured paper as well as flat sheets. If you have anything you would like to try and include in your paper making please bring it along. There will be petals and fibres provided.

A person with dark hair wearing butterfly wings made from folded newspapers. There are colorful paper crafts on the table to the left, and other people can be seen at the table. The setting appears to be indoors, possibly in a classroom or workshop.

Body Shining Project

University of Atypical 2023 Body Acceptance workshop making paper crown and costumes and developing compliments that avoid commenting on the body.

Invitation to the Feile an Earraigh visual arts exhibitions opening night on March 12, 2018, at St Mary's University College Belfast, with colorful abstract border and various sponsor logos.
A row of ten painted portraits on small ceramic portrait tiles displayed on a table in front of a glass door with textured glass panes.
A person is using a blue pen to draw orange and purple leaf designs on white paper.
Displays a collection of portrait drawings and illustrations arranged on two horizontal hooks, featuring various artistic styles and colorful details, including sketches, painted portraits, and decorative fabric art.
Child's drawing of a girl in a blue dress, green shoes, and wearing a large blue hat, standing on green grass, with a yellow background and red dots.

Community Arts, Selfie Swap

Féile an Earraigh Selfie-Swap project and exhibition 2018. Upper Springfield Development Trust Arts Programme is holding their Selfie Swap Exhibition on Monday 12th March at 6.30pm in St. Mary’s University College Falls Road. This is part of Féile an Earraigh’s programme of Visual Art Exhibitions, that can all be seen on the night, and for the whole week of Féile an Earraigh. This project is funded by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. This is also funded by Department for Social Development’s Belfast Regeneration Office.

Artists Tonya McMullan and Zara Lyness have been working on the project and delivering art workshops with Springvale, St Gerard’s Educational Resource Centre’s Youth Club along with the Education Authority’s Youth Inclusion and Diversity Unit, and Springfield Charitable Association. The project was based on the history of selfies, creatively examine old portraiture, an early form of selfies and bring it up to date via Snapchat & social media selfies. This was an intergenerational project with young people leading the way in terms of the new technology and current selfies, and the older people sourcing old family photos of themselves and their parents, grandparents, etc. The young people learned about old forms of selfie portraiture and were also introduced to the technical skill of painting with light. Traditional printmaking was combined with digital technology.  (http://feilebelfast.com)

Close-up of a colorful, crackled ceramic mug with a handle, placed on a reflective surface against a dark background with light reflections.
A hand holding a yellow marker is drawing on a piece of paper. The drawing features a flowerpot with pink flowers inside, outlined in green with some inside details. To the right is a blue vase with small orange flowers. The drawing appears to be created with colored markers and crayons.
Three ceramic cups with colorful, textured glaze in pink, green, and yellow with blue accents, displayed on a glass shelf.
Child's crayon drawing of a person standing on a set of stairs, wearing a yellow outfit and a blue hat with a red pom-pom on top, with trees on either side.
Child's drawing of a house with three floors, a purple roof, purple walls, a single window, and a red door. The house has three hanging swings with children colored in red, yellow, purple, and orange. Surrounding the house are green dots and lines representing grass and pathways, and a hand is holding the drawing.
Flyer for an arts program inviting people to a public art showcase titled 'Changing Environments' as part of Refugee Week on Tuesday, June 19th, from 3 pm to 6 pm at Old Andersonstown Barracks Site, featuring artworks by Lucy Turner, Charlotte Bosanquet, Zara Lyness, with storyteller Ruth Graham, in conjunction with Ark Housing's Moyard House, Roseville House, and Falls Women's Centre.
Multiple quilted fabric mats with autumn leaves and buttons design, placed on grass, under a semicircular wooden frame structure with plastic sheeting covering part of it.
Outdoor art installation of several paper lanterns hanging on wires, with trees and a building in the background under a cloudy sky.
People attending an outdoor community event on a rainy day, holding umbrellas, standing around tables, with decorations and a colorful mural on a fence in the background.

Changing Environments

Upper Springfield Development Trust, 2018. After two months of workshops, the art work produced by the participants from Moyard House, Roseville House and the Falls Women's Centre was showcased at the Old Andersonstown Barracks Site in Belfast.  The project has all age groups from Belfast, Poland, Somalia, Nairobi, Sudan and Egypt, coming together to share stories about changing environments.  The art work portrayed memories from different homes, families and dreams of other times and places. The project was funded by the Upper Springfield Development Trust. Images courtesy of Joshua Crawford.

A group of five women standing outdoors on a rainy day, holding umbrellas and smiling. They are surrounded by greenery and appear to be participating in a creative or artistic activity involving decorated umbrellas with drawings and paintings.
Outdoor art display featuring framed illustrations of faces and a flower, with fabric and felt crafts in various colors and patterns arranged on a wooden frame, at a festival or market.
Children playing with hula hoops and pinwheels in a grassy outdoor area during the daytime.
Hoop with a black and white illustration of a girl with long hair, set outdoors on a grassy area with trees, buildings, and other lanterns in the background under a cloudy sky.
A group of people gathered around a table working on a colorful mosaic or craft project, with various supplies and tools on the table.
Plastic containers filled with colorful glass pieces, including green, yellow, red, purple, and dark glass shards, on a wooden table with some loose glass pieces around.
Close-up of a colorful mosaic made of small, irregularly shaped pieces of colored glass or ceramic, including green, red, yellow, purple, blue, and brown.
Several people sitting around a table engaged in an activity, with some holding small objects and others reaching into small containers, in a brightly lit room with large windows and green foliage outside.

From the ashes

Old Warren Women's' Group and RELATE, 2015. Mosaic workshop dealing with drug awareness in the community. Mosaic made from confiscated drug paraphernalia seized during raids.

The group were guided in the breaking up of the materials which they then applied to the drawn out phoenix template.

The group chose the phoenix motif to symbolise their progress in educating young people in the area about drug awareness

Group of people gathered around a table in a room with large windows, some smiling and looking at the camera.