Handweaving looms for workshops

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People we support are using our grants to make a real difference in their lives.
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Gane Trust

Handweaving looms for workshops

Textile artist Jade Ogden from Somerset received a Gane Trust grant to buy two heddle weaving looms to use in her workshops with people with learning disabilities. As an established handweaver herself, working with regeneratively  farmed local wool, Jade is keen to teach people who otherwise might not find gainful employment how to master this skill and work independently.

Crofton-Gane plaque

Byron Thomas leaves Gane Trust after 25 years of service

The Gane Trust would like to give huge thanks to Byron Thomas who has stood down as a Trustee after twenty-five years of service, for ten of which he was a diligent and conscientious Chair. Byron approached the work of the Trust with an exacting yet generous spirit which captured the essence of the Trust’s very being – to support by practical means the potential of people setting out with purpose in the worlds of the arts and social care. One of the final projects Byron oversaw as Chair was the creation and siting of the Blue Plaque on College Green to celebrate the life...

Siobhan-pots-in-the-workshop-web

New kiln, new opportunities

Earlier this year, Siobhan Joan applied successfully to Gane Trust for a grant to help her buy a new kiln to support her progressing her ceramic practice. Having purchased the kiln, Siobhan has been able to widen and increase her scope of production, and is now selling her ceramics through the Bristol Guild of Applied Arts. A good situation for Siobhan and for all the customers able to buy her mugs and plates to enjoy at home.

Arianne Chair for TGT 1.0

A vital piece of equipment

Arianne Abram-Moore received a Gane Trust grant earlier this year to buy an engineer’s combination square, an essential tool for accurate marking and precision work in furniture making. Arianne wrote to tell us how this tool supported her through her most difficult project to date, a chair with a woven rush style seat. As she steps into the third (BA) year of her Furniture Making and Design course we hope that this tool continues to support her – it is a great example of how a Gane Trust grant can support creative development!

The  Haven Round House where the journaling sessions take place

Journaling for well-being workshops

Writer Jaime Breitnauer received a Gane Trust grant in the spring of 2023 to support the development of her journaling for well-being workshops at the Haven Round House with female parents of disabled young people in Bristol. The grant enabled her to run a further three sessions building on her learnings from the pilot programme undertaken in 2022. The feedback and impact data indicate that this work makes a genuine difference, empowering women to take control of their own mental health and well-being outcomes, and creating connected communities of carers in their local area. Jaime is now in a position...

Kate Parsons photo web 2

Combining traditional sculptural methods with 3D printing

A Gane Trust grant awarded in March has enabled Bristol sculptor Kate Parsons to explore the potential of 3D printing for making, and re-scaling sculptural work. The project for which the grant was given is called ‘Above/Below’ and combines traditional methods of making with that of cutting-edge technology. Kate explains ‘This will expand my technical knowledge and expertise going forward. I often start work from anthropological research, mainly in Africa, which leads to a form of personal fusion of sculptural forms, materials, subject matter and symbolism. The concept of ‘Above/Below’ is based on the Giriama Commemorative Grave Posts (Vigango) being...

Amber Bailey - plastic bits resized

Recycling acrylic waste into jewellery

Earlier this year the Gane Trust awarded a grant to Amber Bailey to fund the purchase of a vulcanised rubber press for her acrylic jewellery business. Amber got in touch to tell us “This machinery allows me to recycle my acrylic waste into new sheets for laser cutting. It has been a great step towards reducing my waste and improving the environmental and financial impact of my business.  I have been saving my acrylic waste for the past year, hoping to try out this technique of recycling. It is thanks to the Gane Trust that I have been able to...

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