Chantry Library The Blank Page Project

A series of creative workshops for teens

Location address: Chantry Library, Ipswich
Chosen age group:

Ages: 10 - 16 years

Available tickets:
Paid non-HAF eligible £15 per session Free HAF eligible Free
Next date: Monday 28th Jul,
Funded by Suffolk County Council
Universal provision
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
Chantry Library The Blank Page Project block mentored by Suffolk Community Libraries
A summary
Join us at Chantry Library for a variety of FREE creative workshops this Summer holidays for 10-16 year olds! Workshops are 9:45am - 3:30pm and include a free lunch, drinks and snacks. Free places are available for those eligible for benefit related free school meals. Unsure if you’re eligible? For guidance visit www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals For more information on each workshop and our amazing artists, please visit our website: suffolkcommunitylibraries.co.uk/blank-page If your booking is made within 72 hours of the workshop, we may not be able to accommodate specific dietary requirements. Please get in touch with the library location for the workshop to discuss options. Workshop details: Library: Chantry Library, Hawthorn Drive, Ipswich, IP2 0QY 28 July: Songwriting workshop 30 July: Special effects make-up workshop 4 August: Printmaking workshop 6 August: Collage & digital books workshop 11 August: Video game creation workshop 13 August: Upcycled collage workshop 20 August: Character creation workshop 27 August: Graphic t-shirt design workshop Monday 28 July 2025 09:45- 15:30 Charlie's Community Song Factory with Charlie Law Participants will write a song together in a group and record it in one day. The song will be professionally mixed and mastered and participants will receive an mp3 of the song. Charlie Law is a local singer-songwriter who has been featured on BBC Introducing and performed gigs with Ed Sheeran, Frank Turner and Turin Brakes. Wednesday 30 July 2025 09:45- 15:30 SFX Make Up with Lorna-Jane Garside Join arts practitioner Lorna-Jane Garside for this creative workshop for 10-16 year olds at your local library. Learn how to create your own cuts, bruises and gory special effects makeup looks! Participants will learn how to create the gory looks they've seen on stage and screen. You'll be making your own stage blood, creating latex prosthetics, and learning how to apply cuts and bruises. We'll build the weirdest and most creative story we can think of and design the special effects to go along with it! Monday 4 August 2025 09:45- 15:30 Exploring Adinkra – A West African-Inspired Print & Illustration Journey with Lily Hammond Join artist Lily from Uwu Studio for an experimental and joyful print and illustration workshop inspired by the powerful visual language of Adinkra symbols and her recent journey to Nigeria. This creative session celebrates the bold colours, rhythmic patterns, and meaningful symbols of West Africa through hands-on making and playful exploration. What are Adinkra symbols? Adinkra symbols originate from the Akan people of Ghana and represent ideas, values, and philosophical concepts. Traditionally used in textiles, ceramics, and architecture, these visual motifs express everything from wisdom and unity to courage and transformation. In this workshop, we will delve into the beauty and meaning behind these symbols, using them as inspiration to design our own unique artworks. We’ll explore vibrant colour palettes, create our own block prints using foam and card, and experiment with wax-resist techniques—a traditional method still widely practised across Nigeria as well as illustrative techniques and experimentation. You'll leave the session having learned new techniques and created a bold collection of African-inspired prints and illustrations to take home. Wednesday 6 August 2025 09:45- 15:30 My Style - print, collage & digital folded books with Michelle Brace Work with gel plate printing, collage, text, digital drawing and mixing to create a folded book in your own unique style! You will start the day by creating your own series of printed texture papers for use in your colourful collage. Your collage will be photographed and added as a background for digital layering, mixing and drawing in Procreate on the iPad (supplied for use in the workshop). Your design will be printed out in colour on A3 paper and folded into a book. You will then be able to add a title and any finishing touches to your book using acrylic markers and cut up text. Monday 11 August 2025 09:45-15:30 Level Up – Create Your Own Game World with Evie Capon Gaming and storytelling workshop – A full day of imagination, sound design, voice work and visual storytelling as participants design and bring to life their own original video game concept. This workshop will explore how to build a game world from scratch, including developing characters, designing quests, and recording sound effects and voiceovers for in-game action and cutscenes. Participants will learn how to plan their game’s narrative, storyboard key scenes, and will have the option to record their own trailer or “live playthrough” using voice acting, effects, and creative visuals. Using iPads and accessible creative software, the group will be guided to build their own world. By the end of the workshop, participants will go home with a mini game concept, complete with characters, sound, and a short video or audio demo to share. RISKS: E-safety guidance with the use of iPads. Please note: Content created may be shared online or with participants after the session. Consent will be requested where necessary. Wednesday 13 August 2025 09:45-15:30 Upcycled Collage and Decoupage with Clare Sams Join textiles artist Clare Sams for this creative workshop for 10-16 year olds at your local library. Learn how to make recycled art using magazines, comics and varnish. In this workshop you will learn how to customise objects with recycled comics and magazines to make fun and personalised creations. Decoupage is a traditional craft, used to upcycle objects for the home with colours, pictures, and patterns by using scrap paper and varnish. In the session you can try out the art of collage using paper glue, magazines, and card to get familiar with the techniques. Next you will make a customised keychain charm using decoupage glue and lettering. Moving onto a larger project after lunch, you can use your new decoupage skills to customise your own project, including wooden boxes, coasters, and canvases. What will you create? Wednesday 20 August 2025 09:45- 15:30 Who am I? Make a Character with a Difference with Sian Burford-Thomas Jump into action this Summer and create a character with a difference! Our blank canvas character’s identity will be revealed only by you… Join us to bring them to life through designing their look, who they are on the inside…and figure out just how they will make a difference to the world around us. We’ll be working together to create our brand new character, using a blank mannequin and YOUR ideas. We’ll be looking at visual elements such as clothing, creating performance to bring their traits and passions to life, as well as recorded voice work to capture their character for all to hear. Accessible and fun theatrical exercises and techniques will help participants to develop their ideas. Our finished character will remain on display at the library for all to see at the end of the day. Wednesday 27 August 2025 09:45- 15:30 Graphic T-shirts with Sarah Nkugwa Join printmaker and graphic designer Sarah Nkugwa for this free creative workshop for 10-16 year olds at Gainsborough Library, as part of The Blank Page Project! Learn how to use typography to create exciting graphic t-shirts to support big change in the world. We will be exploring different ways of using Typography to design on trend graphic messages to be worn on a t-shirt. Participants will make their way through a series of experimental design ideas and learn how to use vinyl and the heat press safely to make one-of-a-kind t-shirts to take home.
send accessibility checklist
1:1 care
2:1 care
Qualified to administer medication
Epilepsy trained
Accessible toilet
Assist with personal care and toileting
Hoist and changing bench
Makaton and PECS trained
Sensory break area
Quiet spaces
Secure environment
Disability communication skills
More information available on request
Contact the Mentor to discuss your specific needs regarding this list item.
Please note:
It is the responsibility of the booker to satisfy themselves about the adequacy of the the measures provided above. This platform is merely an introducer and does not verify the items listed.
About your mentors
Suffolk Community Libraries
Where I belong.
We run all 45 libraries across Suffolk. We offer engaging creative workshops for teens during the school holidays. Suffolk Community Libraries is part of the Public Health & Communities team at Suffolk County Council.
Sarah Nkugwa
Artist | Educator
Hi I’m Sarah Nkugwa aka Pop Print Studio, I am a contemporary Printmaker, Graphic Designer and educator living and working in Suffolk, UK. My main focus is on traditional printmaking with a specialism in screen printing. My work is inspired by human connection, positivity and imperfection. My visual language is bright and playful, remixing form and using brush strokes to create abstract compositions. I work spontaneously, responding to thoughts, sound and movement in real time. Every piece is unique; the unexpected elements of each reveal at the end of the process are a real highlight for me. An experimental, curious interpretation of the world around me informs my work. Embracing mistakes and flaws is central to my art, which encourages you to stand still and look. Every individual interprets my work in their own specific way as I hope you will too. My multi-disciplinary practice spans across drawing, printmaking and collage, I also spend time working on freelance projects and teaching creative workshops.
Charlie Law
Singer-Songwriter
Charlie Law is a storytelling songwriter from Suffolk, UK who sings about his adventures in camper vans, canal boats and starting a family. His guitar playing is steeped in the thumb picking fingerstyle of old ragtime music, passed onto him by his Grandpa who didn’t have the strength to play, but knew how to do it. Charlie’s baritone tenor voice (the same as John Lennon) has a rich tone, with soft falsetto in the style of Jeff Buckley and a Paolo Nutini Rasp when the music bites. More recently Charlie has been facilitating songwriting workshops in a variety of community settings. May music fill up your heart, Drink with me your flowing glass, Sing with me for all that’s nice, For joy in music is joy in life. - Charlie Law
Uwu Studio
Pattern print and colour lover
Lily is an illustrator working from her studio in rural Suffolk, having graduated with a first class honours in illustration.Her practice spans the creative sector from working on a commission for Black History Month for the BBC to working in an East London studio. Lily has a real passion for colour and pattern her portfolio demonstrates a plethora of different subject matters, whilst staying true to her loves and passions in life. She works in a variety of media– predominantly digital art, markers and acrylic painting – and makes use of textured and layered techniques to create energetic, eyecatching creations.
Sian Burford-Thomas
Theatre maker & practitioner
I work with young people and communities to share stories, explore identity and develop skills through theatre making. I enjoy working with texts and well as devising original work, and it's really important to me that anyone taking part is at the centre of the process. I’m fascinated by what motivates us as human beings, exploring the catalysts for action and change, and the stories that make us who we are. I run inclusive workshops and encourage laughter, teamwork and a positive shared experience. I now work as a freelance artist after having spent 8 brilliant years at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich.
Michelle Brace
Digital & mixed media artist
I describe my work as digital mixed media. I use all kinds of things as visual source material including moving image, natural materials, collage, mark making, text and photographic textures to build colourful visual compositions. I've recently been collaborating with dancers, musicians and other visual artists to make studio based work and work for live performance and projection. I often work with communities producing and facilitating projects and have a current emphasis on developing my creative practice to support mental health and well-being.
Wendy Barrett
Often seen with foraging for craft materials.
I started working as a Nursery Nurse. Now at Chantry Library, I enjoy working with children of all ages encouraging imagination learning through play about the environment and nature using recyclable craft materials. Its surprising what you can make with an old box or milk carton. I also love books.
Clare Sams
Sustainable textile arts practitioner
Textile artist with a background in fashion and arts education. MA in learning and teaching art and design for higher education. Sustainable arts practitioner. Development and facilitation of accessible creative arts engagement. Engaging and inclusive arts education.
Georgia
Library and Information Advisor
Here to support the young people attending, and artists providing our Blank Page Project workshops. I look forward to seeing you all and having a fun time during our workshops
Diane Roe
Love words and paint!
The power of the word through literature is vital, and I believe empowers the individual. The act of making art like-wise.
Evie Capon
Fun and caring Performing Arts facilitator.
Performing arts teacher with specialist skills to support people with additional needs.
Hannah Tovell
Library and Information Advisor
I love to help others and I love to read, so I combined the two!
Learning aims
Aim 1
To learn about what Suffolk Libraries can offer
Aim 2
To try something new and explore creativity
Aim 3
To develop confidence in meeting and working with new people
Pricing information
Ticket name Paid non-HAF eligible
Price£15
Ticket name Free HAF eligible
Price£0
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LEARNER REFLECTIONS0 reflections
Where we'll be
Chantry Library, Hawthorn Drive, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP2 0QY
WHAT’S PROVIDED
Drinks
Snacks
Meals
Equipment
Safety
Enhanced DBS
Risk Assessment
Public Liability Insurance
Safeguarding Training
First Aid Training
First Aid Kit
Smoke Detector

Please note

Please note, it is the responsibility of the booker to satisfy themselves about the adequacy of the safety measures. This platform is merely an introducer and does not verify the items listed here.

Cancellation Policy
Free bookings do not require refunds but as places are limited, please cancel if you cannot attend so that your place can be offered to someone else.

My experience consists of a leisure activity, on a specific date(s), and therefore the 14-day ‘cooling off period’ under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 does not apply.

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