Inner Piece Project

The “Inner ‘Piece’ Project” is a Belfast City Council part funded project, run by 7 of the Artists in residence from Studio Souk.

The project involved working with 4 community centres in East Belfast. This collaboration produced a total of 140 individual works of art, which were put together to create two, six foot sculptures of the iconic Belfast cranes, Samson & Goliath.

The Inner Piece Project was about exposing young people in east Belfast to a range of art techniques and skills in the hope of igniting in them, a passion for the arts. The individual works of art were created in East Belfast but will be displayed outside Studio Souk, linking the youths with their city centre.

The installation of the final sculpture will take place on Saturday 7th November at 3pm, outside studio Souk. The hope is that this project will highlight the importance of art in the city centre and provide an interesting talking point for locals and tourists in Belfast.

The artists ran a series of workshops in Inverary Community Centre, Dee Street Community Centre, Ledley Hall and Tullycarnet Community Centre, with a range of youths ages 8 – 24. Studio Souk also worked with EBM, Youth Initiatives and East Belfast Alternatives. The youths were asked to use “what Belfast means to them” as inspiration and were encouraged to release their creativity. Studio Souk also held a free public workshop for the high street shoppers, on a busy Saturday afternoon. This workshop helped raise awareness for the project and resulted in a lot of very unique and personal pieces.

Each artist has brought their own unique skills to this project. Timmy White from Gertrude Anna is an illustrator & textile artist, Kiera Ann Marie Phillips from Kam Kouture is a fashion designer, Kirsten from Alice’s Room is a furniture restorer, Nicola Drennan from Nicola Drennan Ceramics is a ceramic artist, Elaine Taylor from Elaine Taylor Art is a wire Sculpture, Madeleine Beattie is the Marketing Manager and is also a trained ceramic designer.

Studio Souk hope this will be the first of many community projects, that will bring art into the lives of many people living outside of Belfast city centre.