Creating a community through art at Radyr Methodist Church

Radyr Methodist Church, near Cardiff, started art sessions to bring people together and help them create their own community.

In 2022, Phoebe, a recent art graduate came to Radyr Methodist Church, she felt called to it and asked if there were any art sessions. Rev’d Judith Holliman, who had left behind an art community in North Wales when she moved to Radyr, was thrilled to start the art initiative. To make the room even better for the artists, Judith applied and received a Methodist Insurance grant to help with the installation of a sink, buy tables and art supplies.

The group meets on Wednesday afternoons in a room on the first floor of the church. When Judith arrived it was just a disused room but she saw the potential, tidied it and cleaned it to make a great studio that could welcome half a dozen people. “The idea is for the room to be a space where people can come and be creative. They can bring their own materials but we have also received donations from several people that they can use. It's just a lovely space where people can be creative and express themselves,” explains Phoebe.

There are six regular attendees and some people who come and go. The attendees are members and non-members of the church, a community drawn together by their love of art and desire to create something. “Because I am a fifty percent a minister here and fifty percent a pioneer, I like engaging with the people who do not come to church on a Sunday but are spiritually alert and like to talk about it,” says Judith. The sessions are not built around spirituality but around the art and what the attendees bring in, working around whoever comes and making them comfortable.

The attendees are members of the local community like a carer who sometimes comes in on her own and sometimes with the child because he is not always able to stay in school. Art is the primary focus of the session, so there is art for the children and games.

The sessions are relaxed, built around a common love for art and conversations about everyone’s lives and sometimes spiritual matters. Everyone works on their own art, but they also do common projects such as painting pebbles. “I have been painting pebbles picked up during my prayer walks and people have started to bring us stones to paint. We leave the prayer stones at the new housing estate to try and give people messages of hope for when life can be difficult.” adds Judith.