Rizpah Amadasun takes fairy tales into the future
In 2021 Gloucester Libraries commissioned two artists to test new and innovative ways for libraries to engage virtually with families whilst the library wasn’t able to host groups and activities. Rizpah Amadasun was one of the artists selected. She created interactive story workshops online where families were guided through building their own fairy-tale. We talked to her about her experience of working with Gloucestershire Libraries in a new digital format…
Why did you get involved with this project with Gloucestershire Libraries?
Innovation is the most exciting process in my work. Creativity allows change to be normal with a constant exploration of what can be. Giving work the gift of time, produces content beyond your initial thought, setting it free with your imagination.
The Art of Libraries - Goes Digital commission was an opportunity from Gloucestershire Libraries, supported by Create Gloucestershire, which allowed local creatives to explore interactive workshops on a digital platform instead of struggling with the cancellations and commissions that don’t provide space for their art form. Used to employing my inner child (I’m jumping around larger than life with children, so we all bounce off each other) I was excited to see how my workshops would work through a screen with little faces and big minds staring back at me.
What was it like working with the library team?
The Gloucestershire libraries team were supportive and diligent throughout the full process, we learned together about the systems, the gathering of audiences, the ideal layout of digital workshops, and audience expectations. In developing the workshops, we considered providing add-ons to the live workshops to continue the enthusiasm and capture audiences that missed the workshops.
The feedback from the live sessions has been great for my own development as a digital art facilitator and to add to the learning of delivering projects on-line in libraries, and to inform the next chapter in a toolkit for libraries and creatives. I’m proud of being a part of this new way to maintain relationships between libraries, arts and the local community. It’s important that we don’t think things must end or aren’t accessible because the platform isn’t what we are used to. It’s important the future generations still learn to expand their brain and have traditional experiences of socialisation even through a screen with a representation of someone they could grow up to be.
How did you find the process of running workshops online?
Digital workshops are not easy, it can be difficult to hear someone just because of the pitch of their voice or because of poor Wi-Fi connections, among a plethora of technicalities. As facilitators we can be misunderstood as most of our performing language is muted by the screen. It is harder to read the engagement levels of the audience and when to include individuals. However, if we look, there are signals, people are listening, watching, enjoying.
In the test workshop with Gloucestershire Libraries, it became known that the children had been filling the Webex chat with reactions to my work with them. This was such a confidence boost. I learned not to be so afraid that I would do a bad job. I learned that the detachment between myself and the participants through the screen did not hinder their experience of the content we explored and that they all felt included.
Establishing the right number of families to participate in the workshops was useful in the test session and proved to work really well in the developed session where the children listened to each other and drew each other’s characters without prompting. You could see they enjoyed having their ideas recognised in the development of the story.
Did you take anything else away from the process?
It is important to breathe, not rush, digital workshops are an opportunity to be spontaneous and improvise. In my sessions I get the participants to provide the main content, which I manipulate into a joint effort outcome with improvised storytelling. Just a few key words from the group can take you on an adventure from the comfort of home. Working with Create Glos and Gloucestershire Libraries has been an enjoyable process and I look forward to building more activities with them in the future.
Has lockdown given you the space and time to build your confidence in what you do?
Do you mean has it given me alternative opportunities to showcase my work to a wider audience other than my mother!? Most definitely! Most importantly, I have given myself that possibility to see it as an opportunity.
Can you tell us a bit more about your journey as an artist and where people can find you next?
My journey as a Gloucestershire creative has led my words to be displayed in Gloucester Park as part ‘Of Earth & Sky’ project. My exposure started in 2019 with a commission from The Music Works to build a set design for Kings Jam Festival. I have gone on to exhibit in Birmingham Contemporary Art Gallery, become a published poet with Black Girl Convention and Rife Magazine and completed ‘Artist In Their Residence’ with The Wilson: Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum.
Jacket by Rizzle Prints
Taking my art off the canvas, I launched a clothing brand called Rizzen in spring 2021, which displays Afrocentric art on luxury bomber jackets. In between working with Gloucestershire Libraries, I have also accepted a place to study a Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art.
Find out more about Rizpah and her work at:
Instagram @rizzleprints
Newly launched Rizzen @rizzen_apparel
And watch her telling the stories created in the workshops on the Gloucestershire libraries YouTube Channel.
Rizpah’s workshops were commissioned as a continuation of the Art of Libraries programme. The programme was piloted in 6 libraries over 3 years and encouraged children and young people to take part in a range of creative activities from circus workshops to animation workshops and to watch live theatre - and claim their place in these spaces in the heart of the community.
In 2021 Gloucester Libraries created two commissions to test new and innovative ways for libraries to engage virtually with families whilst the library wasn’t able to host groups and activities
The artists have shared their experiences in this blog series (their creative journeys and some top tips) so that other performers can gain insights into making the transition from a live to digital space.
You can read Jonny Fluffypunk’s blog about his experience taking his first family production online as well as the experience theatre company Can’t Sit Still had when they took their live show and turned it into a digital interactive theatre performance for children and their families to enjoy from home.
All this insight will be gathered together to make a new chapter in the Art of Libraries toolkit which is coming soon! The toolkit will share a plethora of both creative and practical ideas to support artists and library staff to work together to co-create an irresistible creative programme for children and young people.
If you are inspired to work in libraries and would like to find out more please email libraries-readiscover@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
Watch Rizpah telling the story of Gloucestershire Legend, Shanice Aralia Shrek.
A creator in word and paint.
We give ourselves away for a price to be exchanged for things we think we want, that are just as finite as our time, yet decomposes slowly out of sight out of mind when we have moved onto the next.
A creator in word and paint I pour my authenticity into art forms that are digitised for the entertainment of others. Although authenticity exists, there is nothing original, the arts is a competitive place to get fair value for the piece of yourself glued, painted, spoken, or drawn into that which you must sell in exchange for bills. There is no other life that was made for me. A maze of conformity still led to self-expression as my occupation. Inspiring audiences to think limitlessly about what they can create or how they feel about things is the most rewarding job.
About my work
I am an Afrocentric spoken word creative. Where my words come from pretty scars, my fine art spirals from joy. A self-taught painter, I focus on positive representations of the African Diaspora through the predominant use of acrylic paint. With a background in politics, philosophy, and economics, I weave my enthusiasm for concepts into creativity. Addressing topics such as Black female resilience, microaggression, positive Black narratives and promoting joy in the face of hate, fear, and trauma; you will often see bright colours, and loving facial expressions in my paintings. The positive expressions are a protest against the capitalism of unhappiness and the socially constructed currency of misery.
Watch Rizpah telling the story of for a Gloucestershire Legend, Lila the Great Bob.