Our first year of Art in the Library, Swiss Cottage Library

Posted: 29th July 2025

In October 2024 we launched our second year-round community-based programme at Swiss Cottage Library, following on from the success of the hugely enjoyable sessions that we run year-round at the Tree House, Elephant Park.

These programmes are aimed at providing enjoyable, regular and stimulating art-based activity for local residents, creating familiarity and routine. We have had fun exploring three art practices so far, print-making, dance and mosaics, and we have a pipeline of exciting and engaging workshops including the current programme exploring 3D sculpture. You can read more about our first three programmes below.

1: Print-making

Artists Melissa Fry and Lucy Grainge guided our participants as they explored bold colours and a wide range of themes over this 10-week programme. They got a chance to try lots of different print-making techniques including mono printing, link printing, screen printing and Cyanotype.

“It’s been amazing. I’m just sad that it’s all finished”

Participant’s companion

2: Dance

We enjoyed a magical 10-weeks of movement and music with a dancer and a pianist from the English National Ballet, who introduced our participants to music and stories from famous ballet productions. We were guided through a series of dynamic movement exercises which could be done seated or standing and used percussion instruments to explore sounds and rhythms to accompany our dance.

“ It’s been good to have repeated dance routines and music each week to help reinforce what we are learning. I especially enjoyed the ballet port de bras, and how elegant everyone looked whilst doing it. I liked having the printed pictures and also the link to the ballet piece. It was also good having the disco at the end, this is a nice way to finish the sessions”

Participant

3: Mosaic

Artist Eniko Leanyvari shared her love for mosaics with our participants during our third 10-week programme at Swiss Cottage Library. They worked with seeds and grains to create textural art pieces and were encouraged to explore a range of different materials to create mosaic pieces. Throughout the programme, participants used the techniques they learned to create their own personalised tile coaster sets, decorated plant pots and mosaic artworks. Building a collection of artworks to take home or gift to loved ones. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to learn new skills and work with such a range of interesting and high quality materials.

“Eniko was a wonderful teacher and it was great to be able to work with such a varied amount of material and learn different techniques. Also recognising everyone’s levels of expertise! I shall definitely be buying some mosaics materials and creating some masterpieces with my mum and the rest of the family!”

Companion participant