Tales & Tunes Of Winter

The spectacular storyteller Gav Cross will enteratin children aged 5+ and their families with tales of winter.

Start your festive period with stories and songs all set in the gem that is the Victoria park Butterfly House and Garden.

Gav will be wearing a unique piece of artwork made by artists Alref Beesley from The Blue Room. Many thabnks to them for allowing us to experience this glorious cloak.

Alfred Beesley is a visual artist whose practice focuses on creating sculptures exploring the life cycle of plants. Using papier-mâché, textiles and ceramics, he has created a collection of 3D works including a 2 metre high apple tree, a miniature greenhouse and a variety of fruit and vegetables with a basket for harvesting. For his project Under the Apple Tree, Beesley explored creating props and costumes inspired by folklore to develop storytelling performances in collaboration with performer Gav Cross for events at the Bluecoat and Norton Priory.

Beesley has been making and sharing creative work at the Bluecoat as part of Blue Room since 2008. Since 2021, he has also been part of the Studio Me project which aims to support learning disabled artists to develop their creative practice and navigate barriers to professional development. He has explored a wide variety of media including printmaking, animation and sculpture and always values how audiences interact with his art works.

Blue Room is the Bluecoat’s inclusive arts project with learning disabled and neurodivergent adults. First established at the arts centre in Liverpool in 2008, the project grew and launched a group at Norton Priory in Runcorn in 2018. Each week Blue Room supports around 40 artist members to explore contemporary arts and heritage and to create and share their own work with audiences.____Here are links and social media info:About Blue Room: https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/projects/blue-roomAlfie's artist profile: https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/our-community/artists/alfred-beesleyAbout Under the Apple Tree: https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/about/news/under-the-apple-tree

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