A 70-year old artist is finding her roots by staging an exhibition expressing love for her home town.
“My grandson thinks I am cool for getting a distinction in my work.” Cath Forbes
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LEVELAND College of Art and Design student Cath Forbes has based her work on memories of Grangetown. Called People of Grangetown the exhibition at Grangetown Library, Birchington Avenue, will run until the end of the month. The 70-year-old studied a part-time foundation diploma in painting and drawing at CCAD. She said: “For my final project I chose something I am very fond of which is the people of Grangetown. “It is my home town and every time I meet someone I know, all they want to do is talk about how it used to be. “So I thought this is the best way in which I can portray my love of the place through brightly coloured paintings because that’s how I remember it.” Cath went back to the street where she lived for the first time in 40 years but discovered it is now industrial units. “I was devastated,” she said. “I can remember there were eight streets of terraced houses which were full of character where we used to play and now it’s all gone. “This visit really changed things in my project. My memory was of rich red brick houses, but after
the visit I was sad and I changed the brick work in my painting to grey to reflect how I felt about the emptiness.” At the start of the project Cath put an appeal in the local paper for members of the public from Grangetown to come forward with their memories. “I was amazed at the response and one lady came to see my work and she got quite emotional when she looked at it,” she said. “I had long chats with the people who got in touch and the stories of the old Grangetown still live on. It was such a special place and I just want people to know about it, especially the young ones.” Cath has recently received a distinction for her course work at CCAD and is delighted that she decided to take the plunge and study art. “I’ve always wanted to study art and for the first time in my life I’ve had the free time to do it,” she said. “I’ve always been busy with the family, but now my family are really proud I have done this and my grandson thinks I am cool for getting a distinction in my work.” For further information on courses at CCAD call (01642) 288888.