Project Archive

Blessed are the Peacemakers

The Peace Project was facilitated by artist Rhonda Fenwick working with youth and community groups of mixed abilities and ages in Burnham, South Bucks. The groups created banners and artworks concerning peace, which formed the basis of exhibitions in the local community as part of the WWW1 commemorations. MONA LISA Arts & Media are working in collaboration with St Peter's Church Burnham and the RAF Burnham Division.

The Blessed Are The Peacemakers art exhibition was officially opened by the Countess of Buckinghamshire with Rod Cosh Area Dean for the Burnham and Slough Deanery and Bill Jackson Vicar of St Peter's Church. The exhibition included works by artists, youth and community groups with contributions from individuals of WW1 memorabilia. There was also an installation of knitted blankets made by members and friends of St Peter's Church Burnham. The afternoon was very well attended by people from Burnham and beyond, who were able to view the exhibition and finish it off with a lovely cream tea served in Cornerstone.

2012 Legacy

The work included: Dreamboat, Angel of Peace, Angel of Endurance, Angel of Respect, and Angel of Excellence

Magna Carta Arts Project

MONA LISA Arts & Media worked in partnership with Egham Museum Surrey and facilitated workshops in Manorcroft School in June and July 2013. This was a pilot project focussing on the signing of the Magna Carta and the 800 years anniversary of this pivotal event in British history and the celebrations to be held at Runnymede in 2015.

The children from Manorcroft School worked alongside artists Rhonda Fenwick and Gina Martin, creating their own shields, charters and chess pieces inspired by what they learned about King John and the Barons, seal of the Magna Carta, the feudal system, children's lives and games they took part in when they had free time away from their hard labour in 1215

The Dorney Canvas

Since MONA LISA Arts & Media facilitated the day at Dorney Lake for the visit of Jonathon Edwards in March 2012 we were commissioned to create a painting on canvas 18 metres in length to represent the Triple Jump and Rowing Eight. The painting is by artists Rhonda Fenwick, Gina Martin and Lynda Cornwell including fifty children from Dorney County Combined School. Making cut-outs of their body shapes, the children drew round each other, posing as runners, jumpers and rowers which will form the composition of the painting. When it was complete it was displayed in and around Olympic venues during the time of the Games and then installed in Dorney School.

Windows Walls & Wishes Towards 2012 & Beyond Phase 2 2011 - 2012

In partnership with South Bucks District Council

The second phase of Windows Walls & Wishes 2102 Visual Arts got underway in September and MONA LISA Arts & Media engaged professional artists to facilitate arts workshops in the Burnham Cluster of Schools and with Transformers Youth Group. A new development of the work was focused around the theme of Olympic Angels in response to the Olympic and Paralympic Spiritual Values: Peace, Unity, Friendship, Courage, Respect, Excellence, Endurance, Inspiration, Aspiration. The artists worked with children and young people aged 9 – 16 yrs leading up to 2012. They were encouraged to think about ideas and concepts of Angels to create sculptures, installations, paintings, drawings, textiles etc. These were then be installed in various locations e.g., Taplow Court, Burnham Beeches, St Peter's Church, St Peter's School and others in the local area. The finished pieces formed the basis of an arts trail as part of the Legacy of 2012.

Tree of Light Finale

Saturday 21st July 2012, 7.00pm - 10.30pm

Stonor Park is a private park, home to one of Britain's oldest manor houses. Nestled into the Chiltern Hills, the park offers beautiful views and is surrounded by woodlands. The perfect setting for the 'Tree of Light's' grand finale.

The Tree of Light has been rediscovered in a desolate future, a world that has undergone mass extinctions. It has fallen into disuse and been forgotten until now.

Windows, Walls & Wishes 2012 Arts Project

MONA LISA Arts & Media facilitated the Window Walls & Wishes anda Olympic Angels 2012 Visual Arts Project in Burnham, Taplow, Dorney and Eton Wick. Artists Rhonda Fenwick, Gina Martin and Lynda Cornwell worked with children and young people in local schools and with the Transformers Youth Group to create Angels in response to the Olympic and Paralympic values: PEACE UNITY FRIENDSHIP COURAGE RESPECT EXCELLENCE ASPIRATION INSPIRATION ENDURANCE DETERMINATION.

Tree of Light

2012 Cultural Olympiad Event

MONA LISA Arts & Media was selected to be one of the 40 Root Groups for this exciting large scale community event involving some 1500 participants, performers, artists, scientists and collaborators! All of us involved in the project through Thames Arts enjoyed a year of wonderful creativity, learning, challenge, enjoyment and celebration.

Between 2011 and 2012 arts and science partners worked with the Root Groups to draw out responses to the project’s artistic themes. Participants’ ideas and aspirations were expressed creatively as the Root Groups’ work with the Tree of Light team towards the final performances involving music, song, dance, movement, theatre and visual arts.

2012 Fundraising Events

2012 Cultural Olympiad Event

MONA LISA Arts & Media and St Peter''s Church Burnham

Sponsored Arts & Sports Events inspired by the 2012 Games

We held our first sponsored arts and sports event in Cornerstone at St Peter's Church Burnham. The Chicago Bridge event with afternoon tea was organised by church members Stephanie Peniket and Eddie Moon. We had a very good turn-out with approximately 40 people joining in and helping to raise funds for the church and MONA LISA Arts & Media Olympic Angels 2012 Project.

Windows, Walls & Wishes 2012 & Beyond

This was a two-year project leading up to the opening of the 2012 Games in London working with the Burnham Cluster of Schools and the Transformers Youth Group. We began the arts workshops in Autumn 2010 with St Peter's C of E School, Lent Rise Combined School and Dropmore Primary School working with artists Rhonda Fenwick, Gina Martin, Dawn Carroll and Suzanne O'Donnell. In Spring 2011 we carried out further workshops in St Nicolas's C of E Combined School,Dorney Primary School and with the Transformers Youth Group. The work so far includes two sculptures, two installations, short film, photography and Wishes Books which will be exhibited in Burnham Park Hall in April 2011 as part of the planned interim exhibitions leading up to 2012.

The Beeches come to Burnham

The project was a celebration of the ancient beech trees living in Burnham Beeches National Nature Reserve and SSSI. The long history of the wood and the traditional management practice of pollarding in woodland pasture have led to the existence of very mature and gnarly beech trees that provide rich wildlife habitats. The older trees have provided inspiration for artists since Victorian times, and our project used visual art as a mechanism to help children learn about and connect with the ecology of the site.

Notions of Identity

A programme of arts activities for young people devised and delivered in partnership with South Bucks District Council. The project aimed to provide young people an opportunity to work with an artist and filmmaker the group produced a short documentary film, radio interviews for broadcast, create text and a collection of portraits that explore the lives and identities of young people. This work culminated in an exhibition to be held in the gallery at the end of the project.

Burnham Joggers

Exhibition of Work - London 2012 Open Weekend Events High Street Burnham

Following the success of the Heads N' Tales Visual Arts Project, work with the Burnham Joggers Club began which included students from Burnham Upper and Grammar School. This new project was part of the London 2012 Open Week-end events 24 - 26 July 2009. Through the mediums of film, photography, drawings and paintings artist and film-maker along with the students produced works to capture the spirit, movement and energy of the athletes as they go through their paces in training and race events.

The work culminated in an exhibition in an empty shop in Burnham High Street sponsored by Sherriff Mountford Estate Agents.

Heads 'n' Tales

"Hair is a protection women are wrapped in, it is like a caterpillar in a cocoon, but yet hair is more friendly as a cocoon eliminates the subject. Silk, hair, wool, are everywhere. Skeins are put together in a methodical fashion, whereas hair is unruly and free. It has to be retained or braided. Hair as an iconographic symbol and a formal motif in myths and fairytales, sometimes having a beneficial function, it is especially feminine, a sign of beauty as in the stories of Ophelia and Magdalene"...

Louise Bourgeois

Rhonda Fenwick initiated the project in association with 'Think Burnham' to help raise the profile of Burnham and surrounding area, and also to engage with the local community, schools, businesses and St Peter's Church in Burnham High Street.