Chippenham invites Ukrainians to make art

Chippenham museum is running the project which is inspired by artists who were previously refugees in the area

Ukrainian refugees have been invited to create art that will then become part of a museum collection.

The project at Chippenham Museum will see them contributing to a larger artwork to reflect their experience.

It is inspired by art in the collection created by refugees who came to the area during World Wars One and Two.

Ukrainian Natalia Kostina arrived after the war started - she said the connection with other refugees is important.

"There is a connection with other refugees who came to this region and they found it safe. They produced really nice pictures. This project is important to make it feel like home"

Natalia Kostina came to the area after her city was captured in the war

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, she explained that her city was captured: "They came early in the mornings and at night.

"We didn't have any food for 10 days. Everything stopped working. A lot of people disappeared forever. They have never came back."

The two artists that inspired the project are currently on display at Chippenham Museum.

Belgian Charles Wellens painted Wiltshire scenes while a refugee in the county, including this of Chippenham's high street

Charles Wellens was from Belgium and came to the area in World War One.

He painted quaint Wiltshire scenes, but also a moodier one of Chippenham's High Street, which shows a red cross flag marking the town hall as a hospital at the time.

Peter Potworowski was from Poland and stayed until the late 1950s after he came as a refugee in World War Two. He married a local woman and was well-known for teaching at the Bath School of Art in Corsham.

There is currently an exhibition of refugee Peter Potworowski's work in the museum

Elaine Davis from the museum said that while they have the artwork, they do not have any record of how the artists felt as refugees: "That's one of the reasons we're doing this project, so we can capture those ideas of what it is like.

"We have his artwork, we can make assumptions about what his life was like here, but we don't have anything written."

Elaine Davis from the museum is in front of another one of the earlier refugee's paintings, with information in both English and Ukrainian

Ukrainian Alevtina Piklarska and her hosts Norma and Fred Guscott went to an event to introduce the project.

Ms Piklarska's family have ended up separated - her husband had to stay in Ukraine and her two children have got scholarships to a school in the United States.

Ukrainian Alevtina Piklarska (centre) has been hosted in Chippenham by Norma & Fred Guscott

She explained that the Guscotts have made sure she's been part of the community: "They are a very active family. If something happens in Chippenham, they like to be involved."

"My children feel like they have their own house here. They come back from the USA and cry when they have to go back."

Artist Anya Beaumont will be doing workshops with refugees to create wire sculptures

Artist Anya Beaumont will be heading workshops for refugees to put together flat wire sculptures that represent something local in the area or back home, like a building.

"Then the idea is I will then build a collaborative town that has a mixture of buildings from here and over there."