Browsing the stalls of local artists selling everything from homemade jam to chisels at the Apple festival last autumn within the botanical gardens, one stall, tucked in the back, struck me right away as quite unlike the others. It was heaped with beautiful glazed vases, charming postcards, and elaborate colouring books – all simple, yet beautiful. The stall belonged to Rowan, a Cambridge centre for adults with learning disabilities, where over 95 students gather five days a week to create art: from ceramic dragons to wooden chalices, from theatre productions to pillows. Most importantly, the centre, tucked away on a residential street in Cambridge, strives to create a space for its students to feel independent and confident and, despite social stigma, to be their own people.
I visited Rowan in June, curious to meet the creators of the artwork and keen to understand the role that Rowan occupies in the Cambridge local community. I was greeted by Hetti King, Rowan’s Marketing and Communications Manager, who told me that Rowan’s uniqueness lies in it being “focused on artwork and being creative, having a community.”
Rowan was founded over 40 years ago with only a wood workshop. Today, students can choose from seven workshops – in addition to woodworking, they can pursue ceramics, textiles, printing, mixed media, music, drama, and a new forest school.
Upon entering Rowan, I found myself in a large communal space, shared by the students during mealtimes and breaks. I could smell freshly cut wood even before entering the first workshop. Here, Rowan’s students can saw, carve and sand wood to various shapes and sizes. During my visit, Chris, one of Rowan’s students, was making an elaborate cake stand, comprised of multiple wooden circles to place the baked goods on. Another student, Tracie, who has loyally come to Rowan for the last 20 years, was carving a chalice out of cherry wood. She, alongside the majority of other students at Rowan, was making the piece for an exhibition in the All Saints’ Church Cambridge, also known as the Painted Church, in September. After visiting the church, the students took their notes – and inspiration – back to the centre with them.
Another student, Francis, was creating elaborate carved woodcuts inspired by the church’s tiles. In the past, Francis has worked on pieces that organisations like Anglesey Abbey or the Milton Country Park ordered from Rowan. An attendee for 15 years (“give or take”), he now spends three days a week at Rowan – two days as a student and one day as a volunteer. As a volunteer, he told me, he can help with other students’ work, while on days he comes as a student, he gets to work on his own projects.
“Rowan was founded over forty years ago with only a wood workshop. Today, students can choose from seven workshops”
Volunteering is an integral part of the centre. Hetti prompted me to imagine Rowan like a tree. “The trunk is the students,” she explained, “but then we have all these lovely branches that go out into different areas.” The branches symbolise the centre’s dozens of volunteers, who help out day-to-day in the workshops, but also its shop, forest school, fundraisers, community events, commissions, community projects and much more.
While some students prefer to work on commissions and make pieces for the shops, others focus on long-term personal projects. Andrew, a regular of both the ceramics and the woodworking workshops, started creating a model of his caravan, where he spends holidays with his sister and dogs, seven years ago. He started by taking measurements and pictures before recreating his caravan on a small scale, including a ceramic toilet and sink, hand sewn curtains and little figurines of himself and his sister.
Similarly to the wood workshop, the students in the textile workshop work together and help each other out. “We all look out for each other,” one of the students told me. Ushka, one of the students, was working on a pillow with Sonic the Hedgehog on it. What she enjoys most, though, is mending her clothes. She told me that the reasons why she loves Rowan are twofold: she loves textiles and being creative, but she also loves the friends she has made there, and the chance to make new ones.
In Rowan, there is also a shop displaying the students’ creations. Alongside elaborate art pieces, a large cardboard collage stands in the middle of the room. Outlines of hands accompany text saying “I am more than my disability,” or “Listen to me, I am an adult, not a child.” The collage was part of a project that the Menagerie Theatre Company had done with some students the previous week on the “trials of democracy,” Hetti explained to me.
“In democracy,” Hetti remarked, “people who have learning disabilities are sometimes pushed to one side a bit, treated like children. This is their space and they’re adults, so we make sure they’re cared for and looked after, but we don’t pander. We make sure that they’re being their own people, that it’s their community, it’s how they want it to be. We want them to feel independent and confident, so that’s kind of the environment that we try to encourage.”
“Ultimately, Rowan is a charity, Hetti told me. It’s like a swan even if it looks “beautiful above the water”; its legs always have to be paddling rapidly under the surface. Any help is appreciated”
In September, Rowan will unveil the All Saints’ Church Cambridge exhibit titled ‘Rowan Artists Reimagine’ that many of the students were working on when I visited. Visitors will be able to see it on the 20th and 21st of September at The All Saints Church from 1pm to 5pm each day. In addition to that, Rowan has two further events taking place in October. On Saturday 4th October you can join them at the Sidney Sussex Chapel for an evening of music with two external choirs who will take to the stage to fundraise for Rowan, curated by Rowan music tutor Peter Coleman. The second performance will be by the Rowan students themselves. The music and drama students will put on a showcase titled ‘I Am the One and Only’ on the 22nd of October. Cambridge students will also be able to cross paths with Rowan at various autumn festivities around the town, such as Apple Day.
However, the centre runs throughout the year and is always looking for volunteers. Ultimately, Rowan is a charity, Hetti told me. It’s like a swan even if it looks “beautiful above the water”; its legs always have to be paddling rapidly under the surface. Any help is appreciated. “People can come and volunteer at one of the workshops, at events, at our stalls – there’s lots of opportunities,” she said, “anybody who’s thinking about volunteering locally in Cambridge, we’re always looking for new volunteers.”
If students are interested, they should get in touch, and someone from Rowan will let them know about what is available.
Ultimately, Rowan is about friendship and community. When Hetti asked Janette, a student who has been coming to Rowan for “quite some time”, what she liked most about the centre, Janette responded that it was the amazing people. “I love you all,” she exclaimed, “I’m happy every time I get out of bed on a wednesday, it’s Rowan day!”
