Museums And Archives

From Oar to Easel: Walter Greaves and the Making of Modern Chelsea

From Oar to Easel aims to reconnect children, families and the wider community with Chelsea’s lost riverside world through the life and art of Walter Greaves. The project will help a new generation understand how the Thames, the environment and the local community were transformed by engineering, industry and social change. We want to use Greaves’ unique perspective as a waterman-artist to inspire curiosity, creativity and environmental awareness in 400 pupils and the wider community across Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. The project will also strengthen local heritage infrastructure by creating long-lasting resources, a KS2 storybook, a documentary film, animations, a public mural and a portable exhibition and three public exhibitions at Chelsea Library. Through inclusive creative work with autistic young people, volunteers and schools, the project will broaden participation in heritage and ensure Greaves’ story becomes accessible, relevant and valued by the communities who live where he once painted.