The Giant Wall project celebrates Olympics by asking locals to create portraits of heroes

Event: The Giant Wall, various venues, Weymouth, until September 30 2012

Inspiration has been the buzz word of London 2012, whether it’s the Olympic torchbearers being recognised for their extraordinary achievements, the mass of volunteers working to make the Games possible or the athletes leading Team GB to amazing success.

Weymouth based art group ArtWey seeks to chronicle what "inspiration" means to people in their local community, asking them to produce images of the heroes that influence their lives for a giant wall assemblage that will go on display later this year.

Textile artist Carol Cruikshank, painter Olivia Nurrish and a host of other ArtWey volunteers have been busy delivering workshops to help the community create their textile portraits for the project, with more than 300 being made so far.

Innovative locals have strayed from the restrictions of traditional materials to craft their pieces, embracing the use of fake jewels, funky foam, pieces of bicycle tyre, see-through plastic, fake fur and some even knitting their portraits from wool.

Once all the pictures have been received they will be used to form two huge wall hangings for display at Weymouth's Community Fire Station and Portland's Brackenbury Community Arts Centre.

Commemorative books will accompany the pieces, showing details of the portraits, their subjects and makers.

Anyone wishing to get involved with the project can attend one of the free workshops or pick up a starter kit form a host of local venues and get creative at home. The deadline for submissions is 9 September.

• For full details of workshop events and where to find starter kits, visit the project website.