A Few Brushes and a Cup of Tea

A bonus I get from running Art Play is that I feel more inspired to play myself. 

There's not much I love more than some time alone outside with some thick black charcoal, a sketchbook and preferably some rain. I like to sketch quickly, my work becoming more free as each page turns. When I'm in the 'flow', time passes without notice, work composes itself. Shapes form, marks get stronger, more emotive. I become more creative, maybe rubbing my paper into the wet grass, or smearing in mud and scraping it off. My charcoal eventually disintegrates and I am forced back into reality and off I go home with a full sketchbook and black hands. Usually, the book then lies forgotten in a drawer. Another task on my never-ending to-do list.

Today, I spread my sketchbook out on my dining table along with charcoal, pastels, ink, watercolour, jars of water, a few brushes and a cup of tea and began to work. Into the 'flow' I went and my cup of tea went cold.

Original sketch

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Nature Foragers, Print Makers.

Moving on from the Gatherings, it's that September-time-of-year again. New beginnings, new terms at school and a new term for Art Play, an after-school club I have been running. 

Art Play is a process-based club where we begin with a story and maybe a brief demonstration of a new technique, then the children are free to take their work in any direction they like with the help of a few carefully chosen open-ended art materials. I try to think of the club as art 'yes' space- there is no 'wrong' in art and I love it when the children deviate from my 'plan', when new ideas emerge and exited children make interesting discoveries. What happens if I mix glue into the paint? Can I balance this on here? How can I make it more stable? What will happen if I mix all these colours? Look, I made a new colour! Can I paint the clay? Can I paint with the clay? 

I have always known the magic and value of being immersed in nature. In the past, I have often read the story outside, or had the children draw from the view. As as artist myself, I understand the inspiration you get from working 'en plein air' compared to in the studio. Since embarking on the 'Gatherings', my determination for getting the children outside has bloomed; first-hand experiences fresh in my mind; I have seen how the children come alive in nature, really engaging with the environment. 

With this in mind, I have decided to make this term about using art to explore our connection to nature. The school has a wonderful outside space- a large grass area containing several native trees and a small, but lively pond enclosed by various bushes and woodland (the 'dens') and surrounded by rolling countryside- the children who go here are very lucky.

This week, we did 'clay printing' with natural objects. After the story, we went outside, armed with a large box in which to collect all of our treasures. I told the children to search for objects with different textures, things that feel different. The children ran all over, dashing back with spiky holly,  rough sticks, smooth feathers, leaves of all shapes, sizes and colours, an abundance of hazel nuts and an oak-gall which I said we should leave there for now as it had no exit hole but that oak-gall ink might be an interesting project in a few weeks.

When we got back with our bounty, the children all experimented with the 'clay printing' in their own individual ways. I gave them each black and white printing ink on a palette. One child was exited to see that when mixed, they made a third colour! Some children experimented with all the different marks they could make in the clay, then developed this further by making mini sculptures. 'Look, I can print my hand!' said another. Then there was an exited 'Wow, I can print the clay without any paint!'  

What a lovely start to the term. 

I can print my hand!

Wow, I can print the clay without any paint!

Experimenting with different marks in the clay

Some children made mini-models- this one is the seaside! Look at all the texture they added.

Prints taken from the texture of a rock

This texture came from a pine-cone

Look at the gorgeous leaf veins in this work

This child created a sculptural shelter from the found-objects.

#art #play #imagination #looseparts #open-ended #creativity #clay #nature

We have been Gathering

This 2 year study funded by the government is an interesting read. It's about how often children have visited a 'natural environment' within the past 12 months- 12% haven't, and a further 5% only once or twice.

My home-town is full of wild spaces to explore, often empty. 

My friend Lorna at Greenwood Growth and I wanted a way to connect people to these beautiful spaces; they deserve to be used. We plotted them down on a 'Wild Map of Leek'- look how green Leek is!

We thought about the barriers that prevent these spaces from being used- knowing where to go, how to get there, fear of strangers, dogs and wildlife and even knowing what to do when you're there.

From these thoughts, the 'Wild Gatherings' were born. Each week, through the powers of Facebook, we let people know where we would be and when we would be there and that anyone would be most welcome to join us, free of charge. 

Each week, we took a couple of open-ended activities with us to start people off- clay, scavenger sheets, bug pots and charcoal among others. To tell you the truth, we weren't expecting much, but we have been overwhelmed by the support and engagement. Some weeks we must have had 25+ children of all ages playing together in woodland, parks and fields, making new friends and discovering new things. 

We've built dens, collected blackberries, played hide and seek, made our own wild creatures, explored new places and even popped popcorn and toasted marshmallows on our very own fire. Sometimes we had visits from curious 'wild animals' that happened to be passing including a frog, a couple of grass-hoppers and several friendly spiders.

The Gatherings are relaxed too. You don't have to block-book or 'pay' in advance. It doesn't matter if you're exactly on time. It doesn't matter if you're ready leave early. You don't feel you have to make your children 'take part'. 

The Gatherings belong to everybody- the wild pockets of Leek have been explored and owned, connections made for life. I hope people return to those spaces, use them and cherish them. You see, I grew up in Leek, and the very essence of those spaces is permanently entwined with my soul, and when I return, I feel an overwhelming sense of home and connection.

  

No Ordinary Time-Machine

I love looking at the work of other artists; I find it inspiring and motivating. I wanted to share my enthusiasm with the children, but the challenge was to introduce a piece of artwork in such a way that they will create an original artistic response, rather than just 'copy'.

I knew that storytelling was a big hit with the class, so I came up with a story involving 'time-travel' or rather 'Work-Of-Art-Travel'. 

I chose a couple of paintings by one of my favourite local artists, Paul Johnstone. These paintings are bright and colourful with a 'garden' or 'wild-spaces' theme that I thought would appeal to the children and be open- ended enough to allow for imaginative improvisation. I also took in some flowers and plants from my garden at home to add an extra dimension to the 'travelling'.

Imagine, if you can, that this hall is no ordinary school hall. This hall is actually a powerful machine that can take us on a journey. Today, we are going to use the machine to travel to the inside of a painting.

Paintings by Paul Johnstone

We need to work together. We need to use our imaginations to power the machine. 

What can we see?
What can we touch?
What can we smell?
What can we hear?
How do we feel?

I asked the children to think of a sentence that reminded them of their travels and write it down. This would form the basis of a narrative for their work- a focus point. I then asked the children not to paint the objects they imagined, but to paint how they felt and to think carefully about the colours they used and how they made their marks. 

Below, are the children's original artistic responses to Paul Johnstone's work. As they delved into their imaginations, some children used a card to drag the acrylic paint across the page, slowly or quickly, depending on the strength of wind. Some children made fast taps with a brush, representing fish and falling rain. Gorgeous texture was etched into the work, scratching into the surface, revealing the paper underneath. Paint was drilled and twisted into the page, how far can you push? Waterfalls were imagined. Birds, ducks and even a 'soil-burglar' were painted into existence. Each piece of work is different, and evocative of the wild-spaces they 'travelled' to. Nobody copied the original paintings.

As it groo darker you couldn't see anything

The wind was bloing my face

The sun shines briety

It was colorful and peasful

The fish is jumping in th water

The wind bloow in my hair

A man defends his land from a 'soil burglar' who wants to steal soil to build a house

The garden was silant and beutiful

Can you spot the duck?

It was silant and peasful

Water falls flood sweeping water

It is very colourful and sunny

In the garden there are lots of flowers

I could hear the birds singing

It was so colorful

The sun shon in my face. Bright flowers are shining.

The garden is full of flowers

Into the Labyrinth with Clay, Beads and Wire

After noticing how much the children enjoyed the 'gluing and sticking'- the 'making' with actual tactile materials in their hands, I thought about how much they'd enjoy clay. As I am not very experienced with clay, I did a bit of research and this session was actually inspired by a blog post on An Everyday Story- 'Using clay: bead and wire sculptures'. I loved the idea of adding these 'loose-parts' to the clay which would allow for plenty of creativity and discovery.

In the post, the author mentions 'bead-coasters' or 'bead-mazes'. This led me onto procrastinating about mazes in general, and how much wonder they tend to stir up in children. I used to love going to those hedge-mazes at stately homes and imagining I was in all sorts of worlds.

I wanted to start the session with a story. Stories seem to be such a great bridge into the 'creative zone', springing imaginations into life. I was reminded of the Greek Myth- 'Ariadne's Thread' which is about a Minotaur waiting for sacrifices in the depths of a tangled maze, and the brave soldier who finally slays him, but I thought it was too scary and complicated to read to the children. 

However, my mind kept wondering back to this maze of tangled passages, so I re-wrote the myth, leaving out the parts about Poseidon and his white bull, and glossing over the parts about 'sacrifices', instead concentrating on how Ariadne helped Theseus escape the labyrinth with a ball of red thread.

Clutching his red thread, Theseus delved deeper and deeper into the maze. The labyrinth was dark, and there were many different paths he could choose from. Some routes were very narrow and he had to squeeze his way through. Others were so overgrown with thorns and brambles that he had to cut his way through with his sword.

After I finished telling the tale (whilst clutching my real ball of red thread), I gave each child a ball of clay and pointed out the piles of beads and wire on the table. My photography doesn't do these justice, but this is what they made:

'This is the red thread from the story to help you get out'

I love how this child made the beads leave textured paths to where they sit.

'How can I balance this (the pine cone) on top of this (wire form)?'

A Case against Instructions. Vaivén Circo- 'Do Not Disturb'

This weekend, I was lucky enough to watch Vaivén Circo's 'Do Not Disturb' as part of Appetite's 'The Homecoming', a free event in Newcastle Under-Lyme. In this theatrical performance, four characters were tasked to build a machine without any instructions and without any idea what it was supposed to look like. 

During the show, they worked together to arrange the 'loose parts' in all sorts of different ways, solving risky problems of balance and counter-balance. They used their imaginations to turn these arrangements into exiting adventures such as a boat on the sea, a horse they could ride, and all sorts of balancing games. They were playful and inventive. 

Like child's play, the audience wasn't always sure of the characters' intentions. 

Towards the end, one character begin to dance around in circles, chalk in hand, swooping, drawing arcs on the floor. This seemed to spur on the idea to fit the parts together like a wheel. To the audience, this seemed like it may have been the finale- they made The Wheel, the final product, the 'Most Important Invention in History', but the character's had other ideas. The 'wheel' was turned into a magnificent Ferris Wheel. They cheered and laughed. It was fun. This was not the end.

The characters then went onto improve the wheel, adding extra parts, bits of metal and scaffolding, making the 'wheel' look more like a kind of spinning top. The grand finale was to use the 'spinning top' to crack nuts for their lunch, which was surprising and rather unexpected!

This performance spoke to me to the heart. It reiterated that how by giving children instructions, or showing them the 'correct' way to do something, we can undermine their creativity. Instructions can suck the fun out of play and prevent inventiveness and initiative. 

I strive to remember this in my work. Never concentrate on the 'product'. If I have an agenda, I try to remember that my agenda may not the same as the child's agenda. My ideas are not superior. Creativity can only flourish with freedom.