29/10/2009 by James.

To follow on from the professional development session that I led at a Salisbury Nursery last week on Creative Learning in Early Years Education, I ran a hands on session for the staff and children yesterday.

We explored woodland materials using our senses and magnifying glasses, and discovered patterns, shapes, textures and stories by combining them with clay.

The responses from the group of 3 to 5 year olds was varied, with individual children touching, pressing and squeezing the clay, making cars, snowmen or eggs, or taking their clay away from the table to cook in an imaginary oven.

The idea of ‘intelligent materials’ is that they are open ended. They aren’t toys, they don’t encourage a particular reaction or response, they facilitate the children in exploring their own senses and ideas. It linked nicely with last week’s inset session where we discussed ways of supporting children to lead their own learning, through the use of appropriate materials, language and documentation.

I’m in the process of confirming permission to share the images of the children, so in the meantime, I’ve added these no-face pics.

For more information on creative learning in Early Years settings, have a look at these websites…      www.5×5x5creativity.org.uk     www.sightlines-initiative.com

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29/10/2009 by James.

This is a little gem of a nature reserve just outside of my home town (or village…) of Pewsey.

You can wander along boardwalks through the fenland, across winding streams and past fields of flag irises, whilst the Belted Galloway cattle munch on the surrounding meadows. It has an ancient feel to it and is the perfect place to go to for some peace and quiet.

It’s between the village and the Kennet & Avon Canal, which is handy for a wander back home along the towpath and a drink in the pub.

Here’s some info from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, with a link to the reserve’s page on their website.

From the plants, such as Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) and Great Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia); through to insects and birds, such as the Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), there is much to see at Jones’s Mill. Rare plants include the Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella) and Flea Sedge (Carex pulicaris). In areas where the Belted Galloways have managed to keep the vegetation short, the tall spikes of Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) and Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) can be seen. 

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23/10/2009 by James.

I’ve just dropped off Wonder in Salisbury. Its one of the drawings onto maps that I did earlier this year, and is going to be shown as part of this open entry drawing exhibition at Salisbury Arts Centre from 2nd November to 12 December.

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Friday 9.30 to 5.00 p.m. and Saturdays 9.30 to 4.00 p.m.

I’ve just been having a look at the work of the other artists involved online, there’s 22 of us altogether from across the country, with a real mix of styles and approaches.

For more info and how to find it go to - www.salisburyartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/visualarts.aspx

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23/10/2009 by James.

At the moment I’m working on a range of different creative learning initiatives and as always, and pondering the links between them all.

Firstly I’m consulting with children and young people in creative ways for English Heritage, using site visits, writing, and making to develop interpretation and learning materials for visitors to Stonehenge.

Through my ongoing work with Salisbury Museum, we are running a session at a MLA event next, a seminar exploring child-centred learning and working with extended schools.

Additionally I’m waiting to hear whether I’ll be working with a Primary school with an outdoors focus for 5×5x5=-creativity next year, or a special school.

And to top this all off I am sharing my own learning through individual pieces of evaluation for art in education projects and professional development for early years practitioners, on the value of creative and child-led approaches to learning.

Now individually, all of this work is inspiring and challenging, but looked at together its the cross-sector links and the bigger picture that I find fascinating.

As extended schools services seek to connect schools with families and communities, and Museums look to work in more responsive ways with those families, and early years settings seek to build on the new EYFS and embed creative learning practices within them, I feel a lot more positive for the future.

To use an already over-used phrase, this kind of joined-up thinking - of valuing the individual child (and parent) whilst holding an awareness of the bigger picture of family and community - can only benefit our children as they learn and develop their own world-views. Children that learn in ways appropriate to their own needs and interests, within the context of their local environment (natural/cultural/social) develop in confidence, self-esteem, empathy, respect for difference, and with a greater awareness of their role within, and impact on that environment.

If we are to develop sustainable ways of being within our ecosystems and societies for the future, then for me the way that we learn is key.

We need to invest in and promote ways of learning that are creative (and recognise each of us as innately so) and which support each child to explore, reflect on, and re-interpret their natural and cultural heritage.

‘The potential for every child is stunted if the endpoint of learning is formulated in advance’                                                                                                                       Carlina Rinaldi

Children live through their sense. Sensory experiences link the child’s exterior world with their interior, hidden affective world… Individual children test themselves by interacting with their environment, activating their potential and reconstructing human culture.’                                                                                                                              Robin Moore

Images from Connect & Create Project with Salisbury Museum

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15/10/2009 by James.

When I’ve been working away on the computer for a while and neglecting the more hands-on part of me, I find that some good old cutting and glue-ing gets me back into an experimental, playful, freer self that I have put on the back burner for a while.

It seems that collage literally lets me tear up the world around me and put it back again in a way that suits me and my own ways better.

These two are a couple of the pieces that I’ve been playing with this week, in between emails and planning for future projects. They’re phone photos of works in progress so apologies for the blurryness…

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15/10/2009 by James.

I’m doing some teaching as a visiting lecturer on this course. Its ideal for anyone looking to get into working in a participatory way in the arts. Here’s some more info from UWE and a link to the course pages…

 Graduate Certificate in Participatory Arts and Media Professional Practice

Earlier this year UWE launched new accredited continuing professional development courses aimed at arts graduates or those working in any art form with groups in education, healthcare or the community sectors.

Apply now! For the second module in Participatory Arts: Methods and Approaches -
Open for applications on the 19th October and closing on the 20th November 2009.

Each twelve week course is designed to fit around the practitioners’ lives and work, participants can take three modules in any order over the three years to obtain the Certificate, or take just one or two of the modules for their own personal development.

We’ve even found a way for you to get up to 50% off the price this year!
find out more at -

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/sca/courses/community_cpd.shtml?mxmroi=14861901/2237193/false

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14/10/2009 by James.

I’ve mentioned this briefly on my twitter page (jamesaldridge4), but here’s some links to info and images released on the new visitor centre for Stonehenge.

New Stonehenge Visitor Centre - Architects’ Vision - http://miniurl.org/tyW

BBC: Proposals for a new £25m visitor centre at Stonehenge have been unveiled by English Heritage http://miniurl.org/09c

and a photo of what Stonehenge should look like after the road that cuts across the avenue has been scraped off and grassed over…

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14/10/2009 by James.

Yesterday myself and Laura, the education officer from Salisbury Museum, ran the last of these creative family learning sessions at Kiwi School.

As you might know by now, we have been exploring the Stonehenge landscape and its ancient and military history and using mark-making to document and reflect on our experiences.

On this last session, Laura talked to the families about the beaker pots that are sometimes found in the barrows linked with Stonehenge, and we explored outside to find our own tools to make marks into clay.

We also got messy with acrylic paints, exploring the sensory qualities of the paint, mixing colour, and drawing on the last few sessions to create work inspired by Stonehenge and its surroundings.

Its been a great project to run with the Museum, and brilliant to see so many of the mums (as well as their children) get fired up by experimenting freely with creative materials, and learning about this ancient site almost on their doorstep.

In January we’ll be putting up an exhibition at the Museum, sharing images and artwork from across the project, showing how the creative activities, the artefacts provided by the museum and the National Trust, and the visits to the landscape itself, have all come together to support each family to gain something different from the project and its free, responsive approach.

Keep an eye on the museum website for more information on the exhibition, due to run from January to March 2010…. www.salisburymuseum.org.uk

 ( sunset through the stones by Daisy )

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07/10/2009 by James.

I felt a bit flat earlier this week, looking out at the low grey oppressive skies, spending lots of time working away researching and planning projects.

Today I decided that I had done all I needed to do, and that maybe I should do for myself a bit more what I offer for others… get outside, focus on my needs and interests and see where they take me.

Its funny how easy it can be to miss your own needs, and the value of your own time and space and well-being, when you are busy planning and running projects with others, however excited I am to be working on them.

So this morning I sent my emails, quickly did what I needed to in my studio, and went to Savernake Forest to say hello to Autumn.

Here’s a few photographs, and some lines from my notebook…

I’m back, and it feels wonderful. Back here amongst the rich, wet, glowing fullness of the forest, and back to my true self, excited and happy to be alive….

…heavy drops thud and thwack from branches down onto the thick leafy mulched floor, and I am surrounded by life.

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07/10/2009 by James.

Okay so not quite amongst, more walking around the edges, but in terms of the families’ interest in and engagement with the monument they were really ‘in there’.

It was the first time that most of the children and a lot of their parents had been to Stonehenge, despite living only a few miles away. The project was set up to give children from army families the chance to explore this local landscape, and for their parents (in this case mainly mums) to be able to share an experience with their children that is fun, and educational in an informal sense.

Some of the families don’t have their own transport and several have partners posted abroad, so living on Bulford Camp, although only a few miles away can be fairly restrictive in terms of exploring the local landscape - hence the need for the project.

We were given a tour by the National Trust team, shared ideas about what the monument was for and the role that the different parts played, and the children tried on helmets from WW2, linking with the postcards of Stonehenge during the wars that Laura from Salisbury Museum shared with us last week.

Next week its the last session back at school, so more making and exploring to come…. probably something messy and tactile, reflecting on our experiences at Stonehenge and   the interests expressed by the group.

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