25/02/2010 by James.

I was working with Churchfields Infant School in Redbridge, NE London, on Monday and Tuesday this week, as the first of 5 two-day blocks of sessions there on a Creative Partnerships project.

The focus on the project is to allow the children’s voices to be heard through a creative and child-led way of working, and to make the most that the local outdoor environment has to offer.

I am working with Reception and Year 2 children and their teaching staff on this project, and this week made books with the year 2 children, to record their experiences of the project using  drawing/painting/rubbings and found objects.

With the staff I led an Inset session exploring creativity and child-led learning, and a hands-on session similar to the reception children’s; using clay as a base for marks, shapes, patterns and constructions, from materials found around the school grounds.

Next month we’re going to be walking up into Epping Forest to explore, play and create. We’ve asked the children what they think we should do in the Forest, and the teaching staff are going to keep me updated with what happens between now and then, so that the ‘brief’ that we give the children can be as responsive as possible to their continuing individual learning journeys.

Posted in Learning/Teaching, projects | Print | No Comments »

18/02/2010 by James.

 An example of some work currently in progress in my studio involving adapted printed pages and found objects… finding stories in the way that discarded objects and everyday fragments come together.

Posted in me & my work | Print | No Comments »

18/02/2010 by James.

A few images of wrapped and bound objects that I’ve been gathering together for inspiration, as I return to work that combines found objects and materials as evidence of place, and of a multi-layered, multi-sensory experience of the world.

(left to right - Gail Rieke, Craig Roper, Chris Drury and Diana Cooper)

Posted in other art, me & my work | Print | No Comments »

17/02/2010 by James.

I’ve been taking some time out from project-based work this week, to explore and re-inspire myself, a bit of a pit-stop and a recap of what I want to do in my own work.

Now that I have a few projects on the go to feed my more sociable side and to learn from that kind of dialogue, I can also start making more room to focus on the individual side of my practice, and create more of a balance again.

Yesterday I went to The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge and wandered around photographing the birds. The ones I took in the tropical house, where the condensation blurred the images, are some of my favourites, like this image where the beautiful sheen on the trumpeter bird’s breast feathers glints through the mist.

Today I spent time in West Woods near where I live - quiet time, taking it all in, the quiet whispering, rustling, echoing noises, and the treasures laid out at my feet.

I am re-connecting with simpler, earlier work that came out of gathering/collecting objects and materials that catch my eye, bringing them together on the spot with natural fibres and clays, then letting the materials speak of the places and experiences that link them.

Posted in me & my work | Print | No Comments »

12/02/2010 by James.

Here are a few photos from a project that I ran this week at Warneford Secondary School in Highworth.

I talked to the whole year 9 group in an assembly about the role of art in exploring identity, and in defining and sharing a sense of your own identity with others. Then I worked with 15 of the young people to develop ideas for artworks which gathered together images, shapes and ideas from their own lives, like a kind of creative identity puzzle.

Their teachers and I wanted to give them a chance to come up with their own ideas around who they are and what they are passionate about - to experience how art can support you to be in control of your image and identity, be more reflective on who you are as a person and then start to think about what you might like to achieve in the future.

Posted in Learning/Teaching, projects | Print | No Comments »

10/02/2010 by James.

Please share the following information with any 14 to 19 yr olds you know of in the Stonehenge/Salisbury/surrounding areas, who may be interested in this exciting opportunity to advise English Heritage on the development of the new Visitor Centre and learning/outreach programmes.

Thank you!

STONEHENGE YOUNG PEOPLE’S PANEL

WHAT?

English Heritage at Stonehenge needs the options of young people to decide how to make their new Visitor Centre an interesting and fun place to visit in the future.

WHO?

Young people from 14-19 years old, who are interested in design, archaeology, or the environment, in sharing their opinions and having something different on their CV.

HOW?

We want to hold on Open Meeting, and four Young People’s Panel sessions, based at Salisbury Museum, with visits to Stonehenge and other local venues.

Open Meeting:

The open meeting will give you a chance to see artists’ impressions of the new Visitor Centre, handle artefacts, explore the Museum and give ideas on what needs to happen next. If you decide to become part of the panel you can sign up for that here too.

Panel Sessions:

At each session there will be a different theme and content – such as meeting the architects, designing interactive exhibits, and exploring how we can make facilities more environmentally sustainable.

The Young People’s Panel is free. Local transport costs will be paid and refreshments will be provided for all of the four panel sessions.

WHEN?

Open Meeting:

Saturday 13^th February at Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, Cathedral Close, Salisbury, 10.30am to 12.30pm (just turn up, no need to book).

Panel Sessions:

Saturday 27^th February, 20^th March, 17^th April, 8^th May at Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, 10.15am to 12.45pm (sign up for your place at the Open Meeting).

It is hoped that the panel sessions will continue after this initial project.

For more information please contact James Aldridge:

Email: info@creative-ecology.co.uk Telephone: 07931 407 186

Posted in Learning/Teaching, Museums & Galleries, events, environmental issues, projects | Print | No Comments »

03/02/2010 by James.

Things are busy again at the moment, with artists selected for the new Kingston-Upon-Thames 5×5x5=creativity cluster, and a professional development day happening with them and the schools on Friday.

I’m also in the process of setting up the Stonehenge Young People’s Panel with English Heritage, and have got an Art & Identity project next week with a secondary school in Highworth, so will add info and images from those as things develop.

Meanwhile, I’ve been grabbing calm moments to get out and see what’s happening. The light is changing now, I can feel Spring in the air and the bulbs are pushing slowly up out of the frozen soil.

I was up on a hill near us the other day, getting my dose of clear cool air and wide open space above the Vale of Pewsey.

The ground was frozen solid, and in the woods that cling to the side of the hill, the cold had frozen the most beautiful patterns into puddles and footprints in the once wet, sloppy mud, now frozen so hard that wet chalk grew stems of ice crystals and the imprints of raindrops that had fallen a day or two before, had been captured like miniature spiky, volcanic landscapes.

Posted in me & my work, 5x5x5=creativity | Print | No Comments »