27/09/2010 by James.

On Friday I facilitated my first two sessions at College Lake, in partnership with staff from Ashmead Combined School, and groups of Reception age children.

In the morning a group of younger children came to visit the reserve, still only attending school for half a day, and in the afternoon slightly older full-time pupils of the school.

We were given a yurt to use on-site as our base by BBOWT, and from there went out to explore the woods, paths and hides of the reserve.

We asked the children where they wanted to go within the raised area of woods, fields and paths surrounding the yurt, and we (myself, Alistair from Outdoor Culture, and teachers from the school) explored alongside them. Later we all walked down to a hide at the water’s edge to take a closer look.

Conversations developed out of the children’s interaction with the animals and features that they came across; from old farm machinery to the investigation of mini-beasts living under logs, from tracks in the mud and what may have made them, to the sounds of the different birds as they flew overhead or called from their hiding places in trees and on islands.

I offered the groups the same choice of ‘tools’ to use to explore the site and to record their discoveries (magnifying glasses, binoculars, bags, boxes, paper and pens), but the difference between the groups was marked. The younger morning group were absorbed by just being there; walking, talking, touching and  jumping in puddles, whilst the older group (by months) were much more keen to document their visit, for instance using mark-making to make check-lists, draw tracks and make maps, or picking up stones and leaves that caught their eye.

The children were interested in the mystery of what had created and left behind holes, and what or who had left behind tracks. They worked as detectives as well as explorers, drawing conclusions from evidence found in the landscape and making suggestions from piecing that evidence together, to create their own story of the reserve and the animals, plants and people that live or visit there.

Jemma, one of the teachers pointed out the links between my own artwork that I’m making for one of the hides, which involves using small old  suitcases as holders of objects and imagery relating to the Lake’s history and wildlife, and the children’s own investigations as they collected, gathered and enclosed their finds in bags and enveleopes.

You never quite know where things are going to head when you are working on a project which has a child-led element, and that can be both exciting and sometimes a little bit nerve-wracking. As we share feedback between us on the behaviour of individual children, and on which parts worked best, I’m sure we’ll tweak the format a little. I’ve certainly been reminded of the way that seemingly small differences in age can influence the children’s choices and their level of confidence in making those choices.

All in all it was a really rich and successful start to the participatory strand of my work at College Lake - I’ll add further updates on the project with Ashmead School, and on the development of my own artwork here soon…

Posted in College Lake Residency, Learning/Teaching, projects | Print | 6 Comments »

20/09/2010 by James.

On Friday I had my first session working with the staff and children at Ashmead Combined School in Aylesbury.

I’m working with Reception children at this Creative Partnerships ‘Change’ School, as part of my residency at College Lake Nature Reserve, through the Hide project set up by Alistair Will of Outdoor Culture.

I’m going to be exploring the site with all 70 reception children split into six separate groups for half a day each, and then working closely with two small groups over another 3 days, giving us chance to follow up on those individual children’s interests to more depth. We’ll also have a chance to explore some of the school’s own grounds.

The aim of the sessions with the children is to give them a chance to get outdoors, experience a wildlife rich  site, and to explore it using creative ways. We want the children to lead the direction that the project goes in within a general theme of being creative explorers.

Friday morning was a chance for me and the children to meet each other quite informally. I talked with each of three classes, and they told me what they thought an artist did, what a nature reserve might be and what we might see/discover on our trips to College Lake.

I had laid out a couple of tables with natural finds from a wood, and with materials and tools to explore them, including mark-making materials, magnifying glasses, maps and collecting bags - similar things to those which the children will use to explore and document College Lake.

It was a lovely start to the project, with children opting to come and chat with me when they were ready, use the resources in their chosen ways, and to look at some of the photos that I had on a slideshow, of my artwork and other creative outdoor learning projects.

This Friday sees the first two of the six small groups visiting College Lake, where we are going to be based in BBOWT’s yurt; heading out from there to explore the woods, lakeside and hides, following the children’s own interests and ideas.

More images to come, and details of the direction that the project heads in, as it happens…

Posted in College Lake Residency, Learning/Teaching, environmental issues, projects | Print | 2 Comments »

13/09/2010 by James.

This toolkit was commissioned by the MLA from Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, as the legacy of a series of creative family learning projects, run by myself in partnership with the museum’s Learning & Outreach Officer Laura Bullivant, with the support of the Wiltshire extended schools service.

The projects aimed to use outreach projects to give families of primary age children a chance to explore the themes of the museum’s collection. The sessions were delivered creatively, informed by the children’s own interests, and linked to the participants’ local environment.

This toolkit was informed by three projects, two of which I was directly involved in delivering, Connect & Create and Making Tracks, and posts on which can be found on this blog under the ‘Projects’ category.

The third project, Explore:Connect:Create, tried a different approach, using the recruitment of volunteers to work alongside Laura with the aim of developing a financially sustainable way of working for the future. In this case I provided professional development for the volunteers and mentoring for Laura.

Please click on the following link to go to the News section of the Creative Ecology website, where the toolkit can be downloaded - Toolkit Download

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

07/09/2010 by James.

A few thoughts today about living-art, art/horticulture, and the old chestnut, what makes ‘art’ art anyway?

Its part of a continuing focus for me, at what point does an artist (me) working in another context become something else? Because I am working for someone else and fulfilling their agenda, does that mean I lose my identity as an artist? When does socially engaged practice in education become teaching? When does ecological art become horticulture, forestry or environmental science?

It seems to me that a lot of the most exciting artwork runs the risk of being mis-identified and ignored by the art community, and that we as artists run the risk of limiting ourselves by worrying about going too far away from whats accepted as art and so losing acceptance or visibility. So artists scuttle back to the art world after a foray into education, ecology, etc, often failing to embed their practice within these sectors to promote permanent positive change.

When I’m talking about all this by the way, I’m including myself in it, and am exploring thoughts or ideas rather than making judgements.

I’m really interested in how artists can, and whether they need to, remain ‘artists’ whilst working within the social realm, and if they do, whether this re-inforces the idea of art being somehow separate from society, in a bubble of slight uselessness, optional and easy to put away again when funding gets tight. Or (and this is my preferred option), if it promotes and celebrates the idea of artists as positively fuctioning members of society with a key role to play within it.

I made some jam a couple of days ago, for the first time ever. I felt really excited to have gone for a walk, picked some damsons from a hedge (remaining trees from vanished orchards that used to cover the fields at the base of the downs), brought them home, and made jam.

I felt so inspired that I had followed a process that combined walking in and learning about landscape and nature, that I had done something practical and physical, that I had made use of a free and sustainable resource, and that at the end of the day I had ended up with a very tasty end product.

Now that combines most of my interests and passions, and I’m sure would make a great creative learning / foraging / cooking project, but is it art? Does it matter?

I guess it matters because I need to know where to talk about it, who might fund it, who else is doing similar work. Growing plants, foraging for wild food, and following fruit/vegetables from field to plate is a really valuable learning experience, and one that many people never experience.

I’ve planted trees with people, gone for walks with people, had conversations and danced with people, and that’s all been part of my art, so why not cooking, foraging, gardening and eating?

I guess what I’m looking for is a balance. I want to embed art within ecosystems and communities, but I want to hang on to an identity of being slightly separate. I want time to wander, make and think, to step outside of systems and then sneak back in again.

I guess I want to have my art and eat it (sometimes).

A couple of interesting links on artists & organisations working in the areas of art / horticulture / food…

EastFeast - http://www.eastfeast.co.uk

Avant Gardening - http://www.avantgardening.org

Any more you’d recommend having a look at? please add them as comments, thanks.

Posted in Learning/Teaching, other art, environmental issues, me & my work | Print | No Comments »

01/09/2010 by James.

I thought I’d share some work i n progress using leaves from Westonbirt Arboretum and a couple of botanical gardens in Cornwall.

I’m always picking up bits and pieces wherever I go, a leaf here, a rusty cog there, its something I’ve done my whole life, and I find it very satisfying when they all come together to make artworks, like miniature versions of the world.

When I was a child I had loads of collections - feathers, fossils, matchboxes and coins, crystals and seedpods, like my own private museum.

These days I still gather them and dot them about my house or stitch and bind them together, but I’m also working with and for museums, using my knowledge of how searching and discovering in creative ways can really foster a love of learning, and of our natural and cultural heritage.

I guess what it does is to give people what can often be a rare chance to see the world for themselves, taking time to notice what’s important to them, and the beauty and preciousness of everyday ‘treasures’.

Tomorrow I’m back at College Lake with Foundation Stage teachers from Ashmead School, planning sessions for Reception age children to explore and discover the site with me.

I also heard today that the Search Museum in Gosport has got funding from Renaissance South East’s as part of Green SLIME (Science Learning in Museum Education), to employ me to work with them and a local school, developing a resource supporting other schools to use creative ways to learn about biodiversity.

And in amongst all this I’ve been researching bird migration for my own artwork at College Lake, with the aim of sharing with visitors how this little oasis near Tring is just one piece of the very large ecological puzzle that its bird visitors need to survive.

Posted in Learning/Teaching, Museums & Galleries, environmental issues, me & my work | Print | No Comments »