12/04/2010 by James.

I ran a really enjoyable couple of professional development days over the Easter Holidays, for the learning and outreach team at Salisbury Museum, exploring participant-led, creative approaches to learning in a Museum context.

The sessions explored the relevance of creative learning for foundation stage children, before looking at examples of creative child-led learning in practice, through projects I’ve run with museums in the past, and the work I’ve carried out with 5×5x5=creativity, schools and pre-schools.

We looked at the relationship between the parent and child, how we can support parents to develop confidence in their own creativity, and how a lack of confidence in some parents can impact on their children.

Amongst all the interesting discussion and theory we also made plenty of room for hands-on sessions, which enabled the group to put themselves in the shoes of the participants, exploring the museum and documenting their experiences and each other in creative ways.

Now that things have quietened down again, and before they get busy again in the summer term, I’m taking some time to be in the studio and to get out exploring and collecting. I’m looking at how the smaller object-based pieces that I create can be displayed/grouped/collected together in gallery or domestic or outdoor environments, and how collections such as these may be read by a viewer.

I’m also continuing to make photographic pieces which gather together found imagery and objects, and exploring ways of exhibiting these as single prints, books or online, and have included a few of those here.

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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

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25/11/2009 by James.

Its been a while since I got chance to get back on here and share what I’ve been up to.

First of all I went to the Brecon Beacons for a few days of space, air, and mountain views, a beautiful area just along the M4 and up a bit, gorgeous!

It was great to be amongst the last of the Autumn colour, to be out walking and watching Red Kites, and come to a log fire. Here’s a photograph I took of the reflections on the canal near where we were staying, this reflected view for me gives the woods a much deeper, darker, mysterious, almost primeval quality, like a fairytale wood of dreams and stories.

Since then I’ve been busy with the Stonehenge Young People’s Consultation Project again for English Heritage, and have set up a blog for the participants. As soon as that is made public I’ll be sure to put the details up on here.

So far I’ve worked Years 5, 7, and 10, looking at designing the interior of the new education space,  creating a booklet for Geography students on the changing visitor experience past and future, and developing ideas for new face-to-face tours and workshops for Travel and Tourism students.

So its been a case of taking time to explore the monument and its surrounding landscape as it is now and then using discussion, drawing, writing and other creative ways to help everyone share their ideas for the future visitor centre. Here’s a couple of before and after shots of the changes planned for the area immediately around the monument.

This last week I was staying and working up in Lancaster alongside children and staff at the University’s Pre-School Centre. We were using different media to encourage the children to explore and learn from their interaction with the outdoors, whilst supporting the staff to develop their own skills in facilitating child-initiated learning.

We used mark-making materials, clay, natural objects, and a variety of recycled objects to explore shape, pattern, space, height, letter, numbers, and whatever else the children were interested in.

And finally, for today at least, I’m off to Kingston on Monday to run a professional development session with the new 5×5x5=creativity research cluster there. Its aimed at Pre and Primary School educators and will focus on Creativity and Inclusion, concentrating on supporting boys to learn creatively, especially in the outdoors.

So its busy at the moment, which is great, and its all connected and all so relevant to my practice, which is even better!

All I need now is a little time to get back in the studio and make some new artwork…

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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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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.

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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03/10/2009 by James.

A really interesting and exciting foray into the world of cultural heritage and ecological thinking -

‘This is a new blog for cultural heritage and environment professionals to share ideas on ecological thinking and environmental policies in the sector. The cultural heritage sector encompasses museums, heritage sites and landscapes, libraries, archives and art galleries.

… A key aim is to provide feedback and advocacy for Government bodies such as DCMS, MLA and English Heritage in developing ecological and sustainable practices. There are several UK initiatives on the arts and ecology but there is a gap in the cultural heritage sector.

…. This blog is not confined to sustainability in conservation or buildings management but encompasses all aspects of ecological thinking, including campaigning, community engagement, education, digital strategies, creative curating and so on.’

Well worth a look - http://ecoch.wordpress.com

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03/10/2009 by James.

Just a quick one to confirm that the venue for this exhibition is the Proud Camden Gallery, Stables Market, Chalk Farm Rd, London NW1 8AH

A few people were unsure where it was happening. For more information on the exhibition please see the exhibition website - www.mencap.org.uk/dayofthedead

For information on the venue see - www.proudcamden.com

Hope that helps!

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