09/08/2010 by James.

Right now I’m occupied with thinking about the overlap in my practice between art, learning and interpretation, as in interpretation for heritage or environmental sites.

Most of my work at the moment falls into three main areas -

1. Developing interpretation materials for English Heritage/The National Trust by consulting creatively with children and young people, for Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape

2. Responding to the environment of College Lake Reserve in Bucks for Outdoor Culture to develop an installation for a bird hide and creative learning programme for a local school

3. Mentoring or providing professional development for artists, teachers and museum educators on the role of the arts/creativity in learning

I personally see all of this as my practice as an artist, because my practice centres around the role that art can play in supporting individuals to engage with the world around them, and in ways appropriate to them. However, I describe my role to different people in different ways depending on the context in which I’m working, because the popular image of what an artist is/does often doesn’t quite fit. This seems to stem from the image of the artist as being somehow separate from society, not someone with an integral role, apart from to entertain or provoke, or to make things pretty.

But can’t art be interpretation, can’t interpretation be art, and what is the relationship of both of them to learning?

I’m not going to try and answer these questions, in fact I’ll probably ask a lot more. What I’m interested in doing is looking at the role that artists can and do play within the field of interpretation and learning, and explore the relationship between these areas within my own practice.

When I was at college, studying Fine Art and making sculptures that explored the relationship of my body to the landscape around me, I was told by one tutor that my work was too beautiful. She told me that she wanted to be shocked, to be challenged. My response at the time was that that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to engage people, to connect with people and to seek to connect people with the material-reality of the world around them, through engaging them with my artwork. I wanted to encourage a kind of empathy with my experience as the maker, through our shared cultural and bodily relationships with the artwork. I wanted to start to set up a dialogue between them and me, via the materials and processes that led to the creation of the object, and so to the place where the materials might have come from.

In the 15 years since then, my work has developed to engage much more directly with other people, through participatory projects and creative learning initiatives, but the direct sensory experience of exploring a place, and making in response to that, has stayed with me.

I understand that there are lots of kinds of art and artists, and that not everyone is trying to achieve what I am. There are also various approaches to learning, and interpretation materials in heritage and environmental settings take various forms. But what links my work across these areas is the belief in the need for each individual to be given the opportunity to engage with a place, a material, an object, in ways that leave room for them, for their own personal context.

My installation at College Lake could well be seen as a form of interpretation. The other interpretation already on site could also be seen as art - illustrations of the species and habitats are placed around the site and work well. But what I want to offer at College Lake is an opportunity for engagement and learning through interaction with an artwork, within the context of a specific place, that could be said to be poetic, in that it offers more than the sum of its constituent parts. I hope that it will offer a chance to be moved or changed by the experience of that specific environment, rather than being purely illustrative.

So can, and should Museum and Gallery interpretation look to encourage a similarly individual, emotional and imaginative response to a place or an artefact? Can one work of art offer a ‘way in’ to another?

There are plenty of examples of artists carrying out residencies in Museums (see Art & Artefact: Museum as Medium by James Puttnam), of creating interventions that respond to or highlight the background of specific artefacts, but these tend to be temporary, and afterwards things tend to return to normal, like the ‘parachute’ art projects that pop up and fade away in schools. Some interpretation aims to evoke a place or time using film, sound or smell, but is this art? Is there room for an audience or participant to interpret and adapt the experience to fit their own needs and experiences?

My interest is in exploring how artists can facilitate more meaningful interaction with sites or exhibits, questioning assumptions, and giving permission for alternative interpretations to be discussed and shared, in ways that can be transformational for all involved. Can (should) Museums, Galleries and Nature Reserves look to work with artists on a longer term basis, to support a re-evaluation of what a site can look and feel like to visitors, and what they might gain from interaction with it?

As with successful artist-teacher partnerships, this could be beneficial for both partners, with artists offering alternative ways of presenting and interpreting artefacts or information, whilst gaining from the in-depth knowledge and experience of site (Museum, Reserve etc) staff/professionals.

My work in education, especially on behalf of 5×5x5=creativity, seeks to support a move towards permanent change - a move towards educational practice that is responsive to the needs of the participant, that places them at the centre of the learning experience. I see my work in this context as being socially embedded art. I am acting from a position within the system, working in partnership and effecting change through dialogue.

Can involving artists in developing interpretation do the same? Can interpretation evolve in ways that value and respond to the individual, and provide information, rather than simply placing emphasis on the ‘official’ story of an object for example? Can we release our grip on telling people what to think and instead start to focus on engaging and asking people what they think, supporting them to learn for themselves? (See ‘Curiosity’ at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery)

I was watching ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ last night on BBC 4, filmed at The Freud Museum ( http://www.freud.org.uk ). The staff at the Museum seemed to be exploring similar issues to those mentioned here, with a new director looking to make the Museum appear less elitest, and a discussion amongst staff debating whether letting the objects on display speak for themselves or increasing the amount of interpretation would be best.

The programme seemed to infer that the office staff as theorists/academics took a different view to those staff who were more hands-on. Essentially the Museum was struggling to understand what their visitors wanted and who their visitors were; whether to focus on Freud’s theories or to draw on the life of the Freud family and their personal effects.

I guess that some of them were worried about ‘dumbing down’ and felt anxious about change. From my own work with Museums, there often seems to be a divide between those that conserve and study artfacts, and those that seek to encourage greater access to them. With interpretation lying at the  boundary between curation/research and learning/access, it isn’t surprising that there is some conflict.

But as a more creative approach to learning begins to creep into our schools and museums, encouraging more inclusive and person-centred practice, I think that Museum interpretation has a lot to learn and gain from it.

Its not about ‘dumbing down’, its about providing access to a wider range of people and encouraging greater dialogue, resulting in interpretation that is multi-faceted and responsive to the needs and interests of everyone. As people who explore the world around them in creative ways on a daily basis, artists could be the ideal partners in helping this to happen.

After all, what is the point of preserving artwork or wildlife at a specific site if we don’t seek to forge links between them and their local communities, to allow learning to take place in ways that are moving and meaningful to the individuals of that community, using the site as a valuable learning resource and raising awareness of its importance.

Art to me is not something separate that might occasionally seek to engage with society, it is a way of exploring and engaging with the world, which when embedded within our institutions can lead to powerful social and environmental change.

(For more discussion on co-creation of exhibitions with artists and the public, see Museums Association website)

Posted in Learning/Teaching, College Lake Residency, Museums & Galleries, environmental issues, me & my work, projects, 5x5x5=creativity | Print | No Comments »

15/07/2010 by James.

I went on my first visit to the College Lake Nature Reserve last week. Its a Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) reserve, near Tring in Buckinghamshire.

Its a beautiful and surprisingly large site, and I’ve driven past the half-hidden entrance many times on my way to visit family in Hertfordshire. There’s a large lake with small areas of woodland and chalk grassland, and a wealth of bird and animal life including breeding polecats, sand-martins, barn owls etc.

I’ve been commissioned by Outdoor Culture to create an installation in one of the bird hides, together with artists Martin Prothero and Linda Cornwell, responding to the site and its wildlife.

I’ll also be working with Ashmead Combined School in Aylesbury, to support reception age children to explore the reserve and their own grounds in creative ways.

The bulk of the work will be taking place from September, but I don’t want to wait to go back until then, so will be making a return visit soon to spend some time watching and recording the insect and bird-life, and finding out more about the site’s history as a chalk quarry.

The ideas are certainly bubbling up already, its a great opportunity to explore how man-made landscape features can be developed for wildlife, and how the arts can be used to support people’s developing environmental awareness. I’ll be back soon with more information, images and artwork as things develop…

In the meantime, for more information on Outdoor Culture just follow this link…

www.outdoorculture.com

And to read more about the Trust and College Lake see

www.bbowt.org.uk/content.asp?did=23523

Posted in College Lake Residency, Learning/Teaching, environmental issues, projects, me & my work | Print | No Comments »

25/06/2010 by James.

Another busy and rewarding week, and the last two days of my work with Churchfields Infant School in Redbridge, through Creative Partnerships.

We had our celebration day yesterday, with parents and governors coming in to hear more about the project, see documentation and artwork, and to get hands-on, trying out some of the activities developed with the children during the life of the project. This included a group of parents constructing a shelter, designed through mark-making and modeling by their reception age children, which will continue to evolve as the children themselves add onto it.

It was brilliant to hear how individual children had been continuing their investigations at home, exploring their own gardens, reflecting on the buildings and structures around them to discuss what makes a shelter a shelter, noticing the shapes and patterns on every day things such as leaves and feathers found on the floor, and bringing parents to the documentation panels and structures placed around the school to share their learning.

Its been a really interesting journey for me. We started out with an aim of supporting the children’s voices to be heard, and of using the local outdoor environment in creative ways, with the possibility of generating ideas for enriching the school’s own grounds.

My last session with the Year 2 class ended with us looking back through hand made journals of drawings, photos, rubbings and gathered found objects, reflecting on what we had learned over the last few months, and where we had been.

We then asked these children to think about what might come next, how could their explorations and their learning continue beyond the life of the project?

Their responses were rich, detailed and inspiring, with maps and plans showing networks of enclosed den-like spaces reaching out across the school grounds, connecting the play areas of the different year groups and providing new spaces for talking, playing, reading, and for wildlife.

 It reminded me of the work I’ve also been doing with/for English Heritage, giving local children and young people an opportunity to develop designs for the interior of the education space, and for ways of sharing the importance of the environmentally sustainable features planned for the visitor centre, through engaging and accessible interpretation.

Of course the future of the centre looks in doubt now as one of the many spending cuts, but the opportunity to be listened to, to have your ideas and vision for the future documented, taken seriously and (hopefully) acted upon, is such an important experience. Whatever happens with the centre, and in the school grounds at Churchfields, I hope that we have given the children greater confidence in their creative ability to shape the human world to suit their needs, increased empathy and understanding of difference, and a greater awareness of how people can live in an interconnected harmony with their local natural and cultural heritage.

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

09/06/2010 by James.

Here’s a few images taken from a recent drop-in family workshop, that I ran at Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum for Salisbury International Arts Festival, responding to chalk hill figures with liquid clay, chalk and charcoal.

Posted in Museums & Galleries, environmental issues, projects | Print | No Comments »

26/03/2010 by James.

I’ve been working with Churchfields Infant School in Redbridge, NE London again this week, walking up from the school to their local patch of Epping Forest, with Reception children on Tuesday and Year 2 children on Wednesday.

Its the second of five monthly visits to the school between now and the end of June June, set up with A New Direction as part of the creative partnerships initiative.

The school are keen that different aged children learn from and interact with each other, that children’s voices are heard and acted upon, and that we use creative ways to explore and interpret the local outdoor space.

After using clay and making sketchbooks to document the children’s own school grounds in our last sessions, we decided to venture out beyond the school and suggested a range of ways to make marks and structures with the materials that the forest could provide.

The reception children were excited by the sensory experience of simply walking, and sometimes wading, through mud, finding ‘houses’ within the low tree canopy and climbing fallen trees, or feeling the wet soil on their hands and fingers before using it to make tracks and marks onto paper.

With the year 2 children we gathered natural materials and rubbish from the woodland and created arrangements and sculptures, following the children’s own ideas and interests, with the resulting artwork ranging from totems and pirate ships to a mother with child, and a floating world built inside a puddle.

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

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 »

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 »

26/01/2010 by James.

I was up in Lancaster last week, running my last 3 days of the creative outdoor learning project with the Nursery children (2 to 3 yr olds).The aim of the sessions was to give the pre-school staff a taste of creative ways that children can be supported to explore their local outdoor environment.

In the longer term, this kind of creative approach can enable staff and artist to work together, to begin to identify and follow individual childrens’ learning pathways, and better provide for their needs. In this case I was only working with the group for 3 days, so it was to be used of a starting point, for further creative and child-initiated work.

I concentrated on devising sessions that linked inside and out, and made the most of natural and recycled open-ended materials.

I’m keen to avoid re-inforcing the idea in schools and pre-schools of using one way of working indoors and one out, of the door being a barrier to taking drawing outside, or bringing mud and leaves in. Otherwise I think there’s a danger that  outdoor-learning or environmental art projects can lead to the perception of ‘nature’ as being something that you keep in a kind of bubble and visit occasionally, whilst your everyday life carries on as usual.

Over the three days I offered different materials and different ways of exploring places and materials to the children, with each day loosely labeled as Mark-making/Sensory Exploration, Small Scale Construction/Clay Work, and Large-Scale Construction/Role Play.

As usual the children didn’t necessarily use the resources in ways that fitted the labels or our expectations, and that was fine. The grouping and labeling of resources was a starting point, and the ability to work across different areas enables children at different stages of development, or with different interests, to experiment, make connections and learn.

The photos added here are from the last day, when different options were combined and laid out in the forest area, and mark-making and construction blurred into role play.

The first day involved getting very messy with a bucket of liquid clay, chalk, mud and graphite sticks as we explored mark-making in the forest area. The second involved collecting ‘treasures’ from the local area chosen by the children, and then exploring them with clay. So I didn’t get chance to take any photos from the first two sessions due to being pretty much covered in mud and clay.

So to sum up, great fun, very messy, and as usual very inspiring, to be exploring materials and environments alongside the senses and imaginations of young children.

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

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

Posted in Learning/Teaching, projects, me & my work | Print | No Comments »