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Early Years Arts Activities across the region
Creative Paths: Early Years Arts Residencies
Over the past year Play Resource has sent 6 artists to work in residencies in nursery and primary schools across the region with children aged 3-4 years. Each project gave the young children an opportunity to develop their motor, verbal, social, and problem solving skills through creative activities. These creative activities are designed specifically for Early Years to support children’s learning and development.
The programme operates on a residency basis so that the emphasis is on ‘process’ rather than ‘product’. So each group has access to the artist for several hours a week over a period of weeks, varying from 6 to 15 weeks. The number of children in each group varied from 25 to 70. Through careful planning and working closely with the teachers and nursery workers, the artist was able to deliver a broad range of creative activities to facilitate learning; including painting, printing, seasonal and multi-cultural themes, healthy eating, and sensory exploration through arts using collage with natural materials. The programme is designed to be flexible. The artist goes into the nursery setting to work with the children. Participants included: St Lukes Nursery School, Ionad Uibh Eachach, Our Lady’s Nursery, Mercy Primary, Holy Family Nursery, Busy Bees Playgroup.
Down’s Syndrome Association ‘Celebrates Diversity’ with creativity
Creative Paths: Special Projects
The aim of the Special Projects is to give children and young people an opportunity to tackle an issue or explore a concern through art. The group, Down’s Syndrome Association, requested an artist to work with them on a residential weekend in Lusty Beg in January 2007. The project was called ‘Celebrating Diversity’ with the idea being their finished piece was to be transported to London to participate in a conference and would be taken on stage by the group.
The work was created over the weekend by a group of 13 young people who have Down’s Syndrome aged between 19-24, their support workers, and artist Jim Russell. The end result was a beautiful colourful banner called ‘Celebrating Diversity’ about 3m by 2m in size. They created a second piece called ‘Celebrating Family’ also in the style of a banner depicting a tree. All the leaves on the tree were handprints from the group, each with their own message written on it expressing their thoughts about what their family means to them.
The Down’s Syndrome Association provides information and support to people with Down’s Syndrome and their families, working to increase public awareness of Down’s Syndrome. As well as using the banner to contribute to this work by the group, the piece was brought to Play Resource and exhibited to celebrate the diversity of the artwork created on the Creative Paths programme as a whole over the past year. The work will be on show there until the end of February 2008.
Giant’s Park Waterfall created by Oakwood School Pupils
Creative Paths: Arts Outreach at Oakwood School and Assessment Centre, Harberton Park, Belfast.
The Oakwood School and Assessment Centre, which focuses on special needs education, took part in this special project to give the children the chance to look at what they would like to see included in the proposed ‘Giant’s Park’; plans to develop the Dargan Landfill site. Belfast City Council wanted to hear from children what they would like to see in the new park and asked them to create a piece of artwork based on that. But the work had to be in-keeping with the school’s special emphasis on sensory learning.
Artist Anu Sundralingham worked with the children to help them express their ideas; ‘in the park we would like to see lots of blooming flowers and a big waterfall with lots of fishes. We would love a railway track running underneath the waterfall (so we don’t get wet) with lots of red carriages.’’
The end result was a beautiful 3-D waterfall against a backdrop of flowers, butterflies and a red train! The photo diary of the project clearly showed the immense enjoyment the children had in participating – not afraid to make a mess but also pay real attention to details – especially for one boy who was devoted to creating the train! The creation of the piece included a great deal of texture, colour, shape and form because sensory learning is such an important part of the curriculum for this group of children.
The imaginative and unique piece of artwork was brought to Play Resource in May 2007 as part of a Creative Paths Exhibition. When the children came to the launch of the exhibition they were clearly very excited to see their piece of work on show.
Glenwood Primary School join Industry Arts Project
Creative Paths: Industry Arts Project
The Industry Arts Project is an innovative scheme bringing together the unusual mix of industry, children, creativity and the environment. The eco-art scheme ran for 12 months during 2006 with 13 primary schools across the region participating. Each school was partnered with a local firm. Play Resource sent an artist to work with the children on an arts project using the waste materials of the local factory. The finished creation was presented back to the firms to go on display for the staff to see what becomes of the waste materials after they are donated to Play Resource. Then in turn the children participating in the scheme got a tour of their local factory to see where the waste originated from.
The partnership completes the recycling circle for everyone involved in the scheme; it offers companies who are giving their waste materials to Play Resource the chance to connect with their local community, while children learn how recycling and the environment can be a source of creativity and fun!
The P5 teacher from the Glenwood Primary School was not only able to link the project to the curriculum she also found “the waste provides a rich stimulus for topic work, as well as teaching the children about recycling”. Pupils from P5 worked with Artist Sally Young to create robots and asteroids using foil and card donated by Black Mountain Printers to Play Resource.
Then in turn Black Mountain Printers was delighted to receive the sculptures the children at Glenwood Primary School made using their waste. Director of the firm Bing Larmour said, “It was amazing to see what they produced – just using our waste, a little imagination and guidance from an artist. Showing the children round the factory to see where the waste originated from, gave a real sense of how it all connects”.
Artist Katie Blue demonstrates ways to Create Creatures from Scrap at Play Resource
Creative Paths: Arts Demonstrations
Creatures from Scrap with Artist Katie Blue was one of the 43 free Arts Demonstrations taking place through-out 2007 at Play Resource. This series of demonstrations operate like drop-in workshops. They are all facilitated by experienced artists and combine ideas, tips and advice on the creative use of the free scrap materials and the shop products available from Play Resource. Their increasing popularity has resulted in quite a crowd attending them, so they have been relocated from the shop to the Ideas Gallery at Play Resource to accommodate the increased numbers joining in.
The aim is to provide Play Resource member groups working with children and young people, in a variety of community and educational settings, with a fresh and varied source of ideas and inspiration for free. By giving them direct access to an artist for several hours it allows them to pick up a new idea and adapt it for their group setting.
Over the course of the year a balance was struck between the art & craft shop products being promoted and the creative re-use of scrap materials. The range of topics covered on the programme has included; scrap musical instruments, mirror frames, lanterns, masks, hats, papier-mâché, scrap booking, Early Years activities, printing on fabric and seasonal arts. As one participant said ‘A wonderful experience! Great chats as well as loads of useful tips.’
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