I have been delivering CRAFTed projects for the past 5 years and have enjoyed every one of them so much. It is a treat working with the pupils and teachers of the various schools. Brilliantly organized under the umbrella of the Counties Educational Centres and the Design, Craft Council of Ireland.
The latest project I worked on was with 33 children aged 9 - 12 in Burnchurch NS a small and vibrant school situated in the heart of rural Ireland
The overall theme for
this project was global citizenship and recycling. As this is quite a broad concept
we decided to narrow it down by looking at pollution of the oceans paying special attention to the large garbage
gyres floating in major world oceans, drawing
the children’s attention to marine life and how plastics can affect their
habitat.
The children were asked to collect plastics and bring
them into school for the project.
For the introduction to
this project the children saw a short video called "One Plastic Beach" - Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang an inspiring video.
We then looked at marine life affected by the pollution of
the oceans, with the help of the school’s library and the internet. In preparation for a session of printing the
children were asked to draw a sketch of sea life .
This image was used for monoprinting . We first made a background print using 2 colours and
some mark making on which we later printed the image of the sketch.
Next the children
transferred their image of the marine
creature to a piece of plastic collected
earlier.
The plastic shapes were then prepared according to the children’s ability for stitching or weaving
and worked on in school . It was great seeing the children and their
enthusiasm in applying themselves and finishing their pieces using embroidery
yarn, wool and beads.
To add another dimension to our planned final wall display the children constructed
jelly fish using nylon thread, beads and plastic yoghurt lids, seaweed in all kinds of
shape and sizes using onion netting, plastic cut outs coloured with permanent
makers and drinking straws cut in thin
lines.
The canvas used as a background was painted with a wash of
acrylic colour by the children. All the elements were placed and arranged by the children and then glued
to the canvas.
Finally during art lesson the children used their sketches for clay modelling.
Thanks to the teachers and pupils of Burnchurch NS, Kilkenny Educational Centre and the CRAFTed team Design and Craft Council of Ireland.
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