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BR x ACT Mount Florida Workshops - Project Summary

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BR x ACT Mount Florida Workshops - Project Summary

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Workshop 1: Expressive Drawing and Mark Making

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Workshop 1: Expressive Drawing and Mark Making

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Project Planner

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BR x ACT Workshop 2: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Print! 

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BR x ACT Workshop 2: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Print! 

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Project Planner

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Using recycling and non-traditional materials to print.

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BR x ACT Workshop 3: Collective Collage - Pillars of The Community

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BR x ACT Workshop 3: Collective Collage - Pillars of The Community

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Project Planner

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BR x ACT Workshop Plan: Mount Florida Primary. 

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BR x ACT Workshop Plan: Mount Florida Primary. 

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School workshop that embodies the core principles of The Battlefield Rest project, with collaboration and sustainability at its heart.

The start of a 5-week course at Mount Florida Primary School, working with freelance artist Jade Sturrock.

#upcycyling #recycledmaterials #classroomwork #collaboration

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Project Planner

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Expressive Drawing & Mark Making

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Workshop 1: Make your mark! Expressive Drawing & Mark Making.

What went well?

·        The class really enjoyed the first activity, making rubbings from recycled materials and found objects. With this method, they were able to see detailed results quick and were happily surprised by the outcomes. They all enjoyed it so much that we continued for an hour.

·        They were extremely interested in the process and wanted to learn about different items they could use. They asked a ton of questions about objects they had at home and if they would work!

·        They enjoyed making rubbings with the medals and plants the most.

·        Everyone worked well together sharing tools and materials and cleaning the classroom, as well as just helping each other out.

·        They liked that it was accessible and that they could do it at home anytime

·        Using recycled materials to start was a fantastic way to introduce the themes at hand and everyone had fun exploring textures, especially the bubble wrap!

·        Everyone was well behaved and considerate of other when working on the collective artwork

·        They all loved the spray bottles filled with diluted paints.

·        The collaborative activity was a terrific way to end the first session, it allowed them to let go, have fun, and forget about preconceived notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ art, as well as to work together as team.

Challenges:

·        A couple of pupils struggled a little at first with the rubbing technique but with a little guidance and further demonstration they soon got it and were pleased with the results. (Guidance on how to hold the graphite, pastel, etc. Doing so, at an angle, instead of holding it straight upwards as most were at first).

·        The Evaluation Tree was challenging to start with, they were a little unsure on how to answer the questions at first but when we return to it at the end of the session, they found it much easier and even included illustrations. They enjoyed it more each week, seeing their leaves grow to form a beautiful tree.

·        Planned to go outside for the workshop but rained that day. We had to readjust the plan but worked out for the best as it allowed more time to set up the second activity.

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Block printing & Mono printing

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Workshop 2: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Print.

What went well?

·        Everyone was more relaxed this time, and more comfortable expressing themselves – they were super excited for what we had planned.

·        They were able to get messy, and be expressive with this medium, not one outcome was the same.

·        Encouraged them to think about art in a non-traditional way, working with alternative materials to created unique outcomes. The shapes and patterns were unpredictable focusing on process rather than the outcome. Making it a move with the flow vibe, with no pressure!

·        The stencils worked well for the mono-printing. They were fun and relatable but also acted as a guide to help those that were unsure about how to start. (Stencils – emojis, plants, simple shapes)

·         Recycled materials create fantastic textures, the favourites seemed to be the disposable milk pots, bubble wrap and toilet roll tubes.

Challenges:

·        The messiest activity of the four but good thing we were prepared with aprons and tablecloths. Next time, clean up entirely before moving onto the next printing technique and don’t leave paint bottles out, so we can control how much paint is being used.

·        Having a couple bins at hand instead of one – sorting materials into categories; to be…washed/cleaned, recycled, and general waste. Get the most out of the materials and helps with the cleaning along the way.

·        High energy had to use teachers listening techniques on a few occasions ‘Hands on top, everybody stops!’

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Service Designed: Arts and Neuroscience.

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Service Designed: Arts and Neuroscience.

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Service Designed is an action-research programme that will support the ongoing development of the Arts and Wellbeing programme at Articulate Cultural Trust, with inspiration from guest speakers, collaborative workshops and sharing practice experiences.

I had the opportunity to assist in the Arts and Neuroscience workshop by Dr Corinne Jola, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Abertay and founder of Coco Danse. It explored how dancing can help us feel safe and orientated in space with others through kinetic sense and synchronization.

The workshop was different from what I've experienced previously. It was insightful to observe new ways of delivering a workshop.

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SWG3 spray painting workshop with Frank and young people from St. Luke's Secondary School. 

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SWG3 spray painting workshop with Frank and young people from St. Luke's Secondary School. 

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. Started off with light introductions in the cafe space.

. Participants were asked to bring in sketches to study from. Everyone shared their drawings and talked about why they had chosen them.

. Took a tour of the venue, as well as, looked at and learnt about local graffiti artist and their artworks.

. Went into the yard for demonstrations with Frank and practised together - learnt different ways to hold the can and press the nozzle for various effects.

. Once we all had practised a few times, frank then spray painted outlines of the young peoples' favourite sketches. They worked on top of the outlines, painting their characters and bringing them to life.

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Artwork by the kids from St. Luke's.

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Lantern/lampshade building with Sandi Skiehlmann using recycled materials.

To start, Sandi showed her demonstrations to everyone and discussed how she made them.

Sandi gave us two options to work with A4 and A1. The A4 size was ideal for intricate dot work and the A1 for painting and just getting free with it.

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Once the first layer was finished, we then used etching tools to poke holes into the surface for the light to come through.

Artwork by Frances.

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It was a challenge at the last minute to make a space dark enough to view the work but we managed to build a little popup tent and it was a success!

Artwork by Iris.

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Summary for creative activity, as part of 'The Last Threads' project.

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Official Workshop Plan - The Last Threads (Q.B Primary).

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Official Workshop Plan - The Last Threads (Q.B Primary).

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Workshop planner: Tartan Block Printing

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Block Printing Tartan Inspired Designs - Test Prints

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Block Printing Tartan Inspired Designs - Test Prints

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Applied acrylic paints onto various potato cuts and used them as stamps to create tartan inspired designs.

Started with the larger shape first and then gradually built up the layers using the smaller ones. Simultaneously, applied light tones first and built up to darker tones. Sometimes the light colours do not show up as well on top of the dark.

#understanding #colour #tone #buildinglayers #paintplay #printing #blockprinting

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Through the planning and delivery of creative workshops, I aim to develop my existing skills as an arts practitioner, focusing on my abilities to plan and present.

I intend to do this by creating fun, artistic activities designed for youths. I will work closely with experienced freelance artists and observe their methods and have opportunities to work 1-2-1 with young people.

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The Fabric of Our Society - Heritage Box.

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The Fabric of Our Society - Heritage Box.

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Examples of stitched and woven fabrics, along with diagrams on how to make them.

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Movie Night:

Popcorn - popcorn machine make your own?

DVDs? On the Projector? Netflix, Disney+, Sky?

Cosy Blankets / Comfy Clothes.

Movie Trivia - Harry Potter, Pixar, etc.

3D Film / glasses.

The Ultimate Game Night:

Games activities to play as a group…

Pictionary (online), Charades, Hangman, Hot and Cold, Who Am I? Three truths and a lie.

Board Games - Game of Life, Monopoly, Trivia - backwards?

Design trivia questions for the group? Making a game, that their own.

Relax and Pamper Night:

Face, foot, and hand masks.
Make your own facemasks - home ingredients.

Nails - nail varnish / gel polish / nail stickers & gems / setting machine

Foot spa machine?

Essential oils

Hair towel/band

Cosy atmosphere, pillow/blanket bed, dim lighting.

Karaoke & Open Mic Night:

Play instruments (some in the store?)

Karaoke singalong games.
Rock star dress up / wigs.

Arts & Craft Night:

Drawing games in pairs/teams.

Building with Clay

Painting Pots / Planting Seeds

Making jewellery

Painting on Wood Slices

Super Hero Cuffs (kids).

Masking Tape Town - turn the floor into a roadmap (kids).

DIY Bird Feeders

Cardmaking
Make play-doh

Fortnight and Fort-building - build a fort with blankets, pillows and chairs, then play fortnight from the den. (lego building instead?)

Lego Building Contest

Indoor Bowling Night

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Collage

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Warm-up exercise

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Collective Collage

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Workshop 3: Collective Collage – Pillars of the Community.

What went well?

·        Enjoyed the warmup activity, working in groups and creating silly outcomes, great way to open the activity and introduce them to collage.

·        They were interested in the collage materials, like using tissue paper and magazines, especially the national geographic books.

·        No one in the class had made collage before, making it a little more difficult to introduce and carry out but they had lots of fun and learnt a new skill.

·        The loved putting the collages together to form the collective version, just like a jigsaw!

·        Enjoyed looking through magazines and selecting images. Perhaps, more so than making the collage. They wanted to tell a story with the images instead of using for colour, shape, texture, and pattern.  Liked the images too much to cut them up!

Challenges

·        A little complex for the time allocated, in the future use a simpler shape for the collective collage. Perhaps more suitable for an older group. It was their first introduction to collage!

·        Some people where faster than others, not all finished. Also, people were off from school and were unbale to contribute to the design that day. However, it needs everyone for it to work.  (Left materials with teacher to complete at home or when they return).

·        Didn’t see the end results together. (almost!)

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All to agree to…

Respect for the space and everyone in it.

Appropriate language - please, avoid swearing.

Young ones are to be accompanied to the bathroom by an adult.

No roaming in the hallways - it is a large building, late at night with others working in the surrounding offices, it is not safe, and we must respect our neighbours.

Smoking - please, inform us before leaving, and if possible go together, perhaps if there is more than one smoker.

Non-judgemental space.

Honesty! Let’s keep it real!

Allow everyone a say and a chance to give their view

Have fun and if it is not fun arrange a chat to say why

Be mindful of everyone's mental health and struggles with anything

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Evaluation with the participants took place in the form of an evaluation tree. They were asked various questions at the beginning, middle and end of the project which they wrote down on different coloured leaves for each stage. They could then stick their answers on the big tree to make an artwork.

Yellow (start of first workshop)

How are you feeling today? What are you looking forward to?

I am feeling surprised. I am excited to learn about art

Happy, crafts, nature. Superb!

I am okay today. I am looking forward to art.

I am feeling happy. I'm happy to draw and create things. And I love dancing.

I am feeling confident. I am excited about dancing.

I am feeling excited today and what I like about art is that we think about creative drawings.

I am feeling excited of meeting Jade and Chloe!

Today I feel happy and excited. I like painting

I am excited for drawing

I am feeling good today. I like drawing

I am feeling great. I am excited about meeting you.

I am feeling great! I am excited to learn about nature

I am feeling happy and I'm so good and I love drawing and dancing

I feel happy. I like trying new things

I feel happy. I feel excited to use different materials

Doing art. Excited!

I am feeling excited for art. I like art because it's fun

I feel excited. I'm looking forward to colouring

I am feeling good. I am looking forward to drawing

I feel excited to draw and colour!

I feel happy, really looking forward to what we're going to do!

I feel amazing because I get to meet new people. I am excited because drawing is my passion and we are going to do some drawing.

I am feeling good and my favourite thing to do in art is drawing.

I am feeling happy. I love snakes and I love football.

I feel soo good because it's my birthday. I like to play football because you can run about and kick a ball.

I feel good and bad. I am looking (forward) to drawing

I feel great. I like drawing.

Pink leaves (2nd workshop)

What did you enjoy today? Is there anything you'd like to do next time?

I enjoyed the scribble game. I want to draw the next time.

I love to paint - it was amazing.

I enjoyed printing. I want to draw something next time.

I had the best day.The first bit today

To see creations and painting

I liked painting and printing.

I have enjoyed art and painting and printing.

I enjoyed the stamps

I enjoyed block printing

when we do a scribble and make something with it

I enjoyed block printing. I want to do drawing next

I enjoyed about today was printing. Next week I want to do 3D art.

I liked about is painting

I enjoyed drawing a little squiggle and then the other person which os your partner makes it a drawing and next week maybe the person facing you could draw their face

Enjoyed the most is the printing with different objects

Printing more with different stuff

I have enjoyed printing bubble wrap. It was very fun

I enjoyed printing patterns

I liked about today is stamping

I liked working with other people

Stamping the paint

I enjoyed painting and printing

I feel good. I liked today because I like art and painting

I enjoyed passing our scribbles to our partner

I liked how we painted and created things

I have enjoyed making my picture of the solar system

I enjoyed printing. I want to draw something

My favourite part of today is seeing you

Green (last workshop)

What have you enjoyed most about all the workshops?

I liked the flap (game)

I will miss you Chloe and Jade

I enjoyed printing because it was really fun

I enjoyed the collaging

I loved the (game) when you're in a line and the tallest on front and the shortest in the back then you have a partner

I have enjoyed everything that we have all done together. I am going to miss you two though

I prefered printing

My favourite was the flags. It was just so much fun!

I enjoyed everything that I did. I will miss you

I loved everything. I love you!

I will miss you, the favourite thing I've done with you is printing

I liked the paint pens and flags

I loved drawing on the fabric and I will miss it.

I loved doing everything because Chloe and Jade helped us and helped us enjoy it. I loved colouring the most, it was really fun

I enjoyed the printing and the flags

I loved Chloe and Jade's activities. I will miss you

I liked making the flags

My flag

I've enjoyed having Chloe and Jade

I enjoyed the flags

I've enjoyed making the flags

I have enjoyed making my flag SO much

I enjoyed making our own flags

I enjoyed making the flag

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The Ultimate Games Night

In this session, participants will take part in a variety of social/interactive games like Pictionary, Charades, Hangman, Trivia, and Who Am I? These activities aim to encourage us to bond, play and have fun together as a group. Additionally, there might be participants who are only children and are unfamiliar with large group games. It would be good for all to experience it if they have not already. The activities will hopefully help everyone to start thinking about games, how they function and what it is they like best about them, so for next time the group can create their own game.

The activities we played before only focused on video gaming and virtual reality, now we intend to combine the two by using board games that are online and include digital technology. For example, Pictionary Air: one person records from a tablet or mobile phone, the other will stand in front of the camera, using the pen to draw, and the device will copy it onto the screen for you to guess. It seems like a great game that everyone could enjoy.

Pictionary Air Argos £17 Pictionary Air App

Although, we still would like to include traditional games throughout as they are a key part of the experience and a great learning opportunity for young people to share and collaborate. Who Am I? For example, is a fun and easy traditional game, to begin with: On a sticky note, write the name of a character, object, or anything you can think of. However, try to all agree on a general topic/theme first, it makes it a bit easier. Then place the sticky note on a player’s head, they must not see what it says as they are to guess by asking the other players questions – those players can only answer yes or no until the other manages to guess who or what they are.

June 1st is the next session, I think it would be best for us to start by having an open discussion with everyone about ground rules that we can all agree on, as follows:

Respect for the space and everyone in it.

Appropriate language - please, avoid swearing.

Young ones are to be accompanied to the bathroom by an adult.

No roaming in the hallways - it is a large building, late at night with others working in the surrounding offices, it is not safe, and we must respect our neighbours.

Smoking - please, inform us before leaving, and if possible, go together, perhaps if there is more than one smoker.

Non-judgemental space. Be mindful of others.

Allow everyone a say and a chance to give their view/opinion.

Have fun and if it is not fun, let us know and we will sort it!

Honesty! Let’s keep it real!

This should take around 10 minutes to complete.

Then onto the games, first voting on what they would like to play from the options provided. The timescale will vary depending on the game the group chose but we will play for around 45 minutes to an hour. Could be one game or two.

Order food at 17:00. Food typically arrives at 17:30 – 17:45.

Dinner time!

Resuming the session around 18:15 once everyone has eaten, continuing with games but trying a new game that we have yet to play.

Stopping at 18: 40/45 to reflect, and discuss what we liked most, what we did not, and what to include/try next time. Suggestion box? write it down?