Hello
I had an amazing long weekend in The Highlands, it was beautiful and relaxing and included fires, walks, chocolate and watching 'Gentlemen Prefer Blonds" ie, it was bliss. I then spent Tuesday in Devon watching my niece who was MARY in the school nativity and frankly bloody marvellous! Therefore this weeks 'to-do' list needs to be squished into only a few days, so things are a bit nuts right now!
I'm excited to share some images from my public art project earlier this summer. I've been commissioned by Bellway Homes and Studio Response to create a series of public artworks for a new development of 64 homes in Charfield, South Gloucestershire. Part of my commission was to create a community engagement project, so I worked with Charfield Primary School for two days in July.
After the initial research I had decided to focus my artwork for the project on local birdlife as the geography of the area attracts a range of interesting birds. I therefore wanted to create a project with local local community where they (and I!) could learn about local birds and get excited about the artwork to come. I created a two day full school event and invited in a range of practitioners to deliver a wide range of sessions exploring bird life and inspiring the students.
These sessions included...
- Bird Ringing at a local nature reserve with Ed Drewitt (British Trust for Ornithology)
Attaching a small, individually numbered metal tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird to enable individual identification.
- Bird Identification in the school playground with the RSPB, learning to use binoculars and spot common British birds
- Creating dens inspired by birds nests with a team of Forest Schools practitioners
- Bird song/ language
Working with author/ illustrator Nadia Shireen exploring bird language
- Lunchtime live birds of prey flying display in the playground
- Drawing Birds
Led by 'Wildlife Drawing', an observational drawing session with live birds of prey (accompanied by their handler)
- Play consultation
Working with 'Learning Through Landscapes' Felicity Robinson exploring how to make the green spaces in the development ‘playful’ and enable a variety of different types of play.
- Bird movement
Dance and movement workshop led by Rise Youth Dance Company to explore how different types of birds move (flapping, gliding, hopping, diving, soaring, flight)
(All images credit: Gareth Iwan Jones http://www.garethiwanjones.com/)
It's still birdy in the studio, as I'm now sculpting the artwork for the development informed and inspired by the engagement events earlier this summer!
Other things I've been up to include...
- designing illustrated blinds for Eton Museum of Natural History (sent the roughs this week...)
- creating 4 x cards for Coworth Park (finished this week and excited to share with you soon!)
- designing the consultation project for my public art commission with Barratt Homes for the new housing development 'Riverdown Park' - Bishopdown Farm, nr Salisbury
- creating a new map illustration for a hotel (tell you more soon)
OK, off to work on my goldfinch sculpture, he currently has a ridiculous beak that will need excessive surgery tonight! x
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