Make it stand out.
Art and Nature
Monthly Art and Nature session with children from 4YOUth, Brightlingsea.
I am a member and director of Cobnuts Community Eco Arts Cooperative. We offer children a chance to experience creativity outside in nature, using natural materials, in a relaxed environment with plenty of one-to-one adult help and always the freedom to run around and play when they choose to. These session were invaluable throughout the pandemic, providing the opportunity for children to socialise each month despite the closure of their youth center.
What does an environmentally friendly future look like and how can this be explored in arts education?
When we design workshops we work hard to ensure we only use eco-friendly materials and processes. Adapting our approach results in a sort of re-wiring of our own creativity where we let the qualities of the materials dictate how we plan our sessions, and let go of what we had imagined our participants were going to make. The ingrained impulse to arrive at an end point is reversed, and replaced by a slowing down and acceptance which allows us to finally notice the world around us, making time and space for other to happen in our workshop events which we may not have thought possible.
Morses Field
In 2020 we asked children to make a 3D map of a field in Brightlingsea which was under threat of being developed for industrial units. They had great fun mixing natural paints using a clay base and constructing buildings using card and cellulose glue. After the lockdown we ran several art and nature sessions in the field where children made lanterns and mandalas and made prints, wove cord using nettle and tried carving.
Natural Dyeing
In 2021 we were lucky enough to obtain a grant from Kew Garden’s Grow Wild scheme to introduce natural dyeing and textile techniques. We went back to Morses Field and built a shelter for our dye pots. The children foraged for plants to dye with and were amazed at their results. They used the dyed fabric to sew a banner for their youth club.
