Habits and Habitats - The Big Draw 2010

This blog post has been a long time coming. If you regularly read you will know that I volunteer at Halewood Arts Association each Wednesday and here I help to organise and plan events. All summer me and Carole planned a Big Draw event, funded by the Big Lottery Fund (THANK YOU) for the local Halewood area. It took place in October and I have been waiting for the photos Ian Edwards took (Karens husband, his are a lot better than mine and thank you for them!) before I updated here.

Me and Carole wanted to include the Junior Artists Club as much as possible in the process and asked them what they would like the theme to be. After Carole spoke with the children who attend, we decided to come up with the theme of habits and habitats for the event. This also allowed us to take full advantage of the environment centre and the Halewood Triangle.

In the run up to the event we arranged a number of workshops for the Junior Artists Club, all around the theme and with the help of some local artists, Anthony Smith, Karen Edwards and Becky Bryson created artwork to be displayed within our event.

On the day we where a little worried at first, as the weather was awful. The night before had been torrential rain and as a majority of our event was outdoors, it made us worry that people would be put off. We couldn't have been more wrong. Over 200 people came to our event and took part in everything.

There was so much to get involved in. Indoors Anthony drew out a huge mural, showing the journey bees go on when they go out looking for honey. The visitors where invited to help fill in the mural and take part in a huge collaborative piece. It was great to see people aged 5 standing beside people aged 80 all getting involved in the same image. With a great final outcome.

One of our main aims with the event was to get local people to use Halewood Park and Triangle more. It is an underused resource and we wanted to include it as much as possible within our event. There was lots to do outside and using artwork the children had made in previous sessions, we decorated the park area to draw more people in.

As we wanted to ensure as many people where involved in the event as possible, The Halewood Walkers Group also got involved. They assisted Karen Edwards in making honeycomb to adorn the park area. This was a great idea and everyone loved exploring the park and breaking open the honeycomb to discover what was inside.

Outside there was so much to get involved in. Becky Bryson from the Liverpool Lantern Company was helping the visitors to make 2D fish. This was very popular as the visitors loved being able to make something and then take it away with them. With some visitors returning a few times, to make a Mummy, Daddy and Baby fish.

Barry Worrall was also there to assist visitors with drawing and collage. We wanted the visitors to take in their surroundings and create some images of the area we where in. This was really successful and the final images we got where so successful they are now showing in an exhibition in Halewood.

To keep with the theme of bees, Karen Edwards (the lovely artist who gave us a tour of The Bridewell... see previous blog post) came up with a 3D beehive that everybody could get involved with. The visitors where asked to get involved and decorate the individual panels of the beehive. It was really enjoyable and we had people from 2 up to 85 getting involved. The pieces where then put together the week after in the Junior Artists Club.

Overall the day was a huge success! It was great being able to get involved in the whole process from start to finish. Working alongside Carole and all of the artists has taught me so much about how to plan events and being able to do something within the local community was great. The feedback forms for the day where great, and we got 100% positive feedback. I'm looking forward to the Big Draw 2011 next!

Huge post so thank you if you are still reading and thank you so much to Ian Edwards who provided amazing photos from the day, I was going to take some myself but got that into all the activities didn't get the chance.

Minibus tour...

On Saturday, Me, Carole and Cowsie took some of the Junior Art club and the Halewood Walkers group on a trip around the Biennial in Liverpool. It was a really interesting day and it was great to see some unusual and different art.

We started with a tour of The Bridewell. Karen one of the artists who is based here gave us a tour of the whole space and even let us into her studio. Something I am very jealous of, her studio was amazing and I want it myself haha. Her work is lovely too, her website has images of some of the lovely prints she produces... click here to have a look.

Part of the exhibition by Carol Ramsey. Inspired by the Everton Tower. The children loved going inside here.

Next stop was the Oratory outside the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. This was the first time I'd gone into the grounds of the Cathedral... (being a scouser this is shocking I know)... I could not get over the size of it. I knew it was huge, but standing within there I really could not get over the size, exploring the graveyard with the children was fun too. Even if they where really scared.

We where at the Oratory to see the Temple of a Thousand Bells installation by Laura Belem. It was lovely and I would definitely recommend a visit before the Biennial ends.

The next place we went to was Mann Island to see Hector Zamoras Synclastic/Anticlastic. The children really liked this one and I did too. It was empty when we visited and I felt the concrete silhoettes looked like birds, feeling like you where walking amongst a giant flock. One of the chlidren said it felt like they where being attacked by flying dinosaurs... I'm sure that is exactly what Hector wanted his visitors to get from it.

This week has been great. Busy but great and I am really looking forward to what I'm upto this week and in the weeks ahead.

Architecture and Life Drawing

So Anna (my little sister) got home from Spain on Sunday and this week has mostly involved catching up with her. She's been living in Spain since February and it's been great having her back. She's even decided to start coming along to art club and helping me and Carole out with the children.

Art Club - This week I have been helping Carole to put together our report about the Big Draw something I am still due to blog about... (awaiting photos then I shall write up a proper summary of the event). We also let the children do what they wanted this week in the Junior Artists Club, as long as it went along with the theme of fireworks. So there was a lot of splattered paint, string and tissue paper everywhere. All fun of course!

I also went along to a second training / workshop day with Places Matter. It is in association with The Royal Institute of British Architects and I have been along to one of the days before. Its a way of getting architecture more into the curriculum and as I volunteer with children 7-12 I could go along and pick up tips on how to turn what we learn into workshops for the children. I really enjoyed it. The two training sessions included lectures and presentations from some of the architects and urban designers involved in Liverpool 1 and Liverpool as a whole. It was great to do something design based again, it really made me miss Uni and it was great to learn more about the architecture of Liverpool.

This training day made me realise I want to make the most of all the opportunities Liverpool has to offer. When in the Places Matter office I picked up a LOT of leaflets and have now signed up for a free life drawing session as part of the DaDa Fest '10 and I have signed up for some lectures ran by the RIBA. Which I am really looking forward to.

Carole has asked me to plan a trip around the Liverpool Biennial for the children, so I have two weeks to sort out where to take them!

I also have my Halewood Arts at Home presentation next week, so I should get on with that too.

Liverpool Lantern Carnival

Halloween this year was spent very differently to how I have ever spent it before. If you have read previous posts, you will know that I have been working on a set of lanterns with the children at the Junior Art Club, Carole and Becky. Halloween was spent taking part in the Liverpool Lantern Carnival, ran by the Liverpool Lantern Company. It was amazing! Me, Mum and Anna went along and it was a really different way to spend Halloween. Thousands of people turned up to Sefton Park to watch the Lantern Walk procession and then to see the amazing finale. This years theme was above and below the water so there was a lot of fish, boats and of course the jelly fish I helped to make. There was so many performers, lanterns and at the end fireworks. It was a really amazing night and the atmosphere was great.

The Junior Artists Club getting ready for the walk.

Lewis and Charlie with the JellyFish lanterns they had made.

Finale, the ship exploding.

Photographs from the Liverpool Echo, The Procession.

Lantern Making

An update about the lantern making I have been assisting with at the Junior Artists Club. Last week was the structure building and when I arrived at the centre today, a lot of them had fell apart! Me, Carole and Becky had the tough job of rebuilding the lanterns before the children arrived. Luckily we managed to get them all strong again and ready for when the children arrived.

The next process is to add the candle to the structure and cover them in the extra strong tissue paper, you cover the paper in watered down glue and then glue stretch it over the bamboo. As it dries, it becomes really strong and they stiffen up.

The lanterns need two layers of paper and within the second layer you can add shapes, and drawings to give you different patterns when lit. Overall it was a really succesful workshop and the children loved it! I am loving the volunteering now and seeing the children get so involved and enjoying it just as much is really rewarding. The lanterns still  need a bit of work adding to them, but here is how they look now.

The Jellyfish that me and Madison and Lewis, 7 worked on.

A dolphin, with tracing paper drawings inside. Made by Amy, 10.

Fish, made by Josh and Harry. 7.