As part of my role as creative practitioner at Ton yr Ywen Primary school, I arranged for two groups of Y2 children to visit Cardiff Print Workshop as part of the Lead Creative Schools Project. As we have been using cyanotype printing to create banners and flags from drawings of the Welsh folk stories the … Continue reading Visit to Cardiff Print Workshop
Children’s art
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
For the last week of this five week cycle of storytelling and art from around the world, we travelled to Russia to hear about the enigmatic Baba Yaga. She is a many-faceted figure, variously seen as a Moon, Death, Winter, Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, or archetypal image.[4] After discussing some of Baba … Continue reading Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
Folktales from India
Children's Storytelling and Art Course, Week four. The children were interested in the concept of having two heads after hearing the Indian folktale about a bird with two heads that can't agree. They drew pictures of themselves with the head of something or someone they would or would not like to be attached to and … Continue reading Folktales from India
Stories from the Dreamtime
For Week 3 of the Children's Art and Writing course, the children listened to three stories from the Dreamtime creation myths of Aboriginal culture: How the kangeroo got her pouch, Barramundi, (how the fish came to be in the waters), and a Kunwinjku Dreamtime Story of the long-necked turtle and the echidna, telling why they live … Continue reading Stories from the Dreamtime
New Creative Course for Children
For this five week course, we are sharing stories, poems and art from ancient cultures around the world. This week, we looked at Māori culture and the story of Maui the demi-god who pulls up Te Ika a Maui (known today as the North Island of New Zealand), with his magic fishing hook. The slashes … Continue reading New Creative Course for Children
Creative Practitioner Project
I'm very excited to have been chosen to work as a creative practitioner in a local primary school as part of the Lead Creative Schools Scheme, an extensive five-year plan to embed the arts and creativity into the Welsh curriculum. I and a fellow practitioner, Lowri will be working with a group of about twelve … Continue reading Creative Practitioner Project
Children’s Printmaking Day
‘Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardour, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shames, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.’ — Aldous Huxley We began the session drawing faces, practicing on tracing paper before transferring to the styrofoam. The children quickly got the hang of etching into it, creating wonderfully detailed characters. … Continue reading Children’s Printmaking Day