Todmorden Schools' Tour 2014
Environmental Arts for the Todmorden Schools’ Tour 2014
Each year Todmorden Town Council offers a gift of an artist visit to its seven primary schools. This year the schools asked for the focus to be on environmental issues. Todmorden is a hub of environmentally friendly practices and projects, including the ground-breaking Incredible Edible.
Artist Cath Ford worked with the pupils on building Eco-Totems or making Scrap Sculptures. Both activities were designed to creatively engage them with the topic of making the world a more environmentally friendly place and their connections in it and the rights and responsibilities those bring.
For children:
- Introduction to new skills not always available in school.
- Opportunity to work with unfamiliar materials within a new art-form.
- Opportunities to speak with and listen to an experienced arts professional.
- Opportunity to explore their impact on the world around them.
For teachers:
- Access to new skills and techniques which can be re-shaped for their own classroom.
Feedback from the children:
A
super workshop and I would like to do it again.
Fun
and interesting to do.
I
liked how we used rubbish which was going to [be] thrown and we made something
good out of it.
Nice
to share all our ideas with the group.
I really liked how we had to think about which
material would look the best.
I thought it was a really creative idea.
It
felt like it meant something.
It felt good to work as a team.
It was really fun and creative and tells a good
story.
Feedback from the schools:
A fabulous job was done so no improvements
required.
Well timed and organised, the children had plenty of time to think
and work, good balance.
The
children had to work together in small groups and co-operate to make the final
product. So team work, listening and taking turns was a vital part of the
project.
Artist was really child friendly and approachable.
Very impressed with the final product.
The children really enjoyed the workshop.
It was a very rewarding experience for the
children. They learnt a lot, reinforced learning from other areas of the
curriculum and produced a beautiful piece of art communally at the end. It also
necessitated working co-operatively, solving problems and discussing solutions
together.