For 7 years I have been an art workshop leader in Schools, teaching a variety of art and craft skills to children aged 5 to 12. I return to my home of North Yorkshire evry year to run workshops at Aysgarth boys and have run textile workshops for adults in Manchester. More recently my workshops have revolved around sustainibility and recycling, using carboard, plastic bags and household items to create sculptures and puppets. I have also designed workshops on collage art, experimental drawing and puppetry. I facilitated a workshop for a School production, where the children made thier own costumes, props, puppets, masks and stage sets. If you would like to get talk to me about running a workshop in your school, please get in touch on the contact page.
GIANT PUPPET HEADS
Aysgarth Boys School, Arts Week 2017. This year we made giant puppet heads that the children designed and wore. They were made from recycled cardboard boxes. We explored a variety of techniques for 3D sculpture and the resulting masks were incredibly varied and characterful. The children really enjoyed the personalisation they could put into this project.
HANGING CITIES
Aysgarth Boys School Arts week 2018. I devised this project from a personal passion to make a minature cardboard city. I have yet to make mine, but the 5 to 12 year olds who created these sculptures really made me proud. The hanging cities are made from cardboard boxes, corrugated card, cereal packets and patterned paper. Each child created their minature house (or two) of their own design, which were then assembled with my help and a glue gun. The results are these impressive, gravity defying fantasy cities. I was particularly impressed by the children’s attention to detail and imaginative structures. They really loved this one.
JELLYFISH
For Arts week at Aysgarth boys school 2019 I designed a project that would turn plastic bags into hanging sculptures. These characterful jellyfish were made in one day, by children aged 5 to 12. The plastic bags were cut in to strips, twisted and woven together using a embroidery thread and a crochet hook. Tenticles were made by wrapping thread aroundthe bags and stuffed with plastic bag balls to create seaweed like forms.
