We have spent 3 very busy days working with the fabulous children at Oatlands Infant School in Harrogate. There were over 220 children aged between 4 - 7 years old!
We were kindly invited to organise an Art Experience Day based on the school's values of Nurtured + Inspired = Happy.
It was agreed that each child should make 2 pieces of recycled paper (that's over 400 pieces!). One piece would be used to create a display in the school's hall and the second piece would be taken home as a memento of their creative experience.
This was a whole school event, which included the school administrator Mrs Thompson collecting and shredding 6 large black plastic bags of paper. Our thanks also goes to Mr Quinton, the school's very helpful caretaker who transported our huge boxes of paper pulp to the playground.
Having collected the bags of paper from Oatlands, we soaked the shredded paper overnight to soften it up.
The following day we had the task of whizzing up the soften, shredded paper into grey, mushy pulp.
Once in situ, each child had time to experiment colour mixing greens, oranges, pinks, purples, assorted blues and blacks. These concoctions were stirred into a bowl of paper pulp and then squashed into a deckle.
By placing a piece of folded, absorbent cloth on top of their paper pulp, the children squeezed out as much excess liquid as possible. They then turned their deckles over and gently pressed their creations out.
Once we finished teaching the children, we transported all the paper back to our homes, where we dried the paper either outside in the sunshine or in our ovens!
The dried, recycled paper was then cajoled, glued, decorated and varnished into the words nurtured, inspired and happy.
We really enjoyed our time working with the Oatlands community and hope they are as pleased with the outcome as we are.
Thank you for having us!
Please note that we can tailor an Art Experience Day to suit your needs and interests. Please contact us to discuss your ideas.