Crowle create the Aztec Calendar

Yesterday we got to spend all day with Crowle Primary's year fives and sixes. The whole school are studying Aztecs and we had the school's year three and four pupils visit before half term to create their Aztec head dresses. This week, though, was a little more hands on as we recreated our very own Aztec calendar!

Pupils joined in conversations about what made us able to recognise a piece or art from Aztec culture. We talked about what sort of materials they might have used to create their artworks and how they would've made tools to carve and manipulate stone.



Words we used to describe Aztec times



Quick thinking words and drawings that were stuck all around the room by children, so be used as inspiration throughout the day

To have direct hands on experience of something similar to the stone carvings of Aztec times, pupils got to visit 20-21's Rose Window in the sculpture garden. We talked about the similarities between the window and the calendar, thinking about shape, size and materials.

Pupils answered questions on a specially designed worksheet specific for this workshop. Once the questions were answered children were challenged to draw not only the Rose Window, but to make it look 3D in their drawing.

There were some excellent results!

 

Our Aztec calendar was to be a real group effort, with pupils working in teams of three or four to create their own segment of a much larger design. These segments will eventually go back together to decorate the halls of their school. The segments had been drawn with the basic Aztec calendar and was to be filled with detail by the groups, concentrating on collective decision making and working as a team.

 

 

These detailed drawings would become 3D by using a wide variety of materials that would attach to the board.

 

 

The best material we used, though, was a new experience for us all. Paper clay had been made by the Education Officer and Gallery Assistants at 20-21, to use to make relief patterns on the MDF segments we were decorating.

 

 

 

The final pieces will take a few days to dry completely, before we spray them gold and join them up on the school walls. Hopefully, in a few weeks, you'll get to see the final result!

 

"A great project that comes back to school. It's great to see them use new things." - Year Five Teacher

"My class loved it! The children were engaged and enjoyed it." - Year Six Teacher

"I really enjoyed the morning and feeling the paper pulp" - Jessica aged 11

 

If you or your school are interested in a similar workshop designed to suit your every need, please don't hesitate to contact us on education.2021@northlincs.gov.uk or call 01724 297070. 







Everyday Objects with Brumby Juniors!

As an ongoing project with Brumby Junior School, Education at 20-21 delivered an Everyday Objects workshop to year six's as part of the school's creative curriculum.

Mrs Musgrave was inspired by Jason Taylor's Everyday Objects exhibition, here at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, and decided that her offer for the school's creative summer term would be for the children to get involved with recycling household objects into artwork!

We started by looking at some of the examples the pupils had made in the lead-up to our workshop:


Some really fun house plants made of household objects!

This one made us particularly hungry! A sports ball, crayons and packaging becomes a delicious hearty meal!

This crazed looking doll has mechanics that mean the head wobbles about all over the place!

The workshop set many timed challenges for the children to think outside the box, quickly. The class were split into groups of three and were expected to use their initiative and observational skills to recreate objects displayed. The workshop leader would hold up unusual objects for a matter of seconds. The children were expected to gather the correct materials and notice methods and patterns in the makings of the objects, before working as a team to recreate them.



The 20-21 Junk Shop

First up,  the Peg Bowl, a temporary small structure that followed patterns, repetition and direction:

Notice how the pegs are added in rows of colour/pattern and then another row of a different style/colour pegs is added in a particular direction. The bowls should stand sturdy on their own. Let's see how the children fared up!

An interesting example of pattern and repetition!

A proud group.



All children were asked to write words or phrases that came to mind when making all their objects, throughout the session. This was a good way of recording thinking process and decision making.

Starting again after realising it would topple over.

Working well as a team!

Some groups were more successful than others, noticing the patterns of colour and repetition. The outcomes were all beautiful and reminded us of lots of different things, including tarantulas and space ships.

Next up, The Straw Leaved Clover!  Thinking along the lines of Jason Taylor's humour regards titles for his objects, our Education Officer used straws and wire to create this "interesting" clover:



Children were shown this masterful piece for a few seconds, before fetching the objects they thought they'd need.

This group kept their straws straight and threaded the wire through in attempt to shape the leaf.

This group designed a very intriguing method of cutting along the length of the straws and flattening the curve of the plastic. This was then wrapped and tied together to form the shape of the leaves.

This group were nick named The Engineers after deciphering a very intricate and complex method to curve the straws... cutting them into small sections, but leaving the very end the keep them all joined together.

The Engineers, with their very successful Straw Leaved Clover!

Once all groups were complete, they were chosen to display and discuss their method of working as a team and the decisions they made as designers, to create their Straw Leaved Clover.

After a tidying up operation, the final creation session was for the pupils to work independently to create Flyer Flowers!

 

These fab creations were made using simple folding and stapling techniques to make some interesting geometric shapes.

Armed with a stack of old flyers from 20-21's archives, and a stapler filled with staples, the class created some truly lovely and greatly successful Flyer Flowers!

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the day was watching the class work together and notice the properties of various household objects. Some of the children really thought things through and recognised qualities in objects and each other, that they'd never seen before.

 

 

Thank you Brumby Juniors! we'll see on 12th at your sharing day!!