Natural Patterns Locally

We returned to Garboldisham VC primary on Tuesday 24th May 2011 to continue some of the art work we had started with artist Ali Atkins and the pupils. The sessions with each age group began with an introduction by Bee Farrell of the Sainsbury Centre team revisiting ideas initiated by the close observation of the outreach handling collection on previous visits to the school. Pupils recounted how the local natural environment often defined the pattern making on objects from Papua New Guinea. One pupil said he thought that looking at the object’s patterns and walking around the Little Ouse Headwaters had made him think about looking at natural patterns locally too. Then each group used their collections of found natural materials to make impressions and marks on clay tiles, which could clearly show the identity of the area. These tiles were then laid into drainpipe guttering to make the beginning of totem shapes. Many designs were story based, some worked together on a collective piece which depicted water or animal life near water. The last part of the morning and at the end of the day Ali poured plaster into the clay moulds and after a short while the team -Lisa and Hsu (outreach volunteers), Ali and Bee unveiled the plaster cast totems much to the delight and interest of the parents arriving into the playground at collection time.