Teaching Days... Kindergarten to Year 4 Textile Project

DAY ONE 

I had a great two days teaching last week, at the school in Cranbrook where I was artist in residence for a while ... I was a little nervous as I have not taught small children for four years and really unsure if the project I devised would work for them ... on top of that I found out I only had half an hour with each class in the older age group which meant changing my initial idea for them ... I suppose I would see about 200 children in all.

But it's amazing how it just came back as soon as I was sitting in front of the first class that Monday morning, some of the youngest only just 3 years old! Once I had my toes in the water I was swimming happily again as if it were only yesterday! 

I did manage to squeeze myself into the tiny chairs without breaking them ... almost without realising I had done it, so there you go ...

With some great help from parents we showed them how to think about colours and preferences and how to make choices, and feel textures ... they constructed a wonderful pile fabric and thread wound pipe cleaners which we joined together to make the wall hanging in the images below. It would have been great to carry on this project and make a much larger hanging and of course it could have been assembled in many different ways. We also added circles and balls of covered balls of fabric for weight at the bottom ... oh ... the possibilities are endless for this project. 

At the end of the day I remembered something else about teaching ... I could barely remember my name and had to eat nursery supper of 4 sausages and potatoes and a gallon of tea and mindless telly before I felt remotely human again.... and then there was Day Two! Please scroll downward!

Kindergarten Project ... some finished components!

Kindergarten Project ... some finished components!

More finished components

Mother's helping hands

Take off your indoor shoes and put them in a line ... the change into waterproofs for lunchtime walk up to canteen in the rain 

DAY TWO

First lesson in, first class of Year 4s ... 8.45 hit the ground running ... 6 classes to go ... wrapping 400 matchboxes throughout the day, with wool and then embroidering with very basic embellishment ... at the end of the day they would be arranged on a metre square board of MDF, glue gunned (teacher's privilege) Below are the first ones off the press. The children really took on the challenge and steamed through it, working hard and most achieving at least two each. My voice still clear, not cracking, getting into the swing ... the best comment has to be a little boy in year 3 who did a fabulously coloured offering with a whole spectrum of colours said to me, dead pan, when I enthused, "these are the same colour as my pants ... " I do miss the great one liners ... these are the professionals. And there was chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce for lunch which was rocket fuel for the afternoon. 

And in the end it was better than I had ever hoped. We still need to complete more matchboxes to cover the board but I will post the finished wall hanging, and being autumn term there are lots of wet breaks coming up to beaver away. I am ready with the glue gun! Happiness ... 

My clothes when I got home had that very familiar and unmistakable smell of school ... in a good way, and it took me a day of talking in words of one syllable only as my brain and body recovered ... I don't know how our teachers do this every day ... oh yes, it's the chocolate pudding ... silly of me.

"Put your finished boxes on the table ... line 'em up"

Detail of finished boxes

Detail

Detail showing some of the embroidery and wrapping

Here I have begun the glue gunning in place on the back panel