2nd Workshop of Art: Give it back

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Trying to use the old to make the new!

During our lifetime we accumulate a series of objects and materials that lose their value in an instant. If since an early age we learn how to give it new life we will be conscious about alternatives ways of reusing.

The ecological sense of each human being should be a priority in schools. The situation of the Earth Planet, our home, demands big attention!

The youngest generations are responsible to change the condition of our planet. They are the future. They need to know what is waiting for them and which battles they will need to cross.  

In this workshop we were challenged.

During the first part of the class we learned how to make recycle paper and the papier-mâche technique.

These two processes are incredibly wealthy in sensations.

The unwanted journal it will be transformed in something new. It will receive new life. Quoting Lavoisier “In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes.”

Paper-making

I. Materials

Newspaper, warm water, a bucket, a blender, a wood frame with screen stapled to it (you can have it in various dimensions), toilette’s paper, paints, glitters, sand and other kinds of ornaments.

II. Step-by-step

- Cut the newspaper into shreds.

- Fill your bucket with the shredded and add enough warm water to cover it all.

- Blend the paper shredding and water into a fine pulp. 

- Deep the screen into the pulp and allow a thin layer of pulp to coat the screen.

- Press the pulp in order to remove the excess of water.

- With a paper press out the remaining water.

- Use a journal to press the remaining water. Leave the journal in place and flip the frame over on to a flat surface.

- Gently tap the backside of the screen and the paper should easily fall off.

- It is possible to decorate the paper with sand, little seeds, colors or glitters… whatever you want it to try. In order to get a regular tone It is also possible to add some colors in the beginning of the process.

MORE IDEAS!
Leaves, flowers and petals can also be a beautiful option. Those elements must be involved in the pulp with the water.

You can use the recycled paper to do creative cards. This can be done in special occasions like Mother’s Day. Resorting to this technique each child can also do its own notebooks, for example.

When a child participates in the genesis of something it will get a sense of pride.

Papier-mâche technique:

I. Materials

Thin shreds of paper, glue, a bucket, warm water, a blender, a piece of textile and colors paints.

II. Step by step

- Fill the bucket with warm water and with the little shreds of paper.

- Deep your hand into the glue and put it into the bucket.

- Blender the paper shredding with the warm water and glue but BE CAREFUL! Paper cannot form a uniform pulp.

- Place the pulp in a piece of fabric, wraps it on and squeeze it to remove the excess of water.

- Papier-mâche allows you to create different silhouettes. Get inspired and start creating!

- Let your figure dry.

You can add colors during the first steps of the process or you can paint the figures later.

This technique leads the group to think about the amount of options that the unwanted paper provides.  By knowing this plastic technique the children will think it as an option to create new props.

On the second part of the class we explored the clay and its potentials.

This is a very ecological material that can be reused several times. Clay can have different kinds of textures and thickness. Some are darker and softer while others are lighter and granulated with tiny pieces of sand that can be felt by touch. Each student took a big piece of each type of clay. Along all the experience the teacher had clearly lining-guides for the group.  First he asked us to compare the differences between the clays. We used our eyes, flair and touch to find every little thing that distinguishes them one from the other. We could pressure them with the feats or even taste them.

The teacher asked us to take a big piece of clay. With that same piece we had to squeeze it with our own hands, harder as we could, forming a really funny shape. That would be our new best friend. We could compare it to the others from our colleagues. Thanks to the different textures and thickness of the clay each “best friend” were assuming different silhouettes. Clay is made by earthenware. It is a natural material offered by our dearest Planet Earth.  If we let a piece of clay in the outdoors, next to a tree it would transform in new matter again.

It is amazing the clays ability to work with the language. With some concepts referred by the teacher (like the longest, the shorter, the roundest, the thinner, etc.) the group had to recreate them into clay. While the teacher was launching the terms we were handling the material. With our creations and in groups of 4 we build a tower, high as possible. The teacher asked us to close our eyes and started to ask questions about it. “Where have you found such tower?  What does it smells? When you enter into the tower what can you see? Is it dark inside? Can you ear any sound?” It was amazing! During the narration my head was full of sensations and beautiful images. The educator should have the right tone of voice and the right choice of words to involve the children in the moment.

The last part of the workshop was focus on the work with play-dough. Plasticine is a really soft and manipulated material very used in the work with children. There are also different kinds of play-dough. Between them you can find different smells, tastes and thickness. Through this material we worked the emotions. Once more, in the material´s silhouette and shape were represented feelings.  It fascinates me our ability to communicate without using words. It really exists something about life that allows us to find language in every little thing created by us. Through every gesture we “talk”. 

All this work led me think.

Ecology was one the main focus during the class. The entire session was appealing our conscience to an ecological way of work.

We all have heard before that the most natural processes and products are the bests!

By creating new things the child becomes capable to look at the unwanted materials with a new vision. Starts to give more value to objects and it gets inspired to invent something completely revolutionary from the old.

The clay is so also a really ecological material to work with. It comes naturally from Nature and, when gets wet, can return to its natural form. Comparing it with the play-dough it´s much more pleasant to the touch and can be used more than once.

By knowing more about the material´s properties the child will also learn about physics and chemicals reactions, sciences and about the world in a very large way.

Sensations and emotions were also extremely presents over the workshop.

These activities pull the children into the sensation´s net.  The warm water, the glue´s texture and the lightness of the paper deepen in water stimulates the child´s senses. The clay´s texture, the play-dough´s colors, their smell, softness and taste will also be really captivating to the senses. Over the process the child it will use specially the touch as a guide for its action.

The possibility to participate in any creative process enables the child to discover new harmonious relations between different plastic´s materials. Having the chance to learn new manners of work it will allow the children to be receptive to new forms of art.

It is possible to find mathematics and language since the beginning of the session.

In the first part of the session:

For these challenges the child has to follow the process step-by-step like if it was a recipe. It will need to pay attention to time, to solidity and to the mixture of the colors. To achieve de desirable consistency of the paper, the child will have to compare and analyze constantly the mixture of the paper with the water. Compare belongs to the huge mathematical world.

Both of these plastic´s work are develop through language. The educator will give some instructions to the group and it will lead them over the activities. However, we can´t forget that language goes much farther than words. When a child is creating its own paper, card, or figure it is communicating with the world.

These challenged can be done in groups. It is important to give permission to the group share thoughts and ideas with the other mates. When children share a dialogue they will talk about mathematics, sciences, emotions and a lot more in a much deeper way than when they do it with a grown-up!

These two processes demand a lot of support from the pedagogue.  The group has to know some security rules before the challenge start to have more autonomy in a near future.

In the second part of the session:

The educator it will guide the entire session with a lot of control.

It will be using language and mathematics terms over the activities. The group will follow the leader during the whole class while it manipulates the materials. By comparing the different matters the child will be working with mathematics and it will appropriate the language to communicate their own experiences with the rest of the group. The entire group will be sharing ideas in a harmonic way.

Experience the clays and try it in a very large scale of manners provides the child a chance to discover more about physics and sciences. From that little piece of clay it will find a tiny piece of the world.

This work payees also closely attention to the sensorial and emotional part of the human. When a child represents one emotion in a piece of play-dough it is reflecting about its inside world.

Quoting Lori Malaguzzi (the founder of Reggio Emilia, 1920-1994),
“No way. The hundred is there. The Child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages. A hundred hands. A hundred thoughts.”