St Mark's CE Primary School

On Thursday and Friday at the end of March, all the children from St Mark's primary school took part in a collaborative art project to create withy and paper sculptures of the lifecycle of a butterfly to link to the class names. This was kindly organised and paid for by the charity Wings to Fly and run by artist Tim Davies of The School Artist. We were lucky enough to be able to use the church space to work in which allowed the children to work freely on a large scale. It also attracted attention from our Chair of Governors, Peter Smyth, Father Pete and members of the community craft group who delighted in watching the sculptures take shape and the children engaged in their creation. 

Over the two days, groups from each class worked together on various stages of the project:

Firstly, the frames were made by weaving and manipulating willow sticks and taping these securely at each join. This was a job for the older children in the school and the shapes they have designed and made are incredible. Next, things became a bit more sticky! Using special strengthened tissue paper, the younger children applied glue and layered this over the framework. It was wonderful to see them listening carefully to the techniques to apply the pieces of tissue and building the layers. They were amazed at how much the sculptures began to come to life with their work. On the final day, the children layered coloured tissue and created patterns in colours of their choice. 

The benefits of this project were evident throughout and the children are very proud of their creations: they were able to develop their art skills using accessible materials to achieve a common aim; their communication skills were developed as the children listened to new ways of working and worked together as a team, supporting and discussing with each other the best methods; they were motivated to succeed in a joint goal and saw the benefits and rewards of working together creatively. 

The children will be able to share their beautiful creations with their parents/carers and the community over Easter, when they will be displayed in the church, which will support their confidence in creative activities,  further their desire for personal expression and develop positivity about art and design and its impact on their community.