Experimemental painting at Craft Club

Experimemental painting at Craft Club

Recycled bird feeders

Recycled bird feeders made from cleaned out plastic bottles..this lovely example made by a member of my eco club in Quorn, shows some lovely illustrations of robins. Many different designs were created, encouraging the children to think carefully about the type of birds they wanted to attract and how their feeders would work in the garden.

Vanilla Galleries

Last night I had a lovely meeting with the friendly artists who are 'Vanilla Galleries'. They are always happy to chat about new ideas and links with the schools and community groups that I work with. Watch this space for future plans involving photography workshops, urban art collaboration and SpArc Day plans!

If you would like to get in touch with them, I'm sure they would love to hear your ideas too. Google Vanilla Galleries or find them at info@vanillagalleries.com For any information on any of their artists, or about any of the work, get in touch with the same address.

Examples of fairies!

Rawlins Christmas Craft Fair!

Glitter, glitter, glitter. Our Christmas Craft Fair was dripping with it (sorry P.O.'s) and a lovely time was had by all. About 50 people made Christmas fairies, from one year olds to grandma's. Dad's got stuck in and I'm guessing many a car leaving there still has a little sparkle of spilt glitter about it!

Thank you to everyone who came along and joined in. I am pretty tired today but I do have that warm, happy feeling that I got loads of people who maybe wouldn't have got creative at a craft fair, really enjoy themselves.

And I hope that all of those new Christmas fairies find a special place in your homes over the festive season! x

Christmas Fairies

C h r i s t m a s F a i r i e s

Don't forget to come to Rawlins THIS SUNDAY for our annual craft fair and my FREE activity stall!

It's all sorted now (me and Mia have been making prototypes) and I am delighted to announce that the activity this year is: Christmas Fairies. They are made from a combination of acetate, permanent marker pens, glitter and glue. Very lovable and quite funky! I'll see you there!

10.30am start, 4.30pm finish

Rawlins Main School Hall, Loughborough Road, Quorn, Leics. LE12 8DY

Eco club makes recycled sketch books

Recycled sketch/note books are SO easy, handy and effective! Simply find a selection of papers and cardboards from wherever you can. They might be crumpled bits of scrap, the front of some packaging, the end of a drawing pad, lined, squared, plain, greaseproof, old new or unwanted.

Cut or tear the pages to size. Or..keep them different sizes..it does add to the fun of it.

Use a hole punch to punch holes in every sheet.

Use string, wool, ribbon or raffia to tie the pages together through the holes.

Decorate at will!

First ad for after school club NEXT TERM

Please note: we are not taking bookings quite yet for this, but I wanted you to hear about it FIRST!

5 to 14
Tues
4 - 5pm
8 wks
Urban Art is a brand new and exciting course designed especially for children and young people. It will provide an opportunity to experiment with a wide variety of materials and the chance to try out methods of printmaking and photography. Looking at artists such as Banksy, Adam Neate and Mark Jenkins will broaden the participant’s experiences and provide inspiration for art works.

Graffiti style image and word making, abstract photography, printmaking, graphic design and installations will form the basis of this 8 week course. Each young artist will learn new techniques, access specialist equipment and produce pieces of art to be proud of.

The following schedule is a guideline and subject to alterations based on access to specialist equipment and creative practitioners:

Week one: An introduction to urban and street art, introducing key artists and their work. Designing names in experimental styles using mixed media including vinyl and chalks.

Week two: Photographing each other’s faces and using the computers and printers to manipulate images and create stencils.

Week three: Using the stencils created last session, printing faces onto a variety of surfaces for different effects. Using slogans to portray personal messages as part of the artwork.

Week four: Experimenting with the concept of the installation and forming unusual formations of objects for photographing. Thinking about abstract and quirky messages. Using cameras and tripods for a professional result.

Week five: Printing images from last week and mounting and framing them in interesting ways. Adding slogans using stencilling techniques.

Week six: Graffiti and urban art images workshop with experimentations on images, lettering and styles. Visiting professional and local artist to run this session, talk about his work and guide the participants.

Week seven: Producing canvas paintings based on the graffiti workshop form last week.

Week eight: Finish off and drinks and nibbles! Watch slide show of the course. Certificates awarded.

If you would like any further information, please call Hayley Fern on 01509 622817 or email hayleyfern@rawlinscollege.org.uk

Rawlins Christmas Craft Fair THIS SUNDAY!

Come along to Rawlins' Main School Hall this Sunday for our ever popular, festive feast of handmade crafts. I will be running a FREE children's craft table on the stage, so bring the children without fear of them getting bored! Stalls will include jewellery, cards, preserves, gifts and much, much more. It's a lovely start to the Christmas season!

Green Place in Sileby holding Christmas Craft Day!

The Green Place will be holding a Christmas Crafts Day on Saturday 21st November. Events will include making ; a bag for life, a purse from a juice carton, a mirror from a vinyl record, a fizzy bath bomb and Christmas cards. There will also be a basketry course which costs £40 and requires places to be booked. Please email deborah@completewasters.co.uk to confirm you place.

Woodland wall art..a free and easy art idea

Hey there! Woodland Wall Art is a favourite of mine, partly because it looks great in my woodlandy home! This idea works for all abilities and the hardest bit is knot tying, which is a skill worth mastering for anyone!

Find 4 sticks from the ground around old trees and some string, raffia, wool or embroidery silk. Lay the sticks down in a frame shape and bind the edges, wrapping your chosen product around the sticks as they meet and tying securely.

For the centre, anything goes. We drew natural images in charcoal, tore the edges for a rough effect and made holes in each corner. Using the same string, we tied the pictures to the frames. Add extra string to hang and there you have it. A free, effective, ecologically happy piece of art!

Rawlins Celebrates Creative Partnerships Success

I am delighted to announce that after quite a process of application forms, interviews and hoping, Rawlins has received confirmation that we are now a CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP CHANGE SCHOOL. This means that we will benefit from three years worth of funding and support from the Mighty Creatives. Not only will this mean more visiting professionals, creative opportunities and a higher profile, it will also make creative learning and opportunities more accessible to non arts subjects such as the cores.

I will keep everyone posted on what this translates into as we go, but for now, if you are a part of Rawlins Community College, we proud and happy..because we are brilliant!