Aspace and Red Hot Press

I love Red Hot Press, I love the location, the kit and the tutors.  I've just spent day 1 of 2 on a bookmaking course with the entertaining and knowledgeable Katherine Anteney. Totally good value for money, interesting, engaging and inspiring. I have aspace to thank, also based in Southampton. Through them I recently became the lucky recipient of a talent development bursary, and therefore am able to do this course.

my pile of stitched books

all hard at it, millimetre-sensitive work

katherine teaching how to make a folio cover

Cumberland House Natural History Museum 'Flights of Fancy' workshop with Craneswater Junior School 25.4.13

Today was the last day of the children's workshops for the 'Fights of Fancy' Project which will be on show at The Cumberland House Natural History Museum.  My visit was to Craneswater Junior School in Southsea with year 3 children.  The workshop again focused on the museum specimens. My aim today was to get all the children drawing the specimens, concentrating on shape and scale.  They were given only pencils and charcoal. Once they'd loosened up, there were some really beautiful drawings produced.  The most difficult thing was getting them to produce large drawings. I find there's always a reluctance with this and they always seem a lot more comfortable working to a smaller scale in the middle of a sheet of paper. 

The afternoon was spent translating the drawings into silhouettes and cutting them out of card using a limited palette of two colours. The surfaces of the birds were then decorated before being hung together in a flock.

Everyone worked hard and said that the day went really fast. We're now in the process of preparing all the work for installation at the museum, ready for the grand opening in a few weeks.

drawing the birds 

studying the large cormarant

drawing a very large seagull specimen

this little boy said he couldn't draw

charcoal drawing of seagull

owl sketch

another fantastic seagull

silhouette hanging birds

cutting patterns for the surface of the birds

wings and surface decoration

finished silhouette

finished bird

Cumberland House Museum Flights of Fancy at Paulsgrove School, Day 3

Day 3 with Miss Campbell's class at Paulsgrove Primary School.  Everyone worked their socks off making bird sculptures.  We spent the entire day with only two short breaks, construcing paper sculptures based on original bird specimens from Cumberland House Natural History Museum.  It was a difficult but rewarding experience for the children as they had to consider many aspects such as scale, proportion, colour and texture as well as the technical aspects of making sure each bird was compact as well as strong enough to hold its shape as well as support itself and of course actually resembling their chosen bird.  There was lots of help again from the wonderful teachers and Tracy Teasdale who spent the whole day with us helping, inspiring and keeping me company.

making the bodies

Tracy Teasdale checking the bird bodies out

Adding legs

me drying the bodies after they'd been painted.

Attaching the feathers to the wings

All finished!

Cumberland House Museum, School workshop day 2

Day 2 of the 'Flights of Fancy' Project with Cumberland House Natural History Museum.  I was back again at Paulsgrove Primary School. My workshop today involved unveiling the bird specimens which the children loved. Amongst the collection were jays, owls, woodpeckers and blackbirds.  The specimens were all very characterful and each came housed in it's own woodland or garden setting case.  The morning was spent drawing the birds and then creating patterns inspired by their bird onto paper.  Each child then cut and collaged this to create their own interpretation of the bird they'd been studying. These will all be hung in a flock in the entrance of Cumberland House when it reopens in June.

In the afternoon we all made an individual boxed environment for the birds, using painted  shoe boxes. Collected twigs and branches were glued inside.  The final touch was placing photocopies of their scaled down birds inside. They looked really really great.  Once again, I was spoilt by the amount of help from the teacher, teaching assistants and Tracy Teasdale, the education officer from the museum.  Last but not least,  it wouldn't of worked without the hard work and enthusiasm of all the children, who are all wonderful.

Morning Session. 9 am - 12 pm

Afternoon session 1 pm - 3.15 pm

 End of the day and all that hard work looks great.

Hello
Eileen White 0781 6751932
www.eileenwhite. co.uk
www.eileenwhite.blogspot.com

Cumberland House, Natural History Museum 'Flights of Fancy'

Cumberland Natural History Museum in Portsmouth is a very special place for wildlife in Britain, as it has many different habitats in a very small area.  The museum tells the story of the wild things of the riverbank, marshes, woods and urban areas of Portsmouth, as well as learning about Portsmouth's geology and specimens from ancient times. The museum is housed in an old Victorian mansion overlooking the sea, and has its very own butterfly house where the butterflies fly from May to September. 


The museum is currently temporarily closed for refurbishment and is due to reopen in early June 2013.

During this period I have been commissioned by Portsmouth City Museum to produce artworks that respond to the collection of birds and butterflies. The project is called 'Flights of Fancy' and I am working with the marvellous Tracy Teasdale, Learning Officer from Portsmouth City Museum and two local primary schools.  I have designed workshops that allow children to work directly with the specimens in order to produce interpretations that will be exhibited in the museum when it reopens.

Today was the first of three full day workshops at Paulsgrove Primary School in Portsmouth. Working with year 3 and 4 children, we spent the day focusing out attention on some of the butterfly collection by producing drawings, detailed paintings and window 'sun catchers'. The children worked really hard and almost silently, this being the sign of true concentration and absorption!  The results speak for themselves.

Morning session 

Afternoon session involving drawing and painting to scale.