Skirty flowers and cloud petals

It was really fun… I enjoyed working with all the different materials in all the different weathers, it was great when we used the rain to make art… We loved it when we went to the big garden, it was really beautiful with all the colours and flowers... We found feathers and we turned into peacocks.
Artscapers (year 2 and year 6)

We have been working with new Artscapers at Morley Memorial Primary School, learning together how this unique way of exploring and learning together grow their powers of imagination and curiosity and the impact this can have. Artists Sally Todd and Hilary Cox Condron supported the small group of children from year 2 and year 6 to spend each Monday morning artscaping in the school nature area, with the opportunity for their final session to walk up the road and discover the magical gardens of Homerton, their local Cambridge College and part of the University of Cambridge.
 

‘I feel calm… I feel peaceful’… were words I kept hearing on our mornings in Morley’s wild garden, as well as… ‘can I do this art every day?’
Over six sessions in all weathers we have gently supported and encouraged the children to connect with nature. We’ve witnessed their growing confidence and excitement in experimenting with materials, their delight in noticing the tiny details… 'diamond light in the leaves' … 'cloud petals'… 'skirty flowers'… then catching the movement of shadows with graphite, painting with rainwater under the ‘queen tree’, inventing colours and perfume from rose petals and imprinting paper with natural material… and becoming emboldened to explore their individual expression and emotions.
Sally

It was quite incredible to see them run into Homerton College to explore the touch of the sculpture in the same way they had been exploring  pine cones and bark; to immediately ask for materials and sit and draw the vast grounds in the same way they have drawn in the gardens at Morley; and to see them hug the 400 year old beech with the same care and love they have shown The Queen Birch (a tree in their own nature area) which they bestowed with gifts of thanks.
Hilary

New creative work from the group has also been incorporated into these striking new hangings for our ever-growing Fantastical Forest collection.

Our creative health programmes, developed with colleagues at Cambridge Acorn Project and Fullscope, are helping us gather evidence of how opportunities like these can:

• Nurture imagination, and creative exploration and skills.
• Grow confidence and independence to express ideas.     
• Support emotional and physical wellbeing. 
• Enable relationship building with each other and those supporting them.
• Connect everyone to the nearby natural world, developing awareness of nature as beneficial for emotional and physical wellbeing and encouraging an interest in looking after nature.

The Artscaping workshops are part of our work with the City Council on the River Cam CAN project.

It was a really valuable experience for the children, something that was truly nurturing and nourishing for them. We really hope that there are future opportunities to work together. This was an authentically creative way of opening up and broadening opportunities for children to explore different ways of learning. Being outside provides a release and escape from the normal, while creating art provides children with a personal safe space that can travel with them wherever they are.
Reflections from the Wellbeing Lead and the Deputy Head Teacher, Morley Primary School