Ladies Club

I was invited to a ladies club which used to meet at the community centre, now at St David's Church Hall.

I started with intro to project and had brought photos along with me taken by the OOSC group, which we looked at and chose favourites. I had also brought some archive images to look at, and together with a brief activity to picture a favourite place you met and played with friends (not school), we had a lively debate about pretty much everything.

It was really useful to show the photos and gauge responses to them and also to debate the value of photos, archives and personal, local and global history.

A participant had also brought a photo taken of all the houses on the road to the location of the centre. You can still see the original houses on photo in blog of first workshop.

Chats led to more interviews as part of project, and also link to JOIN US Project:

Move to new centre

All moved to the new centre. Everyone still settling in really, so only had a chance to chat a bit and show the long edit of video and photos so far.
I took the chance to pop down and see the old centre, barred up and ready for demolition.

Holiday homework

On last day of holiday in Ilfracombe Arthur decided he wanted to map out the next one, incorporating Brazilian rainforest, New York, Sidney, Antartica and New Zealand.

We are planning an Xmas visit to my sister in New Zealand this year, following a holiday of a lifetime three years ago when we first went out there. Our school threatened us with loosing Arthur's school place if we take Arthur out of school for any time in the next five years, which makes a trip to NZ very tricky.

Odd, when research clearly identifies 80% of learning happens outside the classroom, and that schools want to involve parents more in learning, that such a fantastic opportunity is not just ignored, but actively discouraged.

In the last year the schoolwork that have most excited Arthur (and us parents) was 'The Great Fire of London' and 'Brazilian rainforest'. We visited London, went down Pudding Lane, climbed monument, walked around Thames, visited 'The Museum of London', had a great day out that contextualised 'The Great Fire' for Arthur and Jago (3 years old). Shame not to have picked a Birmingham based topic, and admittedly, not everyone gets the chance to visit London, nevermind the Brazilian rainforest, but at least we got to find out about the topic with Arthur.

Schools should actively involve and encourage parents to take part in learning, and support parents and children bringing their learning back to the classroom. To only value learning in the classroom reinforces an insular view of school disconnected with our reality and unimportant to our lives.

Shenley Green Model

We spent the session making our own Shenley Green Centre and the area around it from junk.

Rubbish for art not rubbish art

Michael Landy's Art Bin claims a rubbish Damien Hurst skull painting. Hooray! Tracey Emin also contributed, and my perception of them as people changes, if not as artists.

Got me thinking about rubbish, art, quality and value of art. Artists/ creative practitioners comment:

'You need to use quality arts materials to make good art.'

or

'To really value the work people do, you need to use quality materials'

I kind of understand where it's coming from. At Kings Heath Stay and Play we bought two sets of children's drums - one all cardboard and plastic, which sounded tinny got sat on and broke. The other was hardwaring, still sounds great but cost a lot.

However, working with rubbish can be exactly the quality you need. What's more, I think there is a satisfaction making art from rubbish, and even better from your own rubbish.

In 2005 I worked on CP project with Graham Langley, storyteller, and a secondary group from Quinton on Who are we. They were working with Graham creating a story from local placenames. I brought in a big bag of my rubbish, and together with some lentils and other bits we found in the room, we made the world in which the story happened. The model had quickly provided a few photos for backdrops, development of the story and their storytelling.

It's a media I've used a fair bit over the years with much effect. I'm working with Shenley Green Youth & Community Centre at the moment, and as one of the activities we decided to recreate the community centre from rubbish. The group gradually extended their model to include much of their Shenley Green. The model was made from rubbish and was due to last shorter than the centre (demolition next week). We decided no one will put it into Landy's, or anyone else's skip. The model at least was rescued from demolition by the people who made it.

The New House that Jack Built

This is an archive I found out about through Dr Ian Grosvenor (who has recently published a paper on it), in Birmingham Archives and Heritage. The original 'House that Jack built' is an old English Nursery rhyme:

"a cumulative tale that doesn't tell the story of Jack, who builds a house, but instead shows how the house is indirectly linked to numerous things and people, and through this method tells the story of 'The man all tattered and torn', and the 'Maiden all forlorn', on top of other smaller storylines."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_the_House_That_Jack_Built



It isn't unusual for a parody to be made from nursery rhymes, and this story in particular. There are many examples dating back to the eighteenth century. Initially I thought about using the story as an example of slave campaigning in nineteenth century England.

Then I thought the structure of the story would be useful to develop their own parodies, looking to where products they bought had come from. Finally, as I read closer, I found more in the story, to explore attitudes to learning, science, geography, race and learning - a history of ethics, a pedagogy for 'creative learning' and fair and ethical trading.

Tract ends with 'God save the King!' - a reminder of the times, perhaps, to avoid any accusation of harbouring Frenchie Republican notions other slavery abolitionists had been tarred with.

In the end, the group (Yr8 Science class exploring 'A Scientific justification for Fair Trade') moved on from it to their own products, and exploring where they have come from. However, it was useful in framing our project - laying out a 'scientific' reductionist framework, mapping out and linking mechanical, chemical, geographical, historical, social and any and all aspects of the manufacture and sale of their products, promoting their own creative and well reasoned connections between goods, people, and our responsibilities in a consumerist society!

http://www.breakingthechains.co.uk/event.jsp?eventID=54





'Explications' at end give extensive notes on all from slavery, wheat production in Norfolk, and (here) what is salt. Written in 1800, Joseph Priestley had only just discovered Oxygen, and Lavoisier the 'Father of Chemistry' only recently made discoveries which led to the periodic table later in nineteenth century.

In the beginning

This blog takes its title the first big project I was involved with in 1997. A lot's happened since then, but my direction, purpose, mission, whatever you like to call it, always seems to comes back to it.

'Home is where the Art is', was the first project which pulled together all the various oral history, art and craft, drama, xmas crafts, work in old people's homes and other work together with my personal commitment, valuing the lives of people around me, old and young.

A couple of years earlier I had quitted the first year of a PhD creating a Computer Car Crash Simulation programme in Swansea, and now I felt I could call myself a community art worker!

My work, my home, my values and my interest in creativity and art all led to where I am now. 'Home is where the Art is' is my attempt to make some kind of sense of it all.