INTRODUCING THE PROJECT...ALEX AND JOHN VISIT CHURCH WALK SCHOOL

We're up and running after the first  two of three introductory sessions with our partner schools. We were at Sir John Barrow a week ago,  (photos to follow)  we'll be at Croftlands next month at we visited Church Walk last friday....
We talked to the boys and girls about the ideas behind Green Room, and heard about their own artwork. A very high number of boys and girls had family members who are artists and craftspeople, and several of the class are producing their own illustrated  books. This all bodes very well for our project, as we know people will bring their own ideas to the sessions.

We began by looking at the maps and aerial photos supplied by Alex, and then the group closed their eyes and traced the walk from school to the Market Cross in Ulverston town centre. Mrs Newby wrote down the landmarks that the boys and girls recalled as they recalled the walk.
Shops, lampposts, cars, trees,houses and gardens...we found could " see" the journey very clearly.

We looked at the way these object and places are described using symbols and shapes on Ordnance Survey ( OS) Maps. Using strips of fabric, we marked out the main roads through Ulverston on our 4"X4" baseboard.  Working solo and in groups and using patches of fabrics from the Scrap Store, we asked the boys and girls to make a map of  a part of town on the board.  We were really pleased when the boys and girls began to develop their own way of working. Without any nudging from us, they began to make small  maps  on the floor, sometimes using the painted white lines   as part of the work. 

We then asked them to place some elements of their work onto the baseboard. The results were a colourful and readable map of the town, with woodlands, the canal, and important building and landmarks clearly marked...here it is...

   Alex and I think this represents  a great start to our project, and we are looking forward to seeing the Church Walk boys and Girls at the Coro for the first session on the 12th of May.