My Viking Experience

Last week I went into my daughters school to deliver a workshop in papier mache. I had spoken to her teacher months earlier explaining that I was a community artist and would be happy to deliver a workshop in the classroom. Artists coming into the classrom is a relatively new idea but something that has great merit. The Artist in Schools Scheme has been running for a number of years in Ireland and it gives schools an opportunity to work with an artist around the curriculum. There has been a big debate in recent years that primary teachers are overloaded with expectations to know how to teach academics, sport, art, music, drama and whatever else can be fit into to the day. There is also increasing evidence that using creativity within the curriculum makes learning more successful as it reaches out to those kids who may not favour academic learning. I have worked with a wonderful artist Jole Bortoli who has worked in an educationally disadvantaged school in North Dublin City. Fortunately the principal had the openness to facilitate the running of the Junior Certificate through art. Jole explained how this approach transformed the kids attitude to education and even themselves. The constant challenges of creativity and learning gave them a confidence and sense of themselves that they wouldn't have had before. It also kept that them coming back to class each day, which in itself was a success.

I have worked in schools before using art, however it was with the aim of integration. In West Tallaght in Dublin there is a large population of non Irish, mainly African children. The teachers in a local school recognised that the boys would often integrate and mix better by playing sports, however the girls didn't seem to gel as wel and there was an obvious divide. I designed a series of workshops where a group of girls from both nationalities worked on creating their own dresses and had a fashion show at the end. It was a great success and highlighted how effective using creativity can be in bringing people together.

This time however my mission wasn't quite so grand. My brief was papier mache and Vikings, and with the help of my daughter we came up with the idea of a ship. I took the shortcut of googling 'papier mache boat' and came across such a simple and sweet boat that I couldn't resist (Ann Wood and her wonderful creations). We made a mock up before class and altered the design to suit. I went to the class and was happy that we hit on something good. However when I delivered the workshop the kids were more than pleased with the process and outcome. The teacher was so accommodating and helped push the learning with the creativity. We all chatted about Vikings and what type of Vikings the each child's ship (the skull and cross or pretty flowers gave the clues)  would carry. When they were all dry and finished the teacher displayed them outside the classroom giving much pride to the creators.

My daughter has written a summary of the class;

Hi my name is Ella, I am nine years old. My mum came into my class and did art. We made Viking Ships. We used hessian for the sails and cereal boxes for the boat. We dipped sugar paper into PVA glue and water to coat it all. And we used skewers for hanging the sail on and a small pin to hold it on. It was a papier mache boat. We used so much glue that you could knock on the boat. Loads of us got glue stuck on our fingers. During the class we were talking about Vikings and our teacher was asking us about Viking facts. We learned what they did and what they stole and how they lived. We hung them in the hall and put up a blue backdrop and they looked really cool. We got loads of compliments from the other teachers.

*****

To read up more on Jole Bortoli and her wonderful approach to children and arts click here.

I also came across a fantastic new site for kids to display their work, The National Children's Gallery of Ireland is a new site that promotes young kids work, click here to see the future artists of Ireland.

If you are involved in any creative work with children let me know and I can post it on the site.