For the last couple of years I have been trying to collect a whole alphabet from objects found in the river Wandle at the monthly cleanups organised by the Wandle Trust. Some letters emerge fully formed while others require a bit of imagination. What I like about them is the rich patterns and surfaces created by years spent sitting in the mud of the river bed, particularly the rich red rust of the letter R. I’m still searching for the rest of the set.
Today I delivered the finished artwork from the ‘Walk of Art’ project to Crofton Infants’ School in Orpington. There were four panels – around 10m in total length – with feet and legs made by the Year 2 children stitched onto each. Here are some details…
I particularly like the black cat, and the parcel in the last picture – the boy who made it said it is a present for a monkey and if you peep inside you can actually see a yellow banana that he has stitched in there. And here are all four panels together…
This week I’ve been at Crofton Infants’ School in Orpington working with Year Two on a project called ‘Walk of Art’. It’s part of Walk to School Month, and is going to result in a textile banner examining why walking to school can be interesting.
The children started off with a walk outside the school exploring and looking for inspiration…
Then explored the idea more through drawing and making a Journey Journal…
and finally planned some shoes and legs on a giant roll of paper before making some fabric versions using sewing for the final piece. I specially like the next drawing which features four types of conker, including the cheese grater which I had never heard of before…
I have been making prototype lanterns and testing them ready for a special project with Wimbledon Chase primary and Cricket Green school in Mitcham. The workshops will be at Morden Hall Park as part of the National Trust’s School Arts Partnership scheme.
Over the next few weeks the children involved in the project will be creating their own individual lanterns and decorating with designs inspired by the park environment, ready for a special ceremony on 25th November when the lanterns will be floated on the river Wandle at dusk, inspired by Japanese lantern festivals.
Today I tested the lanterns on the river, assisted by volunteers from the Wandle Trust.
Myrtle has a new best friend. He’s called Bob and they are inseparable.
A soft sculpture work created for the forthcoming new illustration publication ‘Pick n Mix’. The theme for the first issue is ‘explosion’, so I have imagined how an explosion might look if it had a personality, and that personality was soft and gentle.
Two new screen prints for the exhibition in Swansea next week inspired by animals created from shrubs in a park in Mumbai – and the contrast with the lively wildlife such as jackdaws and chipmunks. The prints are available from The Old Sweet Shop’s online shop.
Here’s a new set of screenprints ready for the show ‘A Pair of Drawers’ with my sister Alison Porter. The prints are inspired by the resident bowerbird at Melbourne Museum, and show the variety of blue things bowerbirds like to collect – pen lids, bottle tops, clothes pegs, toy helicopters…in non-urban areas they collect snail shells and feathers instead.
‘A Pair of Drawers’ is at The Brunswick, 3 Duke Street, Swansea SA1 4HS, October 8 – November 22, 11.30am to 11pm daily.
I saw lots of exciting and inspiring wildlife in Australia, from the embryonic Portuguese men o’war that look like inflatable blue slugs to some very very cute koalas including one that sat at the very top of a thin tree just like a pinecone. But my favourite is the bowerbird at the Melbourne Museum – I am going to write a new story about bowerbirds and their love of blue things. The cheeky runaway koala was at Sydney Wildlife Centre.
