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What does Arts in Education practice look like? Read about the processes and partnerships behind current projects happening around Ireland.


Weaving the Walk


Tell us the story of your project – What was the impetus? What was it about? Who was involved? How did you begin?

Artist Annabel Konig

When discussing the possible project with the teacher of the classes I was going to work with, we discovered that nature, observation, fabrics and the environment, were the main topics that were going to make up the project idea. Based on those, ‘weaving the walk’, was born. The idea was that each child would go for a walk with an adult and look at their surroundings differently, looking at textures, picking up weavable materials, make drawings and if they could, write words, in a notebook which would be their form of reference for the weaving we were going to make.

The frames for the weavings were made from branches that I brought in. Each child had to learn how to tie knots, measure string and create the framework. There was co-operation between the classes as some children were quite young.

Teacher Brenda Binions 

I had previously taught the children some simple weaving techniques and am passionate about our local environment, so I was excited to collaborate with Annabel on this topic. We decided on this project very quickly during our first collaboration meeting. Prior to our first workshop, I spoke to the children about the project and they were very enthusiastic. I also sent a note home to the parents, outlining our ideas and asking for their help in taking the children for a walk and gathering suitable materials for our weaving. Unfortunately the weather hadn’t been very nice, so not all children had been for a walk so we took an observational walk around the school grounds and looked at the colours and textures we could see around us.

During the first workshop, Annabel discussed the project with the children. Some of the children had brought in materials for the weaving and we looked at these and discussed their suitability, or otherwise,  with the children. When we started putting the frames together, it quickly became obvious that tying strings was too difficult for the younger children so we enlisted the help of the older classes to assist them. This lead to the project becoming a collaboration for the whole school, as, over the course of the project, all 48  children in the school had the opportunity to engage hands on in the project.

Read more

Spotlight

Annabel Konig

Artist(s)

Annabel Konig

Teacher Brenda Binions

Teacher(s)

Brenda Binions


Artforms

Craft

Visual Arts

School Level

Primary

School/
Participant Group

St. Patrick’s NS, Co. Carlow


No. Participants

25


Region

Carlow

Age/Class

5 to 8 year olds


Dates

February to March 2020


Leading Agency

CRAFTed


Other Partners and/or Funders

Wexford Education Centre

Key themes/ lines of enquiry

Expressing nature through weaving, incorporating found objects and materials. Drawing what you see and learning to translate into a different material. Learning simple skills such as tying knots. Being able to express what you experienced to a group of your peers.


Curriculum Strands

Textiles and fabrics – art, writing – English, drawing – art, measuring – maths, environmental studies, self confidence – well-being.



I always learn from children, the way they interpret ideas, the way they manage to work in materials – often different than I would so I re-discover the possibilities of working.

Artist Annabel Konig




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