Here are the celebratory pet badges and rosettes made at The Barbican Family Film Club this month, a prescreening workshop for the film OINK. @barbicancentre

Creative kids is a workshop for 2 to 5 year olds at the William Morris Gallery. This month we immersed ourselves in The Radical landscapes temporary exhibition and took inspiration from the photos of Derek Jarman’s garden at Prospect cottage. We relished Jarman’s wonderful creativity with found objects to procure a beautiful garden. A graden to salve the soul in a once barren landscape. The children designed beautiful pictures with found objects on cyanotype paper. We were lucky to have the sun cooperate on a cold January day so that we could make our solar print pictures. They are all uniquely beautiful. They took home very wet frames and prints, but I was able to take a few photos of their work before they got wrapped up. I hope you enjoy. Well done to everyone who came. A very special thank you to all the volunteers who helped on this high maintenance workshop. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Radical Landscapes: https://wmgallery.org.uk/

Derek Jarman’s garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygrSqQGErC4&t=7s

A past exhibition at the Garden museum: https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/derek-jarman-my-gardens-boundaries-are-the-horizon/

We were invited by the wonderful Groundswell arts to collaborate on delivering a Christmas workshop for families who use the CPotential services.

The families came to make these beautiful sensory winter lanterns that they could light up their paths all the way back to their homes for the Christmas break. The lit up, or made sounds or felt like fluffy sow, inside and out of their lantern. Thankyou to Groundswell Arts for helping to realise a winter warming session for the families.

Groundswell Arts

Photos of Sea creatures made at The prescreen workshop of the film “Seabeasts” at the Barbican Family Film Club

Here are photos taken at our workshop, making paper waistcoats for The Platinum Jubilee celebrations, called the Mile Long Street Party. They were all uptown funky! Thankyou to everyone who came and took part, bringing your smiles and joy. Thankyou to the volunteers and the @Artillery team for putting on a wonderful festival.

Here are creepy-crawlies made by participants at E17art trail 2021. The Creepy-Crawly show celebrated the humble insect as part of the theme Possible Future. The Stag Beetle, on the brink of extinction and the local Tiger Moth were just a few of the stars to be created and displayed. We will display them til the end of the festival at The Vestry House museum and the pocket park on Essex rd information boards. @e17arttrail ends July 19th. Participants will be able to pick up their beautiful mini beasts from the museum on the 19th. Thankyou to Tony our resident insect expert, artist, stick insect entertainer and to all of you who came to join in our insect celebration.

Toychimes was produced for #WGPInthe air in collaboration with Walthamstow toy Library, a virtual festival of creative happenings and participatory events in Waltham Forest. We produced 500 activity packs for families. Distributing packs through mutual aid groups and food banks throughout the borough. There are many people to thank for taking part in this project, all volunteers in the mutual aid groups, Walthamstow Toy Library, Helen, Kevin for making the animation for DIY chimes, @jackbarnes offering to take photos of Toychimes made at home, all the families who took part and made a beautiful chime over the garden party weekend.

You can still make Toychimes, the DIY video will stay on my site #wgpintheair is supported by LBWF, Making Places, Arts council, produced by the @Barbican.

Share what you’ve made and it will go in my gallery on #scribbleathome.
More craft ideas stay on the garden party website here: https://www.walthamstowgardenparty.com/whats-on/

Wings made bank holiday Sunday at Smithfield street party. Thankyou to everyone who came to join in on the day. Sorry i didn’t have time to take lots of photos. But enjoy the few. Thank you to @MuseumofLondon for inviting us to be part of the @CultureMileLDN.

Join in A Crane origami Extravaganza. To make a wish for 2017.

Sunday 4th December 3.30 p.m  til 5.00 p.m

Free, all ages welcome

St Mary’s Church, Church lane, E17 9RJ

We are collectively trying to make 1000 cranes across schools and communities. According to Japanese tradition folders will be granted a wish. Happiness, health and long life.

The cranes made will be installed in St. Mary’s church. 

Projections of Crane Wishes on December 22nd 6pm till 10 pm.

Crane Wishes is part of ADVENT (US), a project curated by St. Mary’s arts collective. A range of local artists, will project onto St. Mary’s church from 1st to 24th December 2016. 

Some children from Greenleaf primary school, children and adults at Church Hill Nursery and You can aim to make as many cranes as possible in the spirit of Senbazuru. Come to the workshop at St.Mary's or donate your cranes in the spirit of making a wish for Walthamstow.

Senbazuru:

One Thousand Cranes

 a group of 1000 origami cranes that are folded to wish someone good luck, long life, recovery from illness.  A universal symbol of peace.

History and cultural significance

Japanese beliefs promise anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes a wish by the Gods. This may be eternal good luck, long and healthy life, recovery from illness or injury.

The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures and is said to live for a thousand years.

A thousand paper cranes are traditionally given as a wedding gift by the father, who is wishing a thousand years of happiness and prosperity upon the couple. They can also be given to a new baby for long life and good luck. Hanging them in one's home is thought to be a powerfully lucky and benevolent charm.

Several temples in Japan have eternal flames for world peace. At these temples, school groups or individuals often donate senbazuru to add to the prayer for peace. The cranes are left exposed to the elements, slowly dissolving and becoming tattered as the wish is released.

Popularisation of the Senbazuru

Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who at 24 months old, was exposed to the fallout from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during WWII. Sasaki  developed leukaemia soon after.  At age 12 after spending a significant amount of time in a hospital, she began making origami cranes with the goal of making one thousand, inspired by the senbazuru legend. There are differing versions of her story – one version is that although she did complete the 1,000 cranes she continued folding past that when her wish did not come true. Another version of the story state that Sadako never completed the 1000 and that friends and family folded more.  There is a statue of Sadako holding a crane in Hiroshima Peace Park, and every year on Obon Day (festival for ancestors/deceased), people leave cranes at the statue in memory of the departed spirits of their ancestors.

ADVENT "US"

Local artists, school groups and community organizations representing people of a variety of faiths and backgrounds (including those who have no faith associations), will create images (photographs, paintings, drawings and more) which will reflect on this universal longing for peace and justice and a better future, and will be projected onto the church - one per day until Christmas Day.  

While a wide variety of images will be featured in order to reflect the ‘US’ in ‘ADVENTUS’, there will be the recurring theme of people who have had to leave home due to war or violence: a stark example of human hopes for a better future.

Each day’s projection will also feature a person, object, event, recording, piece of music, or simple reflection inside the church (similar to opening the door on an Advent Calendar) at an appointed time each evening, as the door to the church will be opened for 1-2 hours, inviting people in to the building to engage more deeply with the exterior ‘calendar’ image for that day.

This project mirrors the overall aims of the St Mary’s Arts Collective (stmarysartscollective.org), which is to open up St Mary’s Church for arts-related uses, to celebrate E17’s diversity, to foster community creativity and form new friendships, to create curiosity and wonder, and to challenge stereotypes.