2010 11 - May 1st 2010 - Dunster Packhorse Bridge Playing Field Arts Project - Part 1

Dunster Packhorse Bridge Playing Field is a very special and much loved play area.

 

For many years children and their families have visited the play area to play on the wonderful play equipment or to just sit and relax and enjoy this quiet corner of Dunster.

 

It is also a favourite place for groups from the school to call off at on the way back from walks to Bats Castle or as part of a trip to Dunster Castle.

 

In January 2010 our school was invited by the playing field committee to take part in an arts project to work with mosaic artist Adam Stanley to design and make a mosaic that could be displayed on a wall that backs on to the playing field.

 

We were of course delighted to be invited to get involved.

 

The project was assigned to our Year 3 class who got the work started by visiting the playing field on a very damp day in February. The children looked around and thought about the animals, birds and plants that might inhabit the playing field.

 

 

After visiting the park the children went back to school and spent three afternoons drawing and sketching the animals, birds and plants that they had found out about. Once the pictures were finished they were sent to Adam's home in London. Adam used the children's pictures to draw up some designs for the mosaic.

 

In March Adam came to school to meet the children and to start work on the mosaics. He taught the children all about the history of mosaics and showed them the various techniques that he uses in his work.

 

 

Over two days the children started to work on the mosaics. The work was quite fiddlly but bit by bit the mosaic designs started to come to life. The children took it in turns to go to the school hall to work with Adam.

 

In this picture you can see four of the Year 3 children working on a mosaic of a Barn Owl.

 

Did you know that the proper word for the tiles that we used to make the mosaic is "tesserae". This word comes from the Greek language and in Greek it means "four -sided".

 

 

In this picture another group are working on the Barn Owl mosaic.

 

The children worked really well together on the designs. It took lots of patience to find the right tile to fit into the drawings that Adam had done.

 

"I love art and making the mosaic was one of the best things I have ever done." (Robert)

 

 

In this picture the children are working on an Oak leaf design.

 

If you visit Dunster Packhorse Bridge Playing Field you will be able to spot the designs in these pictures. Some of the children in Year 3 will probably be able to show you the tesserae that they were responsible for fixing onto the mosaic.

 

In late April Adam retunred to our school to put the finishing touches to the mosaics.

 

If you look closely at this picture you can see that some of the tesserae that were used were made form old tiles and pottery.

 

As part of the project everyone was keen to recyle old bits of ceramics. Lots of people brought old tiles, cups and plates into school and these were all used in the mosaic.

 

"it was brilliant that we could use old bits of pottery. These old cups and plates might have ended up in a bin but instead they are part of an amazing mosaic." (Miss Moles)

 

 

In this picture the children are working on a mosaic of a fox.

 

"I loved the way that you could use different coloured tiles to bring the pictures to life." (Bella)

 

 

 

 

On the last day the children worked on the borders that were going to surround the main paret of the mosaic. By this time the children were much more confident about working with the tesserae and even included their initials in the borders. If you visit the mosaic why not see if you can spot some of these letters.

 

When everything was finished in school Adam took all of the parts of the mosaic back to his parents house to get them ready for the playing field.

 

"We loved working with Adam. He was really kind. We think he is a great artist." (Ryan)