This project will be presented at Futurescan4 in January 2019, and the blog will be updated after that.
Research Week November 2018
The project will be the subject of a presentation at the School of ARt Research Week on 13th November.
Exhibiting the work from the project
A selection of the children’s drawings, beanbags, mites and other work from the project has been on display in the School of Art in Brighton during October 2018.
Exhibition of work at the School of Art, October 2018
What a great afternoon – such enthusiasm and joy
Stef had done a great job of organising rooms and providing snacks and drinks. She had also planned a varied and exciting agenda. The classes were divided into three groups, orange, purple and green, and rotated through activities which included:
- badge making
- writing feedback and drawing pictures about the project
- having their photos taken with their mite, beanbag and feedback
- playing games
- and most excitingly – an accident and emergency simulation
The students from Seahaven Academy joined us for the latter part of the afternoon, and we all attended the premiere of the animations,;Mafia Mites, Love at first Mite, and Lady Jusy Burrowing-Down. Red carpets for all the mites!
The children arrive. Helpers in the foreground getting ready for hard work
it was a hot day, and the children had walked from Coldean to Falmer, so they needed a bit of a rest before starting.
It was lovely that towards picking-up time, parents arrived. The children enjoyed showing them pictures of the workshops, and the textile mites and beanbags they had made.
Parents came to see what the children had been doing in the project
Playing Scabies Scramble
The high point of the afternoon was the premiere of the animations that all the participants, mites included had contributed to.
watching the animations
After this there was a vote for the best animation, and a prize for the group from Seahaven Academy who had taken the photographs and worked on the story.
A gorup photo of all the children with their scabies mites
The animations will be posted on here once they have been finalised.
We are waiting for our guests
The mites resting between activities.
Yummy refreshments ready for hungry children
Uncut beanbag fabric makes a nice banner over the drinks
The Scabies Scramble games mat waiting to be brought to life
It’s our celebration event today!
We have come to the end of the project and it’s time to celebrate with the children from coldean Primary school and the students from Seahaven Academy.
They will be arriving at 2pm for an afternoon of games, badge making and an exciting A&E simulation. This will be followed by the premiere of the animations and some prizes.
Then aome refreshmenta before home
Celebration event – 11th July 2018
TEXTILES AS A MEDIUM FOR RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT SCABIES
The end of project celebration will take place in the afternoon of the 11th July.
Pupils from Coldean Primary School and Seahaven Academy will be there to show their textile work and a preview of the animation featuring their scabies mites, and based on their stories.
Top-up workshop on stories at Seahaven Academy
As the project has progressed it has become clear that the stories for the animations need additional input. The workshop with the younger children at Coldean School was vibrant and exciting, but the number of children made it quite hard to firm up any ideas, so it was decided to slot in another, interim workshop before the main animation one in June.
This took place last Thursday, and some of the work will be posted when I receive it.
Workshop 3 Storytelling, at Coldean Primary School
This was the last workshop at the school, and alongside the planned activities it provided the opportunity for those children who hadn’t done so earlier to finish their mites and complete their badges.
Twelve students from Seahaven Academy who are studying GCSE photography joined us for the workshop to meet the younger children, learn about scabies and the project, and take photos and videos in preparation for their own workshop later on, in June.
Julie Middleton was the storytelling facilitator, and did a marvelous job, despite the incredible noise levels – note to self, if I do this again, spread the groups across two or three rooms!
Julie had organised three story lines that the groups to develop, and these are shown below.
Meanwhile the late-finishers were beavering away at their mites next door. Lots of glue was used, so it was necessary to take some home and add a few helpful stitches to the larger beads.
-
- Mite making extra-ordinaire”
Piles of scabies mites, they look so amazing
Towards the end, the children played Scabies Scramble with their lovely beanbags.
Scabies Scramble mid-game
Cutting and sewing beanbags over the Bank Holiday weekend
The weather was so lovely, it seemed a shame to sit inside sewing. So this was an evening job.
Digital printed fabric unfurled before cutting
Cutting the fabric is much easier using a rotary cutter on a self healing mat. Make sure the blade is nice and sharp; I started with a rather blunt one, and realised I hadn’t changed the blade for quite a while. It cuts SO much better now.
Cutting with a rotary cutter is the easiest way to get neat edges
Neatly cut beanbag blanks
I worked out a quick method to sew them without cutting the thread each time, but of course they have to be separated at some point.
Video to follow…
Turning them inside out was a bit of a chore, but when done whilst watching The Woman in White, it was bearable. Using a collar turner to pocke the corners helped to make these crisp.
Turned beanbags ready for filling – thanks to Wilkie Collins for the entertainment
