OUR PROJECTS
28
MAY
2024
Migrating Songbirds
🌿 Arrivals and Departures with RSPB Wild Dundee
On Sunday, we had the pleasure of hosting some members of the ScrapAntics CIC Family Club at the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens. It was a day filled with discovery as we delved into the sounds and songs of Spring.
With binoculars in hand, we marvelled at the sight of a beautiful Blackcap serenading from a branch above, shortly before hearing the unmistakable call of a Chiffchaff - but that wasn't all! We saw and heard Magpies, Great Tit, Robins, Siskins, a Chaffinch, Wood pigeons...we even saw evidence of a Sparrowhawk's hunt!
As part of our ongoing Arrivals and Departures project, we engaged in meaningful conversations about the reasons behind our wildlife's migrations, drawing parallels to our own journeys.
By partnering with the Art and Nature Collective, we were honoured to have Felicity Inkpen guide each participant in crafting a multi-media masterpiece. From sketching birds with simple shapes to illustrating migration paths with water and ink, and using collage techniques to capture the essence of birdsong, creativity truly flourished!
At RSPB Wild Dundee, we believe that collaboration lies at the core of every successful endeavour. A heartfelt thank you to Inês-Hermione Mulford for her invaluable support, Felicity for her inspiring facilitation, Riverside Nature Park for sharing Ian Ford's wealth of knowledge, and ScrapAntics Family Club for helping reach our participants.
"Thank you Hope & Felicity - excellent facilitation & a very enjoyable morning bringing together nature & art - great for families to spend time together. Magic!"
- Hope Busak, RSPB Scotland
On Sunday the 28th of April, I packed up a car with art supplies and drove over to Dundee to join RSPB representative Hope Busak and members of the ScrapAntics Family Club at the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens. Hope led us around the gardens where we looked and listened for signs of migratory birds arriving in Dundee: black caps, chiffchaffs and warblers. Back in the activities room, we all sat down with a cup of tea and a biscuit to discuss what we had seen, heard, and learnt, and turn it into art.
The participants were first guided through an observational drawing exercise: learning to look at birds with an artist's eye, breaking the image down into constituent geometric shapes, and then building up detail through shading and different types of mark-making. Their beautiful bird drawings were put to one side to do an all-together messier creative activity - exploring migration through the movement of water-based inks across paper. The participants were invited to draw out a map in clear water, then add the inks to the water marks, and see how the ink travelled. Finally we considered the birdsong we had heard, and how this could be represented in abstract shapes by using collage - the ripping of the paper providing a sound to add to the visual experience.
The ink-map, the paper-birdsong, and the drawing of the bird were then combined into one mixed media art piece. The participants showed their artistic flare as they combined the different elements in diverse and beautiful ways, each creating an artwork that was truly unique to them. There was lots of enthusiasm for these different ways of making art as the participants flourished in their own creativity.
Thank you so much to Hope for leading the workshop, and to Ines and the Art and Nature collective for bringing me to this botanic garden and this wonderful group of people.
- Felicity Inkpen, Collective Artist
“Thank you very much for these types of activities. The best thing is I never know we can do lots of things with just art and birds.” - Participant, Age 6
“the session was marvellous. Thank you so much Hope and Felicity. We were delighted to hear the songs of the birds, at the same time it was extremely wonderful Hope when hope was imitating those songs. You both made the session super awesome!” - Participant
“Thank you very much Hope and Felicity a very enjoyable facilitation and a very enjoyable morning bringing together nature and art. Great for families to spend time together – magic!” - Participant
"I loved Ian's talk. So informative, and then heading to riverside, was amazing seeing the Skylarks up close and in their natural environment. Also as a good punctuation for the day, the split of where we were helped to structure the day well." - Participant
"I enjoyed having people from all portions of society, and working together helped to make bonds and conversation/connection." - Participant
23
MAR
2024
Celebrating Skylarks
It was an immense pleasure to work with skylark expert, Ian Ford, to present a science-art
workshop about skylarks. The combination of seeing skylarks in the morning at the Riverside
Nature Park and using this experience to make a text and image collage was great fun! The magic of seeing skylarks was a wonderful start for an afternoon of thinking, writing and creating artwork about skylarks. The afternoon kicked off with my spoken word performance and short film to provide inspiration and get participants in the mood. Deconstructing the poems of George Meredith and Percy Shelley and using them in word games helped participants their own ideas and create a collage expressing what skylarks meant to them.
I was amazed by the diverse personal and individual responses; for example one participant
focussed on nesting and family, another the swooping dancing flight of the skylark and another developed an artwork which was a memorial of words and image for a friend who had died. One young participant created an image and words about climate change - uppermost in her mind. Hers was a unique and exceptional response. - she had cut the flying skylark in half. It was such a strong and moving image reflecting the damage to nature and biodiversity from climate change.
The workshop was designed to be inclusive with no prior skills required, with lots of discussion throughout providing an productive and creative environment. I hope that there are many more science art events!
- Linda Kosciewicz, Collective Artist
"I liked the word play a lot, and enjoyed Linda's performance. Lovely to hear/see how other creatives work, and form my point of view, interesting to experience the running of the workshop." - Participant
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