‘Artscaping’ at Howard Community Primary School
Pupils at Howard Community Primary School have recently had the opportunity to participate in a creative adventuring workshop as part of the school’s Arts Development programme.
Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination are an arts and well-being charity working with artists and communities to explore creative connections between local spaces, nature and art. They call this ‘artscaping’ and have recruited a whole group of new artscapers – the youngest three classes of children at Howard Community Primary School. Artists Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Caroline Wendling began the project this Monday – 9th November:
Filipa Pereira-Stubbs said: “We are delighted to be working with Howard Community Primary School, and their very youngest children in their extraordinary school grounds – a beautiful outdoor space where we can bring creativity and nature together in fun and imaginative ways. This is a lovely time of the year, and we are enjoying our adventures into the outdoors and art. Together we can all become artists and adventurers.”
Caroline Wendling said: “The school has been able to offer us a very special room that we are looking forward to transforming with the children into an atelier – an artist studio. This atelier has a beautiful view on the school grounds, and we are imagining a myriad of possible bridges to bring the inside outside and the outside inside. We wondered with the children about whether we will we be able to fit the sky into the room?”
Research to date has shown important links between this approach to creative adventuring with young children and their well-being. You can read more about this research with colleagues from Anglia Ruskin University, this project and the work of the charity at www.cambridgecandi.org.uk
Alison Weir, Acting Headteacher said: “This project is providing our EYFS and Year 1 pupils with a wonderful experience by using art to connect with nature, whilst nurturing their literacy and wellbeing at the same time.
Alison added: “This is the first of many arts projects planned for this coming year. This is an exciting time for the school and will provide many opportunities for our pupils.”
Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination have a dedicated webpage for the project which can be found here.
