Primary school pupils and teachers have been getting green-fingered in learning how to use ecologically-friendly materials to create art.
Machen Primary School is attempting to gain status as an ‘Eco School’, and enlisted the help of Cardiff-based textile artist Claire Cawte to teach a variety of techniques in creating art sustainably.
Those included happa-zome – a Japanese technique of bruising flower leaves to extract natural colours – mordanting, and solar-dyeing – where resources are left mixed in a jar for a period of weeks to be heated by the sun.
Children were encouraged to bring in a variety of resources from home, with the likes of onion skins, turmeric, saffron, berries, petals, nails, and foliage used to dye material in natural colours.
At the end of the six-week process, the pupils – aged between five and seven – created a collage of flowers and wildlife using their dyed textiles.
Claire said: “The teachers and teaching assistants have been really excited by it all.
“They were a bit surprised at how smelly a process it is when they opened the jars with the children after six weeks, but enjoyed everything else to do with learning about the garden leaves and flowers for the natural dyeing process.”
Claire added: “The big involvement for me is making sure that I teach the staff and making sure the teachers are confident in using those skills with children in the future.”
The school received a £1,000 grant from the Arts Council of Wales’ Innovation Seed Fund for the project, and Jen Cox, a teacher at Machen Primary School, said: “Attaining the [Eco-School’s] Green Flag will mean that we are educating our children in life skills, sustainability and to care for the environment.”
“The children were amazed by the colours, by the vibrancy and the depth of the colour. It’s certainly an experience they won’t forget.”