'Creative School' 

Skapande skola (translated creative school) is a Swedish government grant whose aim it is to integrate more art and culture in schools. It seeks to encourage pupils and give them the opportunity to experience different artistic and cultural expressions. It often includes letting the pupils meet professionals and/or being part of a cultural activity in different artistic materials/form.

 

This specific project saw the glass artist Gayle Sokol join forces with the nature reserve and bird sanctuary Naturum in Varberg Sweden. Every spring the municipalities 5th graders visit Naturum to see and learn about the local bird life. This time the visit included an art workshop where the pupils were familiarised with the material glass, most specifically the technique of slumping & fusing. With a little premade drawing of a local bird, they all got to create a glass plate of their bird of choice.

 

The children learned how to model their bird with different colours and types of glass, in this case crushed, little stringers, and pieces. They were glued to the plate together with hangers. The plates were molten in a furnace and returned to each school and child to bring home with them.

 

I was an overall assistant and worked with all sides of this project. The main task was to work with the children, teach them the technique and help them understand the material. Moreover, make sure each child would feel encouraged to achieve their artistic vision for the little glass plate. Each workshop included 10-25 children and required preparation and organisation of space, material and created pieces, besides the major logistics to make sure each piece was transported to the furnace, molten, packed and returned to the right school and pupil. Over the course of 6 weeks, we worked with circa 800 pupils from 15 schools.