NMS Butterfly Garden & Pollinator Plot

It has been a while since I last posted an update….. I have been so busy at school getting my hands dirty digging a new “Pollinator Plot” just outside my classroom….! Stuffed full of bee and butterfly friendly plants such as Verbena Bonariensis, Rudbekia, and Erigeron Kervinskianus, I hope the new planting area will not only attract lots of bees and butterflies but will also inspire the pupils to appreciate the beauty of nature.

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Left: Pollinator Plot early July 2021. Right: Pollinator Plot just 4 weeks later!

Since January 2021, the pupils of New Mills School and I have been working with Craig, the school groundsman, to create the Butterfly Garden and the Pollinator Plot. The Butterfly Garden is a development of the award winning 2019 RHS Tatton Park School Garden (when New Mills School won People’s Choice and Highly Commended). All the artwork within this garden has been made by pupils of NMS – the bug pods and bug bowls hidden amongst the plants, and the white clay flowers covering the arch were made by pupils in 2019. The back-drop ceramic butterfly was made and decorated by Year 8 and Year 9 pupils who have attended my Art Clubs this year.

The Butterfly Garden and Pollinator Plot were open to the public as part of the New Mills School National Open Garden scheme on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th July 2021. Many people attended that weekend – with some lovely postive feedback. During the last couple of weeks before the summer holiday the pupils have been thoroughly enjoying the new areas – relaxing during lunchbreak and finding the spaces calming places to complete classwork. Each week the plants are getting bigger and more flowery – by the return in September the gardens will be at their optimum and looking fantastic! Fingers crossed for more butterfly friendly weather…

The Butterfly Garden

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Show the Love New Mills

The Town with a Heart Goes Green for Valentine’s weekend! 

New Mills Festival is encouraging the town to “show the love” over Valentines weekend this February (12th-14th) by taking part in the “Show the Love” walking trail.

We’ve entertained and delighted each other with the wonderful creative displays for ‘Light Up New Mills”. This time it’s about spreading the love for our beautiful part of the world. Make a green heart any way you want and then pop it in window or hang it on your door. More information here: https://www.newmillsfestival.com/show-the-love-new-mills

This week the Year 8 and Year 9 keyworker pupils of New Mills School contributed to the “Show the Love” trail by each making their own clay hearts. Overall they made a grand total of 70! These will be decorated in a green copper oxide and glazed, then diplayed in a giant love heart shape on the outer school fence.

In these challenging times I am immensely proud of how these pupils are showing resilience, responsibilty and resourcefulness. It was refreshing for them to be able to take part in these (Covid secure and socially distanced!) workshops – I can’t wait until next week to decorate them all!

#showthelove #ShowTheLoveNewMills

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Summer, Clay, Play

With a little space created in the lobby of our house, this summer I have been able to start to play with clay for the first time since March. Inspired by the wonderful flora and fauna out in the garden, some rather floral large-scale clay butterflies have started to emerge! I have also had a little play with Sgraffito into iron oxide slip…

Every week I have been setting daily nature poems from the book I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree for a small group of pupils from school. The following is one I like and enjoy, and feel particularly relevant currently:

Moth Masks, National Moth Week & the Big Butterfly Count!

In the run-up to National Moth Week (which starts today: 18th-26th July) year 8 pupils from New Mills School researched the work of Australian artist Deborah Klein. Over the last few weeks of the summer term, I asked the pupils to each create an artist research page about Klein’s mysterious Moth Women and, subsequently, to create their own Moth Mask in response to Klein’s fairytale “The Story of the Moth Masks”.

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The finished artist research pages are wonderful – beautifully arranged, with creative portraits and some deeply thought-through analysis, it has been a pleasure to read and look through them all.

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The Big Butterfly Count is a nationwide citizen science survey aimed at helping us assess the health of our environment. It began yesterday and will run until Sunday 9 August. Please see the link below to find out how you can take part:

https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/

It’s National Insect Week! 🐛🐞🐜

To celebrate this National Insect Week, Year 8 pupils from New Mills School have been busy creating drawings inspired by last week’s virtual trip to the Manchester Museum’s Beauty and the Beasts… Falling in love with insects exhibition:

https://mmbeautyandthebeasts.wixsite.com/mmbeautyandthebeasts

Here are a few awesome museum specimen drawings that have been submitted so far:

I am looking forward to receiving more of these gorgeous specimen drawings! Currently I have been spending the last couple of days observing and rescuing(!) Peacock Butterfly caterpillars who are on the move from the nettles next door… Here is a lovely little poem that sums up this week perfectly:

NMS does 30 Days Wild!

As part of the Wildlife Trust’s 30 Days Wild campaign, 1-30 June 2020, I set Year 8 pupils from New Mills School the challenge of completing an Act of Wildness each day over ten days: for their health, for their wellbeing, and for the planet.

I have been so impressed by the effort and resilience of these pupils. Below are the super creative and top-quality results of these ten Acts of Wildness:

ACT OF WILDNESS: 1

ACT OF WILDNESS: 2

ACT OF WILDNESS: 3

ACT OF WILDNESS: 5

ACT OF WILDNESS: 6

ACT OF WILDNESS: 7

ACT OF WILDNESS: 8

ACT OF WILDNESS: 9

ACT OF WILDNESS: 10

🌸 Natura Insects 🦋

“Just like living life, it’s about appreciating the present and making the best out of it.” [Raku Inoue, 2020]

For a project titled Natura Insects, creative photographer Raku Inoue arranges a variety of leaves and blooms to create the delicate components of stag beetles, butterflies, and other insects. Inoue uses real flowers which he then photographs…

As part of their home learning Art lessons, Year 8 pupils from New Mills School created their own botanical insect photography inspired by the work of Raku Inoue. Here are the amazing results:

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“Here are the pictures of the insects we made. My dad had a go too, I really enjoyed doing this.” [Hazel]

🐝 Today is World Bee Day! 🐝

After Easter, I asked all Year 8 pupils from New Mills School to create a multi-media, large-scale honeybee drawing, as part of their Art learning. The bee symbolises community and hard work; by the pupils completing these during the challenge of lockdown, they have made artwork that symbolises togetherness. I do so look forward to creating a huge display of these fantastic drawings in the School Hall when we return!

Use the below Bee Identification Guide to see which bees you can spot today, and why not create your very own Nectar Bar to help our furry friends….

And if you’re feeling a bit arty, why not have a go at creating your own Bee sculpture design using the download template (courtesy of Manchester’s Bee in the City):
Bee Template PDF

Lockdown Update: April

So… six weeks into UK Lockdown I have finally got round to updating this…! Unfortunately plans for me to run a project with New Mills School and local Primary schools has gone on-hold until all is back to “normal”. Meanwhile, from here at home I have been setting home learning tasks for Year 8, and many of them have responded with resilience and imagination. The first task was for the pupils’ to create their own paper butterfly installations. Here are the results, including my own contribution, titled Aurelian Installation:

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New Mills School has published the latest Newsletter pre-lockdown. Here is a link to that issue: https://www.newmillsschool.co.uk/assets/Uploads/Downloads/Newsletter-April-2020.pdf

And below are the pages that feature my Year 8s and Craft Club:

I will post another update soon! Keep safe and sane as best as you can… I leave you with these two lovely April poems from the book “I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree”:

New year, new projects…

Very excited about the up-coming installation of the New Mills School RHS Tatton Park School Garden into the school’s grounds! Over the last fortnight, Craig (the groundsman) and a group of year 10s have been busy prepping the 4m by 4m patch of ground… located right outside the Art department!

…watch this space for updates on this garden, and a prospective collaborative project with two of the local primary schools…