soldier

As part of Big Arts Week I was a visiting artist at Old Town Primary School, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire and helped class 3 with their Dunkurque Boat Project. They had been asked produce some clay boats to help Mrs Lomas, their volunteer Reader, with her Dunkurque themed flower display for the Flower Festival at St Michael's Church, Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire.

On the clear understanding that if I made a boat, every child in the class would try to make an exact copy, it was agreed that I would produce a clay soldier I normally work in wood and demonstrate from from behind a protective barrier with a chain saw, so working in front of a class and down from the back and top of a clay model was a different experience. The model is rough as it was completed in double quick time so that I could help the children with their work. See the schools web page below for more details

Click here for a link to Old town Primary School web pages

Big Arts Week Class 3

Local sculptor, John Adamson, joined Class 3 for the day. Mr Adamson has many pieces of sculpture on show around Yorkshire and Lancashire. He specialises in tree sculpture, using a chainsaw to create his pieces. He left his chainsaw at home (much to the disappointment of some children) and gave the children advice on working with clay. The children in Class 3 are helping Mrs Lomas, our volunteer Reader, with her Dunkurque themed flower display for the Flower Festival at St Michael's Church, Mytholmroyd. Under Mr Adamson's tuition, they attempted to create a sculpture of the many boats that sailed to Dunkurque on that wonderfully heroic rescue mission during the 2nd World War.


Mr Adamson helping with some detail	Mrs Buckley lends a hand too	Some of Mr Adamson's work in the foreground	Mrs Lomas looking at some work in progress

Some of the work with its proud maker	This takes concentration	More wonderful work	Rolling clay in our hands

Shaping with our hands and clay tools	Some boys using clay tools	A boat called Steph	Some of Mr Adamson's work on the Whiteboard