A CREATIVE collaboration between a group of Liverpool Plains preschool children and a contemporary mid-North Coast artist will continue later this month when an “artists in residence” workshop is held at Quirindi Preschool Kindergarten.
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The workshop follows on from a “Collaborations with Children in Nature” project in 2015, which saw Quirindi Preschool children working with ephemeral artist Shona Wilson to create sustainable artworks.
This year, the focus will be on art and sound in an outdoor learning environment after the project received funds from Arts Northwest, Farming for Kids, and Friends of Children with Special Needs Quirindi Group.
While we were making ephemeral art in the bush in 2015 the children naturally discovered a lot of sounds and sound creation
- Artist Shona Wilson
The unique project has also received attention from within the education sector, with University of New England (UNE) early education lecturers Dr Sue Elliott and Dr Margaret Brooks also planning a visit this month.
The 2016 project kicked off recently with the first group of children taking part in a bushland excursion to Lynsey and Carol Quayle’s Quipolly property.
As children explored the bush, they experimented with sound recordings and created ephemeral musical instruments and percussion using whatever they found in the natural environment.
Artist Shona Wilson said the focus on sound as part of the 2016 project evolved from the children’s exploration during last year’s bushland excursions.
“While we were making ephemeral art in the bush in 2015 the children naturally discovered a lot of sounds and sound creation,” she said.
After a series of African drumming workshops were also held at the preschool in 2015, the idea to focus on sound as part of the project evolved.
“(Quirindi Preschool Kindergarten director) Alison (Thompson) had already brought in Danielle Perry for drumming workshops with the preschool last year, so the idea has organically arisen to create a soundscape this year as the core of our experimentation,” Shona said.
“There are many different ways to learn to read and write and our time in the outdoors helps the children in many ways, including teaching them how to think about everything around them,” Alison said.
“During our time on the bushwalks, the children are really learning to think about each other.
They have realised that it’s not a race to the bottom of a hill.
They need to take care and look out for each other.”
Visual performance art and dance is also likely to take place during the bushland excursions as the children “gravitate to one thing or another while exploring”.
The children will take part in the bushland excursions on a regular basis during terms two and three, with a performance possibly held later in the year.