Gifts and Occupations – August 2009 Residency

“To know the truth, one must construct it”

Pavese

Thinking today about the games the children were playing on the soundscape i took from the nursery i realised how it once again demonstrates the power of play. Role playing in situations like this must guide the children and help them practice their social interaction skills – something so important, more so than maths….

When you are a child you are free, you don’t feel embarrassment like we do as adults, they aren’t ashamed and so have no holds… well, i say this but i suppose they must have a feeling of safety and trust in their environment in order for this to flourish. When a child feels safe to play – to experience – to think – this is when they are able to learn.

So many of us are held back now by our fear of being laughed at or branded as a waste of time…

Well, i’ve been shown up by a 12 year old. A very mature and intellegent one its true, but nonetheless… she managed to fold a totally different variation of Froebels form and it looks great. But in my defense its quite elaborate, and i’m nott too sure about how many i could fold!

But i’m half way through. 240 to go. The pressing is slowing things down as i want to leave them for at least 24 hours, and they’re piling up, making a mess of my ‘system’.

Got some more great audio from the nursery, and took a break to go to yoga. I’m finding that although each process ahs a meditative effect, variation is definately the key.

Oh, and i’ve discovered TED – a website with hundred of lectures and speaches – i’ve had it on all morning. There are some really great ones – Gever Tulley talking about his ‘tinkering school’ where children are free to pay with hammers and nails and any material you can think of….Ken Robinson about schools killing creativity… Tim Brown talking abot creativity and play…. definately recommend it.

Well, time to get on with some cross stitch….

Spent some time experimenting – gluing the paper folds down to reduce them springing open just seems to deaden them – i’ve found a great press inthe studio and it seems to be doing the trick – the paper tiles come out flattened but with some life in them, so i’m pleased with that. Reminds me of pressing flowers especially as ive also resorted to sliding each piece into a book before transfereing them to the press. Theres such a romance withing pressing flowers – as if they have just been frozen in time and transformed into delicate and fragile scraps of paper.

The studio has turned into quite a production line – one table has the series of different foldings, another the cut paper – another i take the 10 pieces and fold them into identical pieces, before moving them to the press. I’ve started laying out the finished pieces on another table, and am quite pleased so far.

Yesterday, i researched the audio element – i’m going to use 8 small mylar speakers and wire them to a speaker splitter box, to which i can connect a small amp, power source and output jack, so it can be simply connected to a hifi or mp3 player. Fingers crossed it’ll work – the parts will arrive on monday…

This morning i visited the nursery – such a lovely place! The kids were great, and although i was trying not to disturb them too much – just set up my recorder and leave them to it – they all came up and asked my name, showed me their pictures and asked me to read stories. As much as i would have liked to, i had to get back for a meeting, but maybe i’ll be able to pop back in again tomorrow.

While the kids ate lunch, i collected my recorder, and took it back to listen to as i ate my own picnic in the sun. It was quite fascinating listening to the children at play without being there – at one point a group are playing families, really quite convincingly – i suppose we always forget how much children absorb from their environments. The sounds combined with the original sources as the children passed me on their walk to the ‘forest school’, an outdoor classroom set up in the grounds. Got some great audio, definately something to work with, and will take some more tomorrow.

Got back to the college last night, really ready for a productive week. Spent a little time organising in the morning, then laid out all the pages from the book of knowledge, cut them to the right sizes and put them into piles to start folding. I now have 40 variations of the basic form, so with 12 of each and a few spares, i should have nearly 500 by the time i finish (half what i had extimated before, but plenty i think!)

Going to try and start getting the audio element sorted tomorrow by experimenting with some small speakers. Unfortunately my electronics skills arent quite past the beginners stage yet, but i’ll give it a go…

Folding paper the other night, one of my new flat mates saw what i was doing and, being japanese, started showing me some of her oragami skills. Certainly put mine to shame, and within seconds had knocked out a ‘crane’. She told me that when someone is sick, the tradition is to fold a thousand of these cranes, to encourage their recovery. Ive also heard that the folder of the thousand cranes is granted a wish – i wonder if i will get such good luck from this project?!

Despite the tender fingers and aching neck, i am gaining a sense of satisfaction from each small milestone i reach… i’ve finished my “beauty” cross-stitch and started the “knowledge”, “life” turned into something else, so will be starting that one fresh again another day. Not sure if i’ll finish them, but its nice to change tasks occasionally. Embroidery will be my night job and folding my day.

I was talking to someone at the weekend, who, as a teaching assistant, had to cover a few weeks of art lessons a while back. Despite the initial dread,she said she found it really enjoyable, was able to switch off and get into a simple task (it was a primary class). I suppose that is what is happening for me. Its highly meditative, and i find myself thinking, “right, i’ll stop i a minute” but then find myself continuing for another hour….