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Arts week at Brockhampton Primary School near Bromyard is a busy and creative time with the school employing a host of creative practitioners to work their magic with mixed age groups of children. It was a great opportunity to network with other artists and catch-up with old friends.

Megan Evans is an environmentally aware print maker whose work with young people I’ve admired for some time. Although we’d been employed on the same projects in the past, we hadn’t had the opportunity to put a face to the emails and phone conversations until Brockhampton.

Felicity O’ Neill is a teacher turned artist practitioner who is destined to set the world of participatory arts alight with her well prepared & researched visual arts projects. I loved the janga janga inspired paintings the children made just as much as they obviously enjoyed painting them.

It just so happened Nortonwoods were at the school putting the finishing touches to an inspiring and amazing outside area including a giant crooked house, old fashioned sweet shop and barbecue shack – all lovingly constructed from recycled and reclaimed timber and materials. (above) What a fantastic learning space to fire the imagination!

Well done Brockhampton for its commitment to the creative arts and outside learning.

collaborative tile panel made by the flying potter and high meadow infant school based upon come all you little personsWhen our children were young, Sarah and myself loved reading to them. Story time just before bed was a magical, special time we look back on with total fondness. We enjoyed the literature just as much (maybe more!?) than the children and each evening marveled at the illustrations, narrative and the clever way the two came together.

The kids are all grown up now and have either flown the nest or are preparing to fly. As a consequence of them getting older, our exposure to the brilliance of children’s picture books has dwindled.

That said, it hasn’t been a total drought as we get an occasional fix working, as we do with hundreds of primary schools and nurseries. We love it when a head teacher or art co-coordinator starts a conversation with “there’s this book….”

We’ve recently worked with two primary schools who have set beautifully illustrated children’s books as the inspiration for their clay work.

High Meadow Infants School in Warwickshire have been using ‘Come All You Little Persons’ by John Agard and illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle as inspiration for a whole term’s worth of learning and exploration across the curriculum. We were invited to work with the whole school to make a celebratory tile panel to mark the 50th anniversary of the school, based upon the book. (above)

Each child and member of staff made and painted an individual tile, imagining which type of ‘person’ they would be.  All the tiles have been fired, glazed and mounted and make a composite image of a globe supported either side by magnificent trees. The celebratory piece has been installed in the school hall for children, parents and staff to admire for a long time to come.

Upton upon severn primary school make clay models inspired by children's book milo and the magical stonesAnother school another book! KS1 at Upton Upon Severn Primary School looked at the books ‘Milo and the Magical Stones’ by Marcus Pfister and ‘The Tin Forest’ by Helen Ward. Both books have an environmental message and offered perfect inspiration for the children’s clay work. Instead of a collaborative effect, each child made an individual piece  using the pinch pot technique to create a hollow character from the book.

Two separate projects with two super ceramic outcomes!

Immy one of our community arts aprentices showing a girl how to make a pot on the potter's wheelWe are delighted to announce details of our fun, creative and Summer themed children’s workshop sessions scheduled for the approaching six week break.

Jump In is the theme and youngsters will get to sample the delights of the potter’s wheel as well as learning other clay modeling techniques.

The workshop sessions, designed for children as young as 4 years take place on Wed 1st August.

Participants will each take a turn on the potter’s wheel guided by one of our resident, friendly potters. The resulting ‘pot’ will be filled with the children’s clay models becoming a paddling, duck or rock pool – it could be anything, but rest assured we’ll be guided by the children’s own interests and imagination.

The children’s creations will be fired and ready for collection from the Pottery approx. one month later – dates and times will be issued on the day of the workshops.

1.5 hr sessions commence at 11.30am and 2pm and are tailored for two age groups: 4-8yrs in the mornings and 9-12yrs in the afternoons. Although, these age ranges are not strictly adhered to as younger and older siblings are always welcome to participate on either session.

Places cost £15 per head with a 10% discount for x3 or more places booked. Telephone and email booking essential: Tel: 01531 633886 e: admin@eastnorpottery.co.uk

bride to be makes a pot on the potters wheel at  pottery hen partyWhen Rowy and her band of merry hens rolled up in their party van, the bride to be had absolutely no idea what they’d be doing. Such was the veil of secrecy surrounding the day’s activities, the response from Rowy was genuine and approving.  After the squeals of delight had abated, she turned to us beaming and commented “My friends know me so well!”

The girls made some very creative coil pot creations as well as each taking a spin on the potter’s wheel.

If you are an arty-hen would like to get creative with clay as part of your hen party celebration then please take a look at our page dedicated to pottery hen parties. We have projects to suit all pockets with our legendary customer service as standard. Please take a look at our glowing customer reviews on TripAdvisor if you are in any doubt!

cool shades at pottery hen party at eastnor pottery

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12th pottery birthday party at eastnor potteryMathilda and her family have been visiting Eastnor Pottery for donkeys! We think their patronage goes back to when she was 4 or 5 years old when she and her sister used to attend our children’s pottery sessions in the school holidays. Fast forward and here she is celebrating her 12th birthday with friends in our fabulous Potting tent on the Pottery lawn. Judging by the glorious sunshine, she’d accumulated a stack load of loyalty points!

Details of our creative pottery parties for children can be found here.

 

pinch pot frog made at eastnor pottery