In January, I was invited along to The Holy Trinity Catholic School in Newark-upon-Trent by Head of Foundation, Ella Mayfield.
Ella informed me that she had received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, sourced by The Trent Vale Landscape Partnership (TVLP) for the creation of two pieces of mosaic artwork. The theme for these installations was to be the wildlife of the River Trent and more specifically, a swan and a kingfisher.
I was asked to spend the day with the schools Foundation 1 group, to provide some background information about the two species, prior to mosaic artist Sarah Graves visiting. As well as speaking to the group, Ella also asked if there were any relevant craft activities that I could do with them.
Having proved very popular at last years Collingham Show, I decided to take along our 'pipe cleaner dragonfly making kit', and the children certainly enjoyed making a dragonfly each.
I was invited back to the school today, along with TVLP's Helen Keating, to look at the finished mosaics. I have to say that we were very impressed with them! They had even decided that, after their dragonfly making session, they wanted to make a dragonfly mosaic too!
A photographer and journalist from The Newark Advertiser also visited the school today and should be running an article on the mosaics during the next week or so.
The images below show the mosaics created by Holy Trinity's Foundation1 schoolchildren and artist Sarah Graves.