'Context is half the work'

'Context is half the Work’

The seminar discussion on March 19 was about the importance of understanding the context in which one is working – not only physical, but social, political, cultural, environmental etc. It is about acknowledging, and perhaps using or responding to, the unique circumstances of a particular project and its participants. 

We had a look at the Cape Farewell project (http://www.capefarewell.com) and about the archive of 'disappearances' due to 'climate change'. I noted down some thoughts on the broader context of climate change in my development portfolio. I concluded that it is vital for art and artists to examine a situation dispassionately and carefully and to understand the complete ‘context’ when they become artistically engaged. What taboos could they be reinforcing as well as dismantling by adopting a particular position?

In Project Wild Millbuie I have been keen for the children at Resolis Primary to reach their own conclusions through experience, rather than promoting a particular viewpoint. The immediate context in this case includes:

·       the children (a mix of incomer and local farming families)

·       the teachers - the school is very keen to do work that increases knowledge and understanding of the local area

·       the Resolis community –  mainly local farming families and incomers

·       the Black Isle communities – diverse and difficult to generalize but including traditional fishing, farming, oil rig families, younger incomers, retirees, and I'm sure many others. The Black Isle as a whole is fairly affluent, although there are some slightly poorer areas.

·       The broader political context and the recent windfarm development proposal

I will just touch on the recent ballot on the Black Isle over a proposal for a large wind farm. The results were excellent evidence of how easily communities can be divided. The media coverage gave an indication of a range of different viewpoints, but there was no analysis available as to the proportion of people who voted in a given way for a particular reason. In order to really understand a community context, I think it is important to have an understanding of peoples’ priorities, and not to prejudge or influence the expression of their views. Although this information is not available in this case, the facebook and media discussion around the windfarm proposal provided helpful information about the community context of the Millbuie Forest project, both within the Black Isle and in the broader political context.

Project Wild Millbuie: Stories from the Forest is about enabling relationships to develop between the children and their local forest. One advantage of working with children rather than adults is that their ‘context’ - the way they perceive their world -  is still quite fluid and open, and perhaps more receptive to new possibilities. Nevertheless, some of the farming children may have particular views on foxes or buzzards. Some may have parents who may have been very keen to see a windfarm in the Forest, with its promise of funding a swimming pool. Some will have parents who have never visited the Forest. 

The advantage of working with the children outside, in the Forest itself, is that the Forest is given its own ‘voice’ – the children experience it on their own terms and for themselves. Although the windfarm proposal is part of the underlying context, and some of the children are aware of it, it deliberately does not feature in the discussions around the Forest unless the children raise it themselves. Yet another aspect of the ‘context’ is my own perspective. For me, this kind of development proposal, which fails to recognize the non-monetary attributes of the Forest, is clear evidence that some relationship-building around ‘Place’ would be a positive contribution to inform decision-making. I therefore did some historical research and brought in a local historian and local story teller to speak to the class to give a sense of the ‘Place’ over time, as a complement to the work about the Forest wildlife. However, rather than promoting a clear outcome or position, the purpose of the project is really about building relationships by stimulating creative imagination. There is a possibility that what the children become enthusiastic about in the Forest will be transmitted indirectly to their families and friends too, both through school and through home. There is an intention to repeat a Forest project every year with the school to build up an ongoing relationship with the Millbuie.

So I hope I have had a thorough think about 'context', and I feel I am aware of it as I'm relating to the children. I am also responding less overtly to the broader social and political 'context' in the design and working out of Project Wild Millbuie.

Stories from the Forest 2

On Thursday 19th March, the day before the eclipse, I has my second visit with the Primary 3,4,5 class at Resolis.

What happened...

The day aimed to build on the project’s theme of ‘Stories from the Forest’ and to help prepare for the Wild Forest Day next Friday. This time we were focusing on the Forest's wildlife, how bird songs, animal tracks, and other signs tell us what's happening and how important it is to use every sense and be still to ‘listen’. There were lots of stories from the children, from me, and some wonderfully imaginative role-play shows about how it might feel to be a creature of Millbuie Forest.  

We started by talking about how to understand the ‘secret’ languages of the forest. Since the last visit the children have worked very hard on the challenge I set them to learn the names of the Forest wildlife by playing the wildlife card games I made. So we played some fun games of ‘guess what animal I am’, with the kids playing roles, which was great. The children had lots of their own stories about seeing and hearing wildlife. One girl had a buzzard nesting nearby, several children had lost chickens to foxes and pine martens, (we talked about wild animals behaving like wild animals), some had seen red squirrels in the Cairngorms National Park. One girl was terrified of moles because of the way they look, so we spent a bit of time in a discussion between her and two other girls trying to allay her fears..

I showed some wildlife photos on the computer with plenty of sound effects and images. I asked them to shut their eyes and listen to birdsongs, and kept them interested by asking lots of questions. Plenty of important themes came up for discussion, including life cycles, habitats, ecosystems and seasons, threats faced by animals, predators and prey, migration routes, native and non-native species. We practised recognising birdsong and making bird calls again, which they enjoyed. 

I was so pleased by how much their knowledge and awareness of the Forest's wildlife has improved! That was one of the aspirations for the project, as it will really help their awareness and creativity when they are outside. They all got a sweet for all their efforts!

After the break we all had a discussion about the children's favourite animals. Each chose a creature living in the Forest and we thought about that creature’s favourite food, scariest thing, best day ever etc. We then went through to the drama room and the children split into groups of 2 or 3 and prepared short role play shows, where each was acting his or her favourite animal. We talked about how it was important to be in character – if you were a siskin talking to a goshawk or a field vole talking to a tawny owl, your chat might not be so friendly! I kept the birdsong playing at low volume all the time, as it was so lovely and calming to listen to, and like being outside.

The children and I shared filming the shows, which were really entertaining and imaginative as well as ecologically surprisingly accurate. They included a play about a poorly-sighted bat (roosting with its feet in the air), being harassed by two pine martens and finally scaring them away, one about a wildcat and a fox exchanging tips on catching food, one about a pine marten who encounters a squirrel eating a nut and discovers he has a nut allergy(!), one about a coal tit escaping from an osprey and a buzzard who get into a fight over it (‘See ya suckers!)’, and one about a bat giving a mole a big worm, then a tawny owl killing and eating the mole and the bat escaping….Life can be tough.

By then it was almost lunchtime, and we had just enough time to return to the class and, with help, for the children to sew up the A5 workbooks of cartridge paper, with each child decorating the front cover and writing down his or her chosen ‘Forest name’ eg Foxie. Each one will contain a tracks sheet, mammal and bird spotter sheets, a sketch map, spare pages for writing/drawing, and will be kept in a plastic Ziploc bag that can be used for collecting small things when we are out in the Forest.

The children had hoped that I would tell them the ghost story I'd talked to them about that takes place on the Millbuie, but that will have to wait until next time....

A few reflections...

I had been prepared to break up the half hour powerpoint with games, but in the end the children were too interested in it and it wasn’t necessary.  The powerpoint lasted for longer than I’d thought because it was so interspersed with comments and discussions and anecdotes from the children. I made a point of asking them about almost everything I showed as it really kept their attention. I had planned to play bingo and some more formal games, but found it easier to ad lib with ‘guess the animal’ and bird calls at appropriate moments. I left the bingo cards for them to use in class later. The sweets were useful, because they helped keep the children focused (before I’d handed them out!) on the outline for the shows, until we went to the drama room.

The plays themselves were much more realistic and less fantastical than last time, and the children seemed to completely grasp the challenge of giving some sense of the animal/bird’s actual daily life as well as providing entertainment. The improvised lines were excellent and often funny, and the ecological relationships were impressively accurate.  It was a Thursday, so the children all had school uniform on. That did not seem to affect their spontaneity or imagination, but the filmed outcomes were not as colourful as last time, when many were dressed in animal onesies.

One aspect that was excellent was that the autistic boy played a full and active role throughout, doing exactly what the other children did and joining in with them. This was a marked improvement on last time, when he remained drawing pictures at the edge of the class. The teacher remarked on this and was amazed that he had not even lost interest in the fairly lengthy powerpoint.  I had hoped that he would become more involved, so it was great to see this level of engagement. The other wee girl who has certain issues on the spectrum was fantastic, acting her role as a hunted siskin with great energy.

I had various additional activities that we could have done, given the time, but I chose to spend time on the open-ended discussions as they seemed to stimulate a lot more imagination and creativity, as well as being great learning opportunities. The talk and discussion really helped with the realism of the plays. I believe that in a project that is all about creativity born of keen awareness and use of all the senses in the natural environment it is vital that there is a basic interest and knowledge in the ecology of the Forest.

The teacher and pupils all helped with taking pictures and filming. One regret about the day, however, is that it was too intrusive and difficult to record the children’s spontaneous anecdotes and comments, which they often came right up to tell me. These stories were at least as alive and creative as the plays, but impossible to capture without losing them. I suggested to the teacher that she might try to capture one or two later in class.

I got positive feedback from a couple of the children I talked to about the morning. One said that the ‘best thing was making up the shows’ and ‘doing the guessing games’. 

Another said that she enjoyed the powerpoint and, ‘I really liked all the really cute ones like the little baby bat, and the baby squirrel and the baby wildcat’, and that the ‘sound bits were good’ She also said, ‘I liked the way you asked lots of questions so we wouldn’t get bored’.

So - another fun creative day! Hoping for good weather on 27th!

spring sunshine

The Wild Forest Day is closer than I'd thought! The Easter Break runs for much of April, so, to keep up the momentum, the Head and I decided to try to fit in the class visits and our much-anticipated day in the Forest before the end of March. We have planned the next class visit for this Thursday 19th and the Wild Forest Day for 27th March.

With this in mind, the Head teacher and I spent the glorious forenoon of Sunday (Mother's Day) morning out in the Forest, following the route I have been planning. She needs to consider the health and safety aspects, but was also keen to have an idea of what to expect, so she can prepare the class.

It was a beautiful crisp early spring morning, sun hazing through clearing mist, song thrush, chaffinches, coal tits, robins, goldcrests in full song, frogspawn fresh in the burns and ditches - a real sense of spring gathering force, despite the night's frost.

I had sketched a map with ideas for activities at various points that will use all the childrens' senses and heighten their awareness of what 'stories' the Forest has to tell. The route involves going off the track into wild bog woodland, across a burn, some pathfinding. I never feel completely relaxed unless I'm off a track myself, and am sure it helps to get out of one's 'human' identity. The 20 children will be split into 4 groups of 5 - each group will think up an animal name, a wild 'call sign', names for each child to do with the history or wildlife of the forest. We will be looking closely through hand lens and binoculars, using wildlife calls rather than words to communicate, telling stories and acting plays on 5000 year old chambered cairns, thinking about predator and prey in hunting games, tracking animals using tracks and scats, playing tactile games with eyes closed, choosing and sitting with a special tree, learning and listening to bird songs, watching out for red kite, osprey, buzzard and red squirrel, making dens, nests and nature sculptures, passing messages from ancient peoples between the three chambered cairns.... 

Every thought, impression, feeling, word and experience that the Forest gives us over the course of the day is part of its 'story' - to be noted down in pictures or words, in small found objects, to be 'gathered' - and to help with a final collaborative creation.

And every creative thing the children do, whatever inspires them, both in the Forest and back in the classroom, is part of their 'gift' of imagination back to the Forest. 

The Head teacher was happy with these ideas, and with letting the children take things where they wanted to on the day - they will have plenty of their own inspiration.

Of course, it is the creative imagination that counts. As Jose Ortega Y Gasset wrote, 'To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand'. Another writer, W. MacNeile Dixon, believed that, 'To understand any living thing you must, so to say, creep within, and feel the beating of its heart'

We are hoping for good weather for 27th - and I hope that the Forest will give us the inspiration we need to begin to understand something of what it all might be out there beyond the human world... 

Feedback from the class

I thought I would post some feedback from Jane Bentley, the Head teacher, on Project Wild Millbuie so far - after the class visit where Jim Mackay gave a talk on the history and I worked with the class on wildlife and performing plays about the Forest. All these great ideas will help decide what creative work we do, so I have organised them on a table and made suggestions to Jane about the areas I can help with.  I love the idea of 'letters' to and from the Forest, fitting in with the stories ideas. I hope to do some role play performances about the wildlife. I am also getting the materials for a scrap book and can help each child make one, complete with spotter sheets and maps, next time I visit the school.... 

Hi Jim and Becs,

The children have been full of beans since you were in.

They have done the power point for me, I have  seen their plays – WOW –they obviously loved it so thank you both so much for all the work you both put in.

Lorraine Fyfe who teaches the children on Fridays said they were totally engrossed for the whole time.

Having seen and heard all about it I asked the children what they wanted to do next with everything they had learned/experienced so that we could let others know what  a great time they had all had – here’s the list (take a deep breath):

Stop frame animation with plays – creating puppets to be their animal parts

Make a big class book

Have a picture of forest in background , photo of each child and then they add their thoughts around the edge of it

Make a comic strip version of their plays

Make up a forest song

Each have own scrap book which will last the length of the project in which they write/draw etc their thoughts/feelings/ideas – not directed by school but independently add to it.

Write notes about the history of the forest

Make a quiz type/question and answer book about the forest

Make a story folder about the forest

Paint and draw the amazing , interesting things in the forest

Make books about the animals

Write reviews about the forest

Make a forest scene ‘in a box’ and use that as background for animation work or a puppet show based on plays

Do a presentation about the work they go on to do in the forest and invite Jim back to see it

Tell forest stories to each other

Make models of the burial chambers and what they might be like inside

Collect rocks and sticks when in forest and make something with them

Make a model of the forest in the future

What would blacksmithing have been like in those days?

Make houses for the animals

Make a model of forest in the past

Do forestry art, collect things and make pictures with them

Draw your favourite place when we have been to the forest

Have a Milbuie forest day

Make models in clay

Make a den

And breath out!!

These are pretty  well verbatim from the children with one or two tweeks as I wrote them in my notebook so that I would understand when I had to translate for others!

Just a few things to keep us busy!!

So I hope you recognise just how inspired and stimulated the children are  about this project - thank you.