Bronze Arts Award

I have decided to take part in the Bronze Arts Award. To achieve this qualification, you have to :

•  take part in an arts activity, anything from dance to creative writing to beat boxing
• go to an arts event of your choice 
• find your arts hero or heroine, research their story, and discover how they got to where they are today
• share your skills by helping to run a workshop or by giving a demonstration to others

Below you will find a record of my work and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed doing it.
 Any feedback is greatly appreciated :-)

PART A : EXPLORING THE ARTS

I have always been interested in wood working. Last summer we went to a festival where there were many wood working activities. I took a knife safety course and my dad and I watched a man doing spoon carving. We were really interested, so a few months later my dad went to a workshop (http://barnthespoon.blogspot.co.uk/p/london-workshops.html).

For my Arts Award, I wanted to try to learn the folk art of spoon carving, so my dad has been teaching me. Because this was my first attempt at carving a wooden spoon, I decided to do a simple design.

We started by chopping a log into four and dad showed me how to use my knife properly. First he used an axe to roughly shape the wood, then I took a piece and began to cut off pieces so it would be thick at one end (for the head of the spoon) and thinner at the other end (for the handle).

Then I concentrated on the handle of the spoon to make it thinner, so it would be the right size. It was quite awkward by then as it was thin at one end with a big lump of wood at the other. Then I worked on the spoon head to make it rounder. When the head of the spoon was the right size, I started carving the bowl using a special spoon knife.

When it was the right shape, my dad showed me how to use sandpaper to smooth it down so that there were no splinters or rough spots.

I really enjoyed carving a spoon and my woodworking and knife skills have greatly improved, but the downside was that my inexperience caused me a few splinters and very sore hands!!!

I will definitely carve more spoons, but would like to try different designs. 

 

My next project????

PART B : BEING AN AUDIENCE

I went to a Comedy Show at the Soho Theatre.  http://www.sohotheatre.com/

It was a family show for children aged 8 and above and there was no swearing.

I chose to go see a comedy show  because I listen to lots of comedians on the radio and I wanted to see one live.

                                                                                                                                                                  

The show had several acts, Sarah an Australian comedian, two teenagers, Harry and Frankie, who were part of a comedy workshop on site and the main act by Marcel Lucont.

There was a presenter called Luke who introduced the different acts and warmed up the crowd before and between acts.

I liked everything about the whole show. Each comedian, even the younger ones, was funny, each in their own way. Their styles were different, some of them included public participation and they even made fun of the crowd or teased a particular person.

My favourite comedian was Marcel Lucont. He arrived on stage, barefoot, wearing a blue suit and holding a glass of wine. He started off by staring at the crowd and speaking French which made several people laugh nervously. I found it very funny as I am bilingual and speak French so I could understand everything he said.

I really liked his sense of humour and the way he patronizes everyone mercilessly and yet the public still laughs.

There is absolutely nothing that I didn't enjoy. It was a truly spectacular show. I would definitively recommend the show to everyone because it was such an enjoyable experience.

I realised it is very different to see a comedian live on stage rather than listening to a show on the radio. As soon as you see the comedians come on stage, you know you're going to enjoy it and have a good time. 

I would love to go back and discover new comedians and their acts.

In the meantime, I would recommend visiting Marcel Lucont's website 

http://www.marcellucont.com/  

as well as buying his book (which I did and I am currently enjoying!!)

PART C : ARTS HEROES AND HEROINES

I chose to write about Victoria Holmes, who is one of my favourite writers.

 I searched the internet and looked at many sites about her. I also sent her a message through her Facebook page, but unfortunately I didn't get any response.

Victoria Holmes was born on July 17th 1975 in England, Berkshire.

She grew up on a farm and is an animal lover. She grew up reading obsessively and has always enjoyed writing stories from a young age.

She studied English at Oxford University. After university, she worked with horses for a year and then became an English teacher. She didn't enjoy it and found a job as an editor. She is now a children's book editor in London.

She doesn't really know why she chose to write children's fiction. She always loved writing stories, but never thought about writing for children. She discovered children's fiction in her first job as an editor for a school-based book club. She read a wide range of contemporary children's books and enjoyed it very much. She moved into children's publishing for her next job and now works as an editor for Working Partners.

Victoria wrote several books, but is also part of a team of writers known as Erin Hunter, "The Warrior Cats" writers. They came up with the single name Erin Hunter (fictional author's name) to avoid confusing their readers. 

http://www.warriorcats.com/warriorshell.html

Erin Hunter is made of four writers : Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry and Tui Sutherland.

Victoria comes up with the story ideas and make sure the books stay consistent. Kate, Cherith and Tui take turns to write the books.

Victoria is a plotter. She imagines each scene vividly and can't bear to leave out details while writing the storyline. She writes down to the tone of conversation and the lighting of the scene!

The main series they are writing is called "Warrior Cats", but they also wrote a few others. There are several series of the Warrior Cats following each other.

What I like about the books is the lifestyle of the characters and the story line. I like the way you can see the world through an animal's eyes and their point of view. I also like the way each character (animal) has its own personality and preferences.

I found it unusual for so many writers to work together, but it's also the best part of the series. I believe it brings out the best as four people put their ideas into the story. 

I have really enjoyed reading their books and Victoria Holmes has inspired me to write stories of my own.

I am following her advice for aspiring writers: read, read and read more! It's important to read as many different types of books as possible as each genre will teach you something new: fantasy books will teach you about making up your own world, crime-solving stories will teach you about making up a plot, stories with lots of characters will teach you how to describe relationships.... Victoria says that you must write as much as you can: stories, poems, writing competitions.... and don't forget that the best inspiration comes from what's around you!

PART D : ARTS APPRENTICESHIP

For my arts apprenticeship, I wanted to share a skill with young children so I thought playing with clay would be enjoyable, but I still wanted them to learn something while having fun. I decided to show them how to make a clay pot as it is a simple technique to teach to young children. I did it with my 7 year old brother and my 3 & 4 year old friends.

This method of making clay pots is one of the oldest methods used to make clay pots. It dates back to prehistoric times!

I planned to let them play a bit with play dough to get them familiar with it before telling them that we could try something new.

On the day, we made the play dough together and I let them practice with it. Then, when I thought they were ready, we moved on to clay. 

I gave each of them a lump of clay and then we rolled it into sausages. At his point, the little 3y old decided it was much more fun playing with the play dough!!!

The 4y old enjoyed following the instructions, but he was having problems rolling clay. His sausage was too thin in some places and too thick in others, so I showed him how to roll the clay so the sausage was the same thickness by moving his hand along it while rolling it.

Once the sausage was the right length, we coiled it up to make a pot shape. Then we smoothed the inside and the outside. Once it was all smooth, I gave them some tools to make patterns on it.

We then had to let it dry for a few days.

The session went well. Although the little one dropped out, I am pleased that the two boys enjoyed the activity and managed to make a pot. I did think it might be difficult for the little ones to follow the instructions, so I was not too disappointed when the little girl dropped out.

The boys enjoyed it very much and they were glad to learn something new that I taught. They were very proud of their pot.

I was glad to have taught them something and to see how happy they were with the result. Now I feel confident enough to teach more kids at once and I would like to introduce a wider age range.

 Doing my Arts Award was great fun. I am much more confident about trying new things and I now feel ready to take on the Silver Arts Award :-)

                                     Elisa