NATURAL HABITATS

The shared theme of the day was "natural habitats" , a suitable occasion to once again work with preliminary natural materials-  whose use are a distinct  & returning feature of my general arts practice . I feel that, especially in the hospital environment  which is throughout technical , found objects like twigs and conquers, autumn leaves and  acorn hats offer a wealth of sensorial experiences , which the children would usually have no access to. Even more so as this is an urban hospital in the middle of the city.

 The children responded positively to theme and the choice of natural materials, -(collage paper and fabrics in browns, yellows, greys; tape and glue were available as well), the lids of shoeboxes served as trays to collect, arrange and  assort the chosen pieces. Each child created first a space- a nest, cave or other shelter, then a puppet to inhabit this space. Making was accompanied by chats about the autumn season and the animals in autumn, hibernation and bird migration.

PERFORMING / RECORDING

Due to the delicate nature of the puppets, the performances were no animated puppet shows but individual storytelling sessions, each child set up their "stage", took seat next to it and told a story about their animal/ creature. A teacher operated the "stage lighting", the other children were both, audience and- in one occasion- Foley artists, imitating birdsong and wind blowing and- their favourite- creating a scary soundscape for a pre-halloweeny story about Scream the masked man. One little boy also animated his his playscape, lifting up little sticks to make his squirell play drums on a  cushion of sheepwool before looking through it�s telescope (another tiny twig). "What�s he looking at?"- "At the moon..".

LIVE LINK UP

Linking up with the other hospitals was very successful, even though there were some sound difficulties with one of the schools-animals hopped on all screens and one of the boys was more then excited to hear that one of the hospitals was in his home town- which resulted in vociferous cheers. The shared theme offers potential for shared actions: spiders and bats greatly appealed to the boy who had made the Scream puppet (which, I learned, is the hero of a Halloween horror movie), and a red lion / hand puppet was admired for his numerous legs. One of the hospitals then performed a seascape puppet show, but visibility was not great and I can imagine this played it� s role in the children getting fidgety after a minute- also by the time the show started we had linked up for a while so maybe there�s a limited time span for this kind of virtual communication I wonder?

 There was a moment though when jellyfish and fish were swimming / flying about in the seascape set, and one of the boys watching stated: Jellyfish are the birds of the ocean, which I thought was so beautiful that we wrote it to the other school. I wonder if we could try a link up were two schools in exchange present a short visual show and then write or even record short stories about the other school �s show, mixing them to one film later?

PROCESS / OUTCOMES

Some more thoughts following on last weeks wondering about the importance of a "something" to bring away after the workshop (the returning theme of process vs outcome...):

This time the making aspect of the session was definitely rather process -based, as the made sets and puppets were non-permanent- only one child balanced it� s shoebox over to the playroom after the workshop, and I wonder if set and puppet survived the way back to the ward at all...

Still there are the videos as a permanent outcome- and even though the creating, play and link-up communication with the others definitely have their own, absolutely complete value I feel that some kind of traceable outcome is, if not necessary , yet enriching as it extends the experienced beyond the time spend on the project, or the time spend in hospital.  Maybe not extends the experienced but offers "follow on experiences": A thank you card arrived in the Hospital  school by one of the children from a former session and her parents- They had received the DVD which,as the mother wrote, "L. is going to bring to school to show to her friends ". This got me thinking about the value of sharing the child �s experience not only with the family but also friends and others outside their "hospital story": The DVD  does not only manifest a creative achievement of the child  and documents the collaborative  effort made together with other children, beyond that it is a remaining sign of the Hospital not only as a place of medical support whilst being removed from the usual environment but as a place in which people,( regardless of /despite / because of / ??? their illnesses, pain, impairments) can share ideas, talents and experiences and experience themselves as part of a community ; play, dicover and create together.