Grubs, Bugs and Slugs!

This week I teamed up with the Birmingham Park Rangers to deliver a clay art workshop about local nature.  Holders Lane Woods in Kings Heath was our location of choice and the aim was to explore the woods, pond and see what insects we could find.  By 10am there was an eager queue of parents and children ready to look for bugs, grubs and slugs and to have a go at making them out of clay!

Above photos taken in Holders Lane Woods - a mixture of trees, wild flowers and rich habitats for all living things.

Holders Lane Woods is a mix of semi-ancient and new forest.  There are a variety of trees and plants in the wood that offer a stunning habitat to a variety of animals, birds and insects.  Fallen trees are secure homes for insects which can be viewed by turning over a log or two as demonstrated in the photos below! We found slugs, woodlice, miniature snails, spiders, millipedes and lots of tiny bugs all living together in the rotting wood.

Workshop participants and myself exploring upturned logs.

Jan the Park Ranger provided us with clear containers which we used to collect as many bugs as we could find.  A magnifying glass in the top of the container meant we could see the details and textures of each bug close up. This was important as the children needed to observe such details for making their clay bug later on.

Top left: We found woodlice!  Top right: a beautiful snail.
Bottom photo: the containers we used to collect bugs, grubs and slugs.

We spent the first part of the morning collecting interesting things to use as inspiration including small creatures, but also leaves, berries and fir cones.  I am experimenting with porcelain and white clay when making my own pieces of artwork.  The children used a high quality air drying clay to make their art pieces.  This clay is very easy to use and dries naturally over a few days, changing from a light grey colour to a bright white.  The pieces can either be left white or painted and varnished.  I prefer the white finish as I think you can see details more clearly.

Left: Workshop participants waiting for me to cut and make safe copper wire lengths to use as legs.  Most bugs we made required at least 6 legs each.  I'm glad that the legs of the millipede were made from thin twigs!
Right top and bottom: our first attempts at making creatures in clay - I love the clay leaf.

As well as making our bugs, grubs and slugs in clay, we added copper wire for the legs and antenna!  The combination of white clay and copper worked very well together and allowed us to retain some of the delicate features of the creatures.

Children and parents get involved in the making process.

It was great that the parents were also very enthusiastic about the local nature and interesting to hear that although locals themselves, they didn't necessarily know the woods were as extensive as they were. The workshop certainly gave people an insight into what is on their doorstep and ideas for future activities.

Creatures sit in their own habitats! Check out the oak leaf wings on the bug on the left!

I was very impressed that some of the children also make a habitat for their bugs, consisting of leaves, twigs and bracken.  The children also used some of this natural ephemera to add details such as leaves for wings, seeds for eyes and spindly twigs for legs.

A selection of our finishes pieces - Top left: A Woodlouse. Top right: A Wolf Spider of course!
Bottom left: an Earthworm. Bottom right: a Millipede.

The clay was pretty quick to dry and by the time we had finished the session, the pieces were already starting to become more robust.  I love the detail on the bugs above, particularly the segments on the earth worms body which was very accurately observed.  I also thought it was fantastic that one of the children was very innovative selecting thin twigs for the legs of the millipede!  The beauty of using clay is that is is very malleable and you can mould  a good representation of the individual creatures but can add other materials too.  The twigs and copper legs were embedded within the clay bodies, becoming secure with the drying process.  One of the reasons I am experimenting with clay through my Feeney Fellowship, is that it allows me to achieve specific sculptural forms that are difficult to achieve in printed metal for various technical reasons.  I'm really exited about the possibilities clay offers!

Left: Jan from Birmingham Park Rangers talks to us about habitats and their importance. Right: Jan and I at the end of a successful workshop.

Jan also gave an excellent talk on how to build a simple bug hotel in our own gardens and the reason the food chain is important in nature.

A British Ladybird basking in the afternoon sun!

At the end of our session all creatures that we had collected in the containers were set free in an appropriate place for each. I love this ladybird above basking in the sunshine! And it was based on the British ladybird too which we observed whilst exploring the woods.