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REPORT ABOUT THE FIRST PERIOD (2006)
Art centre Saksala
ArtRadius applied in 2005 for a grant from Arts Council Finland to
start in 2006 a special experimental project by foreign and national artists
and children from the local primary school to work together to build up
their own inventive constructions in the forests of the art centre.
The project will start at the end of the winter of 2006 and go on through the year.
Artists from different countries and cultures will participate
Visions of artists and special foreign artists will stimulate to look after other solutions and
new way to build. Different cultures will be combined and open doors to new
ideas. It will be an example of mixed cultures as a common world. Art council Finland
has given a support for this project. With this budget it was
possible to start the project in winter 2006 and by the support of others it
was possible to continue in summer 2006. With the support of the EU project
ART ENLARGES THE AREA it is also possible to continue the project in 2007
with different artists.
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A permanent
construction workshop is located in the forest. Here children are getting the
opportunity to create their own forms of living.
With boards, branches and
other material present at the site, they can create all sorts of buildings
which need not to be taken down. Hammering, sawing, knotting and other
techniques will invite to find solutions for the building planned.
Tree-huts, connecting bridges, climbing-spots, hidings and any thinkable and
unthinkable construction will spring up.
In the course of the years the big
children’s building wood will grow into a collection of diverse childish
inventions in which they can play to their hearts content, change it and
live in it.
Every creation in the big children’s building wood is open to
everybody. Some constructions will keep; others will show their shortcomings
after a winter or storm. In a new season reconstruction thereof may take
place. In this way children will get unparalleled experiences which are
often impossible in the present urban environment.
Experienced guidance is
present, but the children themselves must plan and execute their ideas. They
get the chance to test their solutions to really being able to realize what
they want to do. Where necessary they will learn to work as a team to get a
better result.
The children's forest is an ongoing project and it will be never the same.
In the beginning many places are available. In the coming years we hope this
page will be full of many constructions of many different children.
In 2006 children of the local primary school will build the first buildings
and constructions. They are working together with the artist from the
artist-in-residence program 2005-2006. These artists are coming from
different parts of the world and bring their own vision on building, living,
playing and creating with them. It will make the children's forest into a
real international building place.
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The idea for the
children's forest has started a long time ago.
In the urban areas of the Western world there are fewer places for children
to play and to discover the world outside the private home and school. There
is no space, because everywhere are houses, roads, offices, shopping malls
and the rest is arranged for free time.
To grow up it is necessary to have all kind of experiences and for young
children playing is the way they discover the world, themselves and their
relation to it.
With the visual language of different artists children will get a more
interesting and expressive environment.
In Saksala we are creating places where children can play on their own way.
Not playing as a game, or like adults wants to do, but in a free way. In the
forest are coming places where children can build, sit, rest, fight, play
the games they can do. The world is real and the trees cannot click away
like in the computer.
The children's forest will be from all the children who have, are or are
going to build in it.
children and their vision
To start the project it is important to work in different ways with the
children.
First we start with introduction lessons in the 6th class of the
local primary school.
Artists from Cameroon, Thailand, USA, Australia and the Netherlands have
participated in that part
The first assignment for the children from the ALE-ASTE KOULU (primary school) in Haukivuori was
to visualize their ideas on a piece of paper without further information.
Most of the children were not able to draw anything else than the clichés of
trees, or were drawing complete other elements.
The second introduction
was related to the idea to think about the way how to build structures in
the trees around Saksala.
To show the area and the size of the trees they saw pictures of different
arrangements.
In combination with pictures from Cameroon artists it was possible for them
to find new and interesting combinations.
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In the third lesson
the central theme was to visualize how the buildings are in the tree.
What is in front, what behind the trunk or branch?
What is inside and what is outside?
How can you show what is open and what is closed? How can you create a
stable construction under the floor? Different pictures from the book:
TREEHOUSES make clear what are solutions and even the trees did not to be
drawn, it was not so easy to realize, but the results more insight in this
problem. It is for children of 12 years old a challenge to discover this
area step by step.
It was a pity we could not continue the lessons in May 2006 with the
realization of the children’s forest with this group from the primary
school, but as a part of the program there was in summer the opportunity for
children on holiday to work in the children’s forest. They start to build
the first elements in the first part of the children’s forest
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With different
special days ‘lapset metsä’ children were invited to take part in the
realization.
At the end of the summer the first houses were available and hidden under
the trees.
The planning is to start on several other places more of these
constructions. Young children more in front of the art centre, to have an
eye on them and older children can be more far away.
Children start to play and work in the realized construction and in winter
time they have ‘renovated’ the realized part.
This it is how it has to go, ongoing changing and with new ideas find new
solutions.
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In winter 2007
the 7th classes (the same groups as in 2006) of ylä-aste have got
lessons to build with clay different forms of buildings. They have to work
with items like cutting out forms from a cube of clay
Taking care of the decoration of the walls and also modeling the interior of
the buildings.
Every group has got an own theme to develop different points of view on the
subject.
It was not possible to introduce different international artists during
summer to work with the children, but in 2007 the project will go on.
In May different artists are invited to work with the 7th classes
of the ylä-aste koulu. In July during the art education symposium NATURALLY
ART about using recycling materials in art lessons different national and
international artists will continue with this project.
Children from Haukivuori, but also from abroad have started an interested
project that can grow during the years.
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The start of the
CHILDREN’S FOREST is successful.
By combining this project with the art education project ARTISTS AND CHILD
ART it is possible to continue the process and to be sure of the cooperation
with different artists.
The Children’s Forest is now an interesting part of the many sided art
centre Saksala Art Radius.
Experiences in this project are also important for the art education centre
and the way how to teach art to children.
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ALLAPRIMA MUSEUM
EU-PROJECT
