Creative Paths Project – Education

St. Patricks & St Josephs Primary School, Garvagh
Project: Mosaic
Artist: Dawn Aston
Age Group: 8 -11
Participants: x 40, x 2 teachers
20 hours

The federated primary school is based on two sites, and lucky to be located in a rural site close to areas of natural beauty surrounded by a bog, mountains, forest and river. This project grew out of the school’s desire to link art with the local environment, as well as giving children the chance to develop their artistic skills by creating a piece of art that would be enjoyed for years to come by them, their siblings, relatives and school community.

The idea was for P5-P7 pupils to participate in a project in small class groups, creating a mosaic and painting inspired by their local environment Garvagh Forest, the Agivey River, the Glenullin Bog and hills. Their teachers were keen to access the skills of professional artist through Creative Paths to learn more about mosaic and support their pupils to create a permanent work of art. They were paired with artist Dawn Aston who specialises in mosaic, painting, and environmental art.

“At our initial meeting we discussed using the environmental theme, I was very impressed with Dawn’s professionalism. She listened to my ideas and carefully explored the area around the school in search of further inspiration. Dawn combined my ideas and her own, as well as the children’s thoughts about combining a mural and mosaic for the wall at the entrance of the site”.
Claire Kelly, Teacher

“When Dawn began working with our P7 class, their enthusiasm was immense. They thrived on doing art that required them to develop new skills and work with unusual materials. The glass tiles were exceptional and Dawn also brought along some with patterns that the children used for eyes and other details. The mosaic project grew from strength to strength, as children developed their own individual mosaic designs.”
Mrs McGill, Teacher

As the project progressed and evolved the main focus fell on the completion of the mosaics which combined each child’s individual piece; a bird, leaf, flower, bug, ladybird, hedgehog and butterfly. The overall effect was fantastic! Clearly taking their inspiration from local wildlife each child revealed a great eye for detail, good use of colour and design which together produced a mosaic that all passers by could enjoy and admire!

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