Jo’s workshops encourage greater understanding of our relationship to the natural world and to our heritage by engaging pupils/students/ individuals in simple but creatively-dynamic activities that develop skills of enquiry, imagination and connected –thinking.
Image: Gallipoli 100 Education Project, Young Roots, Heritage Lottery Fund
Image: Gallipoli 100 Education, Young Roots, Heritage Lottery Fund
Workshop themes include:
- land-based education (including woodland based)*
- heritage projects
- silhouette work
- organic art projects
- live art performance
- off-grid digital and shadow projection
- earth pigment and charcoal paint making techniques
- natural paintbrush making
- myth and story-telling projects
- sustainable energy projects
- site-specific work
- Immersive theatre practice
- print and drawing techniques
- textile and pattern making
- banner project
- small-scale 3D sculpture work
- sketchbook making
- inspirational or confidence building workshops
*Most outdoor land-based workshops can be modified for in and outdoor school-based projects by bringing organic materials and technology inside the classroom or playground environment.
All workshops…
- encourage use of initiative and imagination
- are skill-based and hands-on
- engage young people through enquiry and practice
- have low environmental impact
- are designed to engage a wide range of abilities
- are based on extensive research and will therefore give pupils/students ‘food for thought’ on how the theme relates to other subjects such as local heritage, historical events, environmental history, history of art/ performance
- where appropriate will help pupils to consider their environmental and social responsibilities
- encourage team work
- encourage pupils/students to consider the role of an artist working across different disciplines and in collaboration with a wide range of experts
- embrace diversity
Image: Courage Copse Creatives in partnership with The Silvanus Trust funded by Heritage Lottery Fund
Image: Courage Copse Creatives in partnership with The Silvanus Trust funded by Heritage Lottery Fund
Educational settings
Jo has experience of working in a wide range of educational settings including Primary and Secondary Schools, Pupil Referral Units and home education groups. She is a registered artist with DAISI (Devon Arts In Schools Initiative). She often works with schools and education schemes whose pupils do not culturally have connection with the natural environment or easy access to opportunities within the arts. Often her schools work links with other local and national projects, such as, the Heritage Lottery funded project Gallipoli100 Education (also in partnership with North Devon Museum and DAISI)
https://gallipoli100education.org.uk/schoolprojects/barnstaple-and-ilfracombe-devon/film-project/
Courage Copse Creatives
Jo has strong links with Courage Copse Creatives, having worked on several of their long-term projects over the past few years; linking with school children who have little or no access to the natural world or art experiences. A good example of this is the 3C’s Heritage Project (Coppice, Charcoal and Creativity) run by Courage Copse Creatives in partnership with The Silvanus Trust and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund. This project introduced young people to heritage woodland crafts through hands-on participation. As stated on the Courage Copse Creatives website; the pupils were learning how to:
- Coppice the timber
- To make the Charcoal
- To be able to Create a work of art
Each of the 5 schools which participated visited Courage Copse Woodland three times over a period of six weeks; each time learning a new skill. Jo’s role was to run the ‘Create’ session for each school. During her sessions the young people learnt to make a charcoal paint which has its origins in paint-making techniques used in the first centuries AD!
http://www.local-devon-biochar-charcoal.co.uk/project/3cs-heritage-project/
https://power-culture.com/tag/jo-bushell/