close knit update

During the last few months I've located two of my Mum's brothers graves, traveling to Slough and Gloucester to photograph, measure and make rubbings of the gravestones. This information enables me to create knitting patterns that replicate the surface dimensions of the stones. I've almost finished George's acid yellow cosy, a nod to the graveside flowers on the day of my visit.

It saddens me that my Mum is now a part of this project. In 2009 I knitted a pink cosy for the grave Mum now rests in, she joined her mother and two of her sisters. The stone was straightened and cleaned before the burial of Mum's ashes in October, so I've retaken the measurements and selected a royal blue acrylic wool for her cosy, a colour that really suited her.  

To complete Close Knit the graves of my Granddad Frederick Furmage, and his first son, also Frederick Furmage remain to be found. My Granddad was buried in a communal grave and I'm hoping to discover its location. My Uncle Fred is proving to be a challenge to trace, but I understand he is buried in East Finchley. The project continues...

 George

 Doreen

Henry

creative learning network

Haven't done much education work recently, partly the fall out from a difficult year and a need to hunker down/retain energy BUT yesterday I worked with a fantastic and receptive group at the Hepworth Wakefield.

The Hepworth Wakefield and Theatre Royal Wakefield jointly offer practical sessions for teachers, teaching assistants, NQTs, artists and art organisations through the Creative Learning Network exploring creative approaches to teaching across the curriculum as well as generating new ideas that can be applied back in the classroom.

We explore drawing and communication inspired by Barbara Hepworth's The Gift in galleries 4 & 5 and Alina Szapocznikow: Human Landscapes. We had the galleries to ourselves and the atmosphere was still, shadowed, spiritual somehow... The art considered belonging, place, landscape, relationships, human experience, the body, fragility, illness and loss. The group considered, reflected upon and were moved by these issues. 

Today I received this response, gathered from the feedback forms completed at the close of our session: colourful, engaging, thoughtful  reflective, inspiring, creative, rewarding, fun, happy, relaxing, interesting, enthralling, clever, sad. The feedback also evidenced the participants felt they had the confidence to take the ideas and explore them in their own learning environments. I'm so pleased!