On Saturday and Sunday 30th and 31st May, I ran a workshop at the Western Heights Preservation Society open weekend at the Drop Redoubt. It was an opportunity to test a print idea, that might be followed up with a larger scale event. The workshop was aimed at children below the age of 12.

The idea was to get participants to make a drawing inspired by;
the material we had collected, the events of the day or the Western Heights itself.

Once a drawing was made, it had to be copied onto an A6 piece of Funny or Funky Foam, cut out, stuck down, then printed. This is quite a lot to ask, but every participant managed it really well and did a fantastic job.

For instance, this participant used an image about soldiers camping and drew a Bell tent; she said she was drawn to the image as her family had the same tent. The initial drawing was really quick, but she was so pleased with the print she made several copies and also made it into a folded card.

This was by our first participant. Once he made the print, he looked so delighted! It was absolutely wonderful to observe!

here are some more examples

 

The Saturday was hot and the whole event was busy, the Sunday was cold, wet and windy, but there was still a significant amount of people at the event. There was about 70–80 participants for the workshop on the Saturday and about 30 on the Sunday.

 

On the Saturday, we were outside and that worked really well; we were very visible and it helped create a steady flow of visitors. On the Sunday, we were in the Casemates, really close to the action and that worked well too; everyone that came was aware that we were there.

Here is some of the work made on the Sunday.