SHEEPFOLDS AND MIXED TEXTILE MEDIA

Another secondary school which took part in the Sheepfolds Education Programme was Cartmel Priory CE School in South Lakes. They selected textile artist Nell Dale to work with a group of fifteen Year 9 and Year 10 students. It was felt by the Art teacher, 'that the mix of pupils from different years and groups was valuable, especially with a project that demanded a certain amount of team work and whole-group decision making.'

The work provided quite a different starting point from anything that the students had encountered before and the workshops were supported by their critical studies into Andy Goldsworthy's Sheepfold project and preparatory drawings. However, after their initial visit to the Fellfoot folds at Casterton, the pupils' observations and comments about the special qualities of the folds - 'cosy', 'safe', 'enclosed', 'small', 'solid' - led the artist and teacher to reconsider the nature of the textile piece that they had planned. It was felt more appropriate to create more intimate, individual, three-dimensional folds rather than the large collaborative work originally envisaged.

Nell Dale, therefore, provided the opportunity for the students to develop new textile skills in a variety of materials using a mixed media approach. These techniques included felt-making for the grass base of each fold and batik and discharge dyeing for the walls and boulders, which were also quilted and appliqued.

The result was a series of delicately crafted textile sculptures exploring a subtle range of colours and reminiscent of the American artist Claes Oldenburg"s soft sculptures.

Artist Nell Dale
Contact teacher Kate Reid, Head of Art. Tel: 015395 36202

Photographs: Students with Nell Dale at Casterton; Nell Dale in Cartmel workshop; students' 'soft folds'.