Art in Nature project working with 57(!) Year 6 students at LIPA Primary School to explore the question of how can we live well and thrive with our animal neighbours in urban environments.
Students worked with myself and University of Liverpool etymologist and ecologist Dr Rudi Vespoor to map out their local park St James Gardens and undertake fieldwork in this greenspace, investigating the range of wildlife living there and the different habitats in this site. We found all kinds of things- so many spiders! Ladybirds, slugs, caterpillars, beetles, butterflies, traces of bats and foxes and more!
The students then took inspiration from sculptures in the Tate collections and examples of animal-friendly architecture in cities (bird friendly swift bricks and bee bricks and hedgehog highways) in order to create their own sculptures. These sculptures were created as gifts for animals, insects and birds that we had found in the local greenspace and designed to support the different species living in the park to thrive, with students thinking about the needs of local wildlife and how humans and other animals can live together in harmony in urban spaces.
The sculptures were made entirely of natural materials and designed to melt into the environment without causing any harm, with each student then gifting their sculpture to an animal, insect or bird they had found in the park.
Watch a little film about the project below.
Teachers and educators!
If you’d like to try this in your classroom, here’s a template for making new animal friends in your neighbourhood – A fieldwork booklet & a teachers guide.
Project Team
- LIPA Primary School Year 6 students
- Rebecca Oakes (Year 6 teacher & project coordinator- LIPA Primary)
- Project Scientist: Dr Rudi Vespoor, University of Liverpool
- Tate Liverpool Learning Team: Stef Bradley (Curator of Learning), Phil McClure (Assistant Curator of Learning), Anna Batterton (Project Assistant) and N’Kias Coker (Project Assistant)
- Filmmaker: Tim Brunsden
- With additional filming by Eva Ragoo