Shape Art Squares

On 15th May 2009 I ran a workshop to explore squares with the children at Baan Piranan. Somsak had returned home to be cared for by his father and another boy Dodo had just arrived at Baan Piranan. Dodo was very sleepy after his journey and too tired to participate in the workshop so we just ran it for Nong Mai and Nong Wichai on this occasion.

We started by looking at different square objects with the children. We showed them a mirror and explained that mirrors were squares. Nong Mai seemed excited to see himself in the mirror whilst Nong Wichai was very amused by holding the mirror close to his face and looking at us and the reflection of the room.

Next we showed the boys some small different sized boxes each filled with different things (rice, marbles, bells, seeds, peanuts). We shook the boxes so the boys could hear the different sounds they made and then showed them how they could build the boxes into towers. Nong Wichai took great glee in building up a tower and then knocking it down.

Each boy was given a white box to paint in what ever way they liked. Nong Wichai soon covered his using different coloured paints applied with paint brushes, rollers and also took to printing squares using the little square boxes. Nong Mai really enjoyed banging the large box with his paint bush like a drum.

We finished the workshop with flavoured ice cubes!

Wild Flower Bag Making

On 6 May 09 we ran a workshop at Wild Flower – a refuge for women with small children who have suffered abuse. The aim of the project was to make packaging for the sented candles which are made at Wild Flower so they can be sold in local markets.

We started the workshop with an Ice Breaker called “Miss Unique”. The group was split into 3 groups of 5 and each took turns to draw the head, shoulders, stomach, knees and feet of a person on paper concertina so each member of the group couldn’t see what the previous person had drawn. The “Miss Unique’s” were revealed to the rest of the group to much amusement.

Recently the women made Saa paper which is a traditional hand crafted paper made from the bark of Saa trees and decorated with flowers, leaves and brightly coloured paint. I designed a simple template for the women to draw around to make small bag’s from the paper.

The women then decorated the bags with beads, sequins and brightly coloured ribbons. There were some beautiful bags made and lots of creativity and fun in the process of making them.

M+ "Left in the darkness"

The M+ workshop on weds the 29th was my first workshop with CAP. The project was divided into two parts, and was meant to deal with issues surrounding discrimination in general, and the ways in which people get through such boundaries. The issues were generated by a discussion prior to the workshop, once ideas got flowing the participants were asked to narrow down their thoughts to a single word or phrase, answering the question, "what keeps those who discriminate in the dark?" so that it could be written down on a blindfold. Then photographed. Secondly those involved were asked to take a personal quote lyric from a song, mantra, etc. and put in on a shirt by any means, paint, marker, felt etc. but basically expressing how they personally manage to stay away from such negativity, and maintain hope for tomorrow.
The workshop went well, I feel that some proper professional organization on my part might have made the issues a little more easy to discuss, but overall i feel the participants were happy in the end.