Every Wednesday a group Year 3 pupils met with adults from Glebelands, extra care scheme. to explore ways in which different generations can come together to make, imagine and celebrate.

The group worked together over six months, combining painting, textiles, printing, shadow puppetry and photography, to create dragons, kites and puppets to showcase at Meet the Street Festival 2019. 

“Our puppets, kites and dragons have been both a means for exploring who we are as a group and finding out what we can make together that is unique to us. The wild and wonderful characters are a reflection of the eclectic mix of fun, exploration, and sharing that has made up our sessions.”

Polly Beestone, Lead Artist

Kites, Dragons & Puppets

The kites were the first artworks to be made and enabled the group to discover what it was like to work together and to test out some of the processes that we would use to create the puppets. Using photography and collage, unique kite characters were created to be flown at the festival day.

The puppets were made using layering techniques with portraits of the group, photos of objects that were special to them, Japanese marbling and embroidery. The end result was a surprising and funny mix of characters!

The dragons were used to document the group’s journey together, reflecting each week on their experiences. Each dragon scale was filled with a description of what they had done, how they felt, who they met or what they had learnt.

Photo credits Chuck Blue Lowry and Samia Meah