Is it a bird or a plate?

John Graham Primary was abuzz on Saturday as fifty three teachers became learners at the a visual arts workshop to create a wetland food chain from two paper plates, old magazines and string.
The workshop was presented by the Frank Joubert Arts Centre iBhabhathane project, and sponsored by the Princess Vlei Forum as part of the Flight of Dreams Project, 2016. The Flight of Dreams aims to raise awareness about the birds and other wildlife at Princess Vlei.
The facilitators demonstrated how, with the help of wax crayons, a paper plate can be used to teach important elements of visual art including colour, form, line, pattern, texture and shape. The paper plates are then transformed into a mobile including a bird, fish and insect. This lessons covers both the Arts and Culture (visual arts) and the Life Sciences curricula for Intermediate Phase Learners.
Teachers attending the workshop were invited to participate in the Flight of Dreams 2016 project, which includes a parade and performance on 24 September at Princess Vlei, and an exhibition at the Grassy park Library. Children can bring mobiles created in class to feature in the parade, and/or display them at the exhibition.
In addition to the step-by-step demonstration, teachers were given a teacher’s package consisting of a workbook with all activities covered in the workshop (and more) as well as full lesson plans. At the end of the workshop there was a lucky draw in which nine teachers received prizes, including art books for the classroom and tickets to our fundraiser Remembering the Lux. The fundraiser is intended to raise funds to cover this workshop and other elements of the Flight of Dreams project.
The Forum would like to thank the fantastic team of facilitators from Frank Joubert - Liesl Hartman, Fabian Hartzenberg and Bev Bradnick. thanks also to Ms Beverley Johnson for allowing us to use the beautiful art room and science room at John Graham Primary School.

• Read more about The flight of Dreams Project here.