Post by Jake Rayson
It was a very chill morning session with not too much to do. Marian showed the students how to create the end covers out of card and patch of cyanotype, then measure up some ribbon and glue it all together.
After the students had finished all their cutting and their gluing and their assembling, we were going to go out for a final cyanotype session, but the summer rain had different ideas.
Mandy Barker’s cyanotypes of plastic pollution in the oceans
We watch a fantastic short film about artist Mandy Barker and her work with cyanotypes to highlight the environmental damage inflicted by fast fashion, and the link with pioneering scientist and photographer Anna Atkins.
A cyanotype photogram made by Atkins which was part of her 1843 book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions
Visualising Britain’s fast fashion waste problem with cyanotype photography
Short film by New Scientist about artist Mandy Barker‘s project.
At the end of the session, the students wrote some feedback about Stori Wyllt. All the Year 6 students are going to either Ysgol Penweddig or Ysgol Penglais in Aberystwyth next year, and we spoke about how it would be nice to continue Stori Wyllt somehow at these schools.
Also, I discussed the ideas around “forest school by the sea” and one of the students called it Stori Môr, which is a brilliant name!
I really hope we can keep the momentum going and extend the project to secondary schools, because Stori Wyllt at Ysgol Llanilar has been an absolute joy.
Reflections
- Prepare a nice “end of project report” form to fill in for the students in advance.
- And a present would have been nice, to mark the end of the project. A badge?
