Making Connections:
Connecting with the public, engaging children in crafts, and providing opportunities for families to try out innovative embroidery by coding
WRDTP doctoral researcher Charlotte Clarke reflects on the Festival of Social Sciences families event ‘Making Connections’ which took place at the Weston Park Museum on Tuesday 24 October 2023.
This October half term, like many years past, we were greeted with dull foggy clouds and persistent rain. Like many families, I too wanted to escape the early winter blues and head inside somewhere cosy and find something enriching to get stuck into …
This is exactly what I found upon entering Western Park Museum that Tuesday. In a stark contrast from the plain uneventful skies, we’d landed with, inside was an explosion of colour, creativity, and connection!
I was very fortunate to have been asked by my supervisor, Dr. Jessica Bradley, to help facilitate the interactive makerspace, co-designed with Dr. Alison Buxton. Alison, the Maker{Futures} team and Jessica, building on research into creative practice with communities carried out by Jessica withThe Art House (Wakefield), hosted a full day of creative activities for children and families to build, craft and make. The team, which includes School of Education students, were joined by artists Ranya Abdulateef and Toni Buckby, who led sessions teaching children how to use coding to design embroidery patterns, create masks with LED lights and personalised bracelets based on binary code.
The children and their families happily and excitedly wandered around the space engaging with the crafts, each other, and local artists. The sessions were well received by children and grown-ups of all ages. Making this half term full of colour and creativity …
‘Plenty to do for my 3 year old, she was happy and I was too!’
Underpinning all of the activities was a sense of connection, providing a space for the families to think about connections in their lives be that with each other, their artwork and the society at large.
The session encouraged both myself as a facilitator and the families I was engaging with to think about our connections and raise questions, What connects you to one another? How does your creation connect to your identity? How are we all connected?
A ‘Gallery of Connection’ was co-created so people could share their creations and make links between their artwork, themselves and families who were also in the space:
creating, crafting and connecting…
The day was fabulously received by the families, and I feel very fortunate to have been involved and help make the October half term full of colour and connection.
Visit the Maker{Futures} website more information. You can read more about Jessica’s ongoing research in participatory arts. Charlotte’s research explores Autistic girls’ experiences of mainstream school and teachers’ understanding of Autism. She uses creative methodologies to encourage those she works with to depict their experiences through art.
