What's happening at the MCR...

Tony outlines what he and Sinead have been doing with the group at the MCR...

"At MCR, we discussed sculpture and the different materials used in 
outdoor sculptures.
We questioned whether paper itself could be used as a material, which 
led us to explore the concepts of 2D and 3D.

The group tried different ways of folding and scrunching the paper to 
make 3D shapes. Initially there was doubt about using paper which 
started a debate about it's strength and size, comments were made 
about not being able to do anything with it. However once they got 
started, a huge variety of work was produced.

We made simple structures and experimented with balance, weight and 
strength.

We spent a lot of time working on improving the strength of the 
pieces, and how to support the paper. The group worked individually at 
first, but then shared their opinions and expertise, aiding each other 
with construction and started to collaborate on design.

Once we added additional tools (tape, scissors, markers, pencils), 
they moved very quickly onto intricate and imaginative pieces.
They made landscapes, towns, buildings, roller coasters, airplanes, 
helicopters, ashtray (complete with cigarette butt), cigarette (with 
smoke coming from the tip), houses, bridges, decorative pieces, flags, 
light sabers.

Then we decided to make objects that we could use in a game, and 
goalposts and a football, we played team games of football and 
dodgeball.

We then introduced wood - simple uniform pieces cut in 1ft lengths. We 
began by playing Jenga and then the kids took turns to build structures.

We animated some of the wooden structures, using interval frame 
recording. We also played around with simple time lapse sequences 
while drawing.

The group came up with different suggestions of what to do in the 
sequences, and we tried out various frame rates until they found what 
speed they liked best.

Next week, we will concentrate on designing and building the sculpture 
from wood and paper. When we visit the park, we will consider the 
conditions that could affect where to place the piece. We will also 
begin editing the sequences."