Family Artist in Residence: Natalie Zervou Kerruish

Every Sunday from now until the 10 December you can drop in to one of our family sessions from 1.30-4.00pm, for free creative fun in our foyer. Below you can hear a little bit more about Natalie and what to expect in her sessions.

What do you enjoy about working with Families and Early Years?

I’ve worked a lot with early years children over the years. I really believe young children are unique in that they use their bodies and actions, non-verbally to make sense of their world which is so fascinating to observe.

I really enjoy working with developmental schemas in Early Years. Schemas and schematic play look at how children choose to interact with the world, what patterns do they engage in and how that can be built upon to understand other ideas? It provides opportunities for a whole array of interaction that includes different interests.

When working with younger children there are different things to consider that differ when working with older children and adults.

Things like: how might a crawling child manoeuvre their way around the space? What would they see at their eye level? Are the materials suitable for both babies, older toddlers, and parents?

Outcomes are always unexpected when working with this age group, which naturally means focus is more on the process than the outcome of the workshop.

What can people expect from your Family Sunday workshops?

People can expect to be active in the space. I will be using a wide range of materials that invite touch, play, movement and manipulation. Families will be using their senses to make work both individually and collaboratively.

We will be playing with scale, so making some things much bigger than they are, or much smaller. We will be collaging, using a range of materials, some will feel soft and smooth, others may feel a little rougher or crinkly. And we will also be thinking about parts of a sculpture exhibition which are sometimes overlooked.

Inspired by Veronica Ryan’s ‘Breadfruit’ sculpture, we will be designing plinths and platforms for one of our main activities, which we will use to display real fruit.

I hope that participants take away a moment of meditation between themselves and the materials; to be absorbed in the experience of making, to have moments of inwardness as well as points of collaboration and connection.

What interests you about Phantom Sculpture?

I’m really interested in the conversation between these historical pieces of sculpture and pieces by artists working today, which is really present when you are walking around the space.

What ideas and approaches, remain? What is different? The word Phantom conjures up so many images and there’s this feeling of rebirth within the space which I am particularly drawn to.

I really enjoyed seeing the weaving together of historical craft and the body in Jonathan Baldock’s ‘Warm Inside.’

Thinking about the people, the hands, the eyes that wove fabrics of the past, how the person who makes and what they make are entwined.

Find out more about Family Sundays.