Willow Weaving with Charter Primary School

Coinciding with Earth Day 2023 artist Laura Ellen Bacon, has been working with 30 children from Charter Primary School in Coventry to create a sculptural willow habitat for wildlife in the school grounds that will change with the seasons and allow students to observe them long after the project concludes. 

The school will encourage students to use the habitat to inspire their creative thinking. They will be taking photographs, painting pictures and writing stories and poems about the creatures that may be living on and in the sculpture. 

Laura started her project by introducing the students to sketching with willow charcoal to begin their designs. Even those who declared they "can’t do art", soon became excited when they realised that this was not a test of drawing skill. 

They quickly moved on to get hands on with some simple (and more complicated) willow weaving techniques and soon became experts in how to construct large objects with natural materials. One Year 4 student commented that "the willow is so gentle and soft that it’ll make a cosy home for the birds".

All of the children are creating individual bird nests and one larger collaborative piece that will enhance the school grounds. They are using Laura Ellen Bacon’s sculpture Don’t Let Go from the University of Warwick Art Collection as inspiration. 

By the end of the first day, all of the students were proud off their creations with everyone desperate to take them home to show them to their families. Their imaginations had gone from seeing the willow as "just sticks" to understanding it as a malleable natural material that will be given back to the environment when their creations are placed outside for the wildlife to take over. One student mentioned that he’d seen baskets made from those ‘"just sticks" before and was amazed that he could now "make one with my own hands".

This Saturday (22 April 2023) is #EarthDay2023 and you can come and visit the University of Warwick campus for a free Sculpture Trail where you can see Laura Ellen Bacon’s sculpture Don’t Let Go in person.

Just pick up a Sculpture Trail Map from Warwick Arts Centre foyer or download a copy and we'll see you there!

The Wild Escape is made possible by lead support from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants, with additional support from Art Fund and is an opportunity for the next generation to join in the conversation about biodiversity. The project is inspired by Wild Isles, a new landmark BBC natural history series that will reveal a previously unseen wild side of the UK and invites primary school children to creatively respond to art and nature through wildlife found in galleries and museums and content shared on BBC Bitesize.