Paper has endless creativity. We had had fun doing our paper craft projects together. 

“Prints of heritage” is a reflection of culture through young minds. Children chose the flowers and fruits from their countries or origin and turned them into mosaic. This was a paper mosaic project with 180 primary school children. Children learnt about mosaic and its variations and how mosaic art links with our culture and heritage. We discussed about using recycled material and talked about carbon footprint. We collected recycled shredded paper and used natural materials such as willow sticks to frame our art work to make our project eco friendly. The project was so popular with the children that they started their own little mosaic projects at home by collecting recycle materials.

This project was designed and delivered in a secondary school for 28 children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. In this creative project the children were given the opportunity to develop a set of arts-related experiences in cooperating range of senses. Children made paper mache masks using different materials. We know that visual stimuli, touch and smell are all powerful ways to reach children who face a complex set of communication challenges; hence I incorporated elements such as the use of colour and texture which can produce highly successful ways to learn and have fun, where other more conventional methods might fail.

An inclusive project delivered for 450 children from a Church of England primary school designed to reflect their values. Each year group had a theme of materials to decorate small crosses. These were then assembled by me on two 2’x 4’ crosses representing work from each key stages in the school. The experience and feedback of the children were recorded as we progressed in the project which was used to create a collage of the project journey and their learning. The project was so well received that they decided to start a project with foundation stage to make a 3’ x 5’ pebble mosaic cross.

An project with 60 key stage one children from primary school. The project was designed as a part of curriculum to learn an Indian art form and use the knowledge to create their own expression of that art. I choose Warli art as it is a beautiful folk art from Maharashtra, traditionally created by the tribal women. Warli paintings cover day-to-day activities of the village folks. I like this art form as it is a reflection of our community and surroundings. A beautiful art which is all about self expression and celebrations in life. We discussed about the art, its origin, the specific shapes, medium and what it signifies. The children then came up with their own expressions using the same shapes and medium s and created their own Warli art pieces.

These travel posters were made by key stage two children participating for a competition organised by Eltham Palace. I was given two days to prepare ten children to research about art décor and the travel life of Stephen and Virginia Courtauld who lived in Eltham Palace. The children had to reflect this research in their art work and create travel posters. Six of these posters made it to the Eltham Palace exhibition with twenty other posters selected from six participating schools in the area,Description

Children have an inner world of imagination and arts is the best tool to explore and express this imagination which contributes in understanding of the world around them.n

Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. ‘Old age’ is not a reason not to be an artist.

For some people this can be about continuing a lifelong interest in, or even career in the arts; for others older age may represent the first opportunity to develop creative pursuits. I am interested in exploring about the impact that involvement and participation in the arts can bring towards improving wellbeing, physical health and reducing social isolation.

Arts and crafts can have very positive effects on people with dementia. 

German studies show that two hours’ active mental stimulation six days a week slows cognitive decline.

As the creative part of the brain can remain undamaged for years, engaging in arts activity:

Gives life-enhancing new direction for people living at home with dementia, their family and carers.

Brings instant relief from stress and loneliness, elevating mood for as long as a week afterwards.

Maximises cognitive function.

Regains sense of self.

Re-energises through social interaction.

Aids communication with family and friends.

Find more at Arts 4 Dementia 

CPD attended: Early stage Dementia Awareness. 

Eltham Arts is a team of local people who believe that the arts are a great way of bringing the community together and can bring about a little pride through what the area can achieve. Pragya Kumar is an Eltham Arts Trustee and works with the team to deliver creative programs for the community.

This year they are working together to deliver a multimedia arts community project "Wall".

Find out more at www.elthamarts.org 

Bricks on the wall is a part of the Wall project where I am exploring the subject through visual arts. The project goes live in Feb 2018 where schools, community groups/organisations and individuals from SE9 area will participate in a series of brick making workshops.

As a part of this project I am inviting members of the community to design their own bricks. These will then become part of our WALL project art installation in the SE9 Container Gallery. You can pick a Bricks on the wall flyer from Eltham or New Eltham library or join in with one of my family drop in workshop !

For more details visit the Brick on the wall project page

Description

92 children participated in our community arts project "Bricks on the Wall". 51 children from year one explored collage art form and made their own bricks inspired by Kurt Schwitters work. They worked towards their Arts Award Explore through this project and successfully completed their Arts Award Level - 3 qualification. 

41 children from year 2 made a visit to Eltham Palace to explore the heritage walls and made their bricks inspired by the walls on site. 

They had an exhibition of their artwork in school and the bricks will also become a part of our Wall art installation in SE9 Container gallery in Sept 2018. The school exhibiion was followed by a very successful parents brick making workshop.   

Nov/Dec 2018 - Southwark light up project with Emergency Exit Arts and Output Arts. We worked with year 3 and 5 children from local schools to make lanterns for the light up parade based on the theme "Innovators Imaginarium". The lanterns designs were inspired by innovators David Kirkaldy and Octavia Hill. The children also worked towards their Discover Arts Award.

Jan/Feb 2019 - Fellowship Inn launch at Bellingham.   Project with Emergency Exit Arts. We worked with three primary schools (about 240 children) in Bellingham to make willow lanterns for the parade celebrating the launch of Fellowship Inn building. The lanterns were inspired by the building itself and the 1960's Mods and Rockers!!

Feb 2019 - A project for Artist in Residence. I delivered workshops for 100 children At Davis Lane primary school in Leytonstone where the children explored what they could recreate with recycled materials!  

First workshop with year 1,2&3 - created their artworks using old magazines.

Second workshop with year 1,2&3 special needs children - created coasters with recycled paper and old magazines.

Third workshop with year 4,5&6 - they made jewellery from recycled materials we had in the school.

Fourth workshop with year 4,5&6 special needs children - they created planter/pen holders using recycled paper cups and paper.

March 2019-

A project for Emergency Exit Arts, where I worked with twenty year 10 children from St Paul Academy to create textile collages for a launch exhibition of their Container gallery in school.

July 2019 - Moon Festival was a week-long cultural extravaganza making its debut in Greenwich with an out-of-this-world programme celebrating people’s love for the Moon. I delivered a collage workshop for 31 children from year 7 at Thomas Thallis school where they created art works for the Moon Festival.

The theme was Best of Greenwich linked with the school themes - nature and diversity. The primary school children from St Mary Magdalene and Invicta Blackheath created lovely artworks for the parade. Even the rain couldn't dampen the community spirits for the parade!

Designing and delivering  workshops for 170 eco friendly willow lanterns on the theme of Movies. Workshop delivered in six schools, eight classes and an open workshop. 

Designing lanterns based on the theme of toys to deliver an open workshop and the parade for Woolwich winter warmer festival. 

Live bunting making workshop delivered in July 2020 for Bexley and Greenwich Hospice for their Weekend Festival.

Being Southeast Asian myself, I understand that culture has a strong role to play in creating intergenerational communication barriers. These communication barriers, if not addressed, may lead to low self-esteem and even mental health issues. Through arts, I wanted to explore the unsaid stories of people from my community and start creative research to understand the power of narrative art as a tool to enhance the wellbeing of people around us. So, during the lockdown, using my Arts Council Emergency Funding, I devised a six week long project working together with a small group of young people and adults from Southeast Asian descent I delivered an online project to explore how arts can help to understand the intergenerational communication barriers.

The outcomes of the project are yet to be complied. 

"Unsaid words" - a commission from EEA for the Rainbow Residents project by Royal Borough of Greenwich. The installation is now up in Passy Place Eltham for a week.

Artwork - A giant white Correx envelope with the writing “Unsaid words” written in red LED light which changes to rainbow colours on the last day. The envelope is decorated with red pom poms and Warli art (an Indian folk art) drawn in black and red colour.

What is it about - The installation is dedicated to those who are not with us despite the massive efforts of the health care services. It is dedicated to those who may not have had the chance to express their gratitude for many reasons but deep down in their hearts they all acknowledge the efforts and hard work the key workers have put in these difficult times. The Warli art tells a story of those volunteers in the community who came together to help others in these unprecedented times.

Nov 2020: A day workshop of lantern making with year 6 students of Millerbank Academy to understand their perception of the installation by Chila Kumari Singh Burman at Tate Britain.

The Tate Kids Producer, Zoe Smith said, "I thought the content of the workshop – making lanterns – was well thought through and executed. I liked that Pragya thought carefully about the end result. A very clear and thorough communication before the workshop I felt I could really trust Pragya with the task at hand and I liked how well prepared she was. I was very impressed with how she managed the class and they all listened when she talked! The kids enjoyed it and they had the opportunity to do physical making, reflecting on the artwork they saw, as well as learning about a new artist and interpreting it for themselves."

Click here to read her article.

Pragya and Shermaine were lead artists and Project Managers on the Bridge Event hosting by Creative Barking and Dagenham in collaboration with Imagneer. They devised, managed and delivered eight workshops to schools (200 children) and community groups in a two week community engagement program. We also hosted three tea parties and a brunch for the women networking group as a part of the event.

Bridge event by Creative Barking and Dagneham