Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with Henleaze Junior School on their Shaun the Sheep sculpture, for the Shaun in the City schools project.
All the children in the school were briefed to come up with a design that celebrated the fact that Bristol is the European Green Capital for 2015. (Find out more about Bristol 2015 here)
There were some amazing designs, each class voted on their favourite design to give us a truly democratic set of 12 chosen artists, who would work with me, to collaborate on a final design and paint it!
The 12 selected designs, 1 from each class (age range 7-11 years)
In an initial brainstorm session with the selected children we looked at all the their designs and discussed how we might combine the various ideas... of which there were lots! Following that, I went away and pulled all their ideas together into one final design with loads of fun details... Apple tree and wind turbine legs, eco trainers, leaf ears, superhero goggles and a patchwork cape, solar panel for extra power, crazy socks, cycle helmet and knee pads (for safety when skateboarding etc), hypnotic 'recycle more' eyes. And a rainbow tail... just for fun!
The kids then did an amazing job with the painting... working together in small groups of 3 over 2 days, with me really just mixing the colours and directing them on what to paint and in which order!
Picture below is their completed Shaun, fully varnished and ready to take part in a special exhibition of all the school Shauns, running simultaneously with the main Bristol Trail, which starts on July 6th.
For more details about the Bristol trail and all things sheep, check out the Shaun in the City website
Super Green Shaun!