Cookbook - Macrobert Arts Centre

I spent three days at the Macrobert Arts Centre as a co facilitator, working with vulnerable local young people on a project centred around healthy eating. These young people regularly access food banks and are continue to be affected by the ongoing pandemic. Using this as a starting point, the local community were asked to donate recipes for a cookery book, which the young people would illustrate.

The first week was a group of several young people aged 7 - 12, who I spent three days working with and teaching them several forms of art and ways of being creative.

I based all of the activities around food in some way, whether it be using food itself as a tool, talking about food and descriptives and emotions surrounding it, or creating food themed work.

Over my three days we:

• Created recipe stickers showcasing each ingredient to make things like morning weetabix and a vanilla cake

• Shrink plastic badges of food (and dingoes and surfboards…!)

• Created food monster trading cards with powers and attacks

• Learnt the basics of spray painting and painted an original piece

• Used this new skill to paint a mural

• Used a paint mop and looked at creating background colour and then adding in definition

• Worked with playdough to create food objects and to-size shapes

• Created a playdough banquet

• Made clay monsters, foods and magical things

• Created a word map on the studio floor

• Used pens and tape to make a floor map of crazy and disgusting imaginary foods

• Hunted for organic material such as sticks and leaves to create a creature

• Used vegetables to make stamps and patterns