February 6, 2020

I had a lovely couple of days inspiring and teaching children from Ynystawe Primary School at National Waterfront Museum about Art, Science and Sustainability and the important work our bumblebees are doing for us. The children were learning about how to identify the variety of bumblebees and what they can do to help the decline of pollinators, before they were using their newfound knowledge to create a piece of bumblebee art.

As painting can be used as a tool to learn and express new knowledge, it also generates an appreciation of the expressive arts of which we humans consume every day through everything we touch, see, use and listens to. The children were learning about colour theory, painting techniques and each child had time to explore and create a variety of colours and textures through using only the primary colours. Finally, the children were designing and sketching a composition of bumblebees on to a professional textured canvas for finally painting a piece of art. The paintings were finally mounted on frames and the children took them back to school to create an art exhibition of their work.

“Tyra’s workshops enabled every child to get involved and understand the creative process. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and created some truly wonderful artwork to take home with them.”

Will Sims
Senior Learning Interpretation & Participation Officer
National Waterfront Museum

Thanks to National Waterfront Museum for hosting the workshop, Ynystawe Primary School for participating, Bumblebee Conservation Trust for providing information and knowledge, and Steven Falk for sharing his fantastic images.