Cranesbills and Jellyfish / Walney Island residency / 2022

A project in collaboration with Sacred Heart Primary School / Commissioned by Barrow Full.

Sculptural installation at Barrow Market Hall as a part of Window Wonderland 2022

Cranesbills: 

The Walney Geranium is only found on Walney Island, it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Elizabeth took the Walney Geranium as a starting point for this project. She studied the seeds of Cranesbills and made scaled up versions out of waste cardboard packaging material. 

During a workshop with Year 2 children from Sacred Heart Primary School. The scaled up seeds were explored visually and thematically, then the children shared 25m of paper which they filled with large charcoal drawings of the seeds. This encouraged the children to work at a scale and in a medium they were unfamiliar with. Removing the usual associations made with drawing (i.e favourite colours / drawing favourite TV characters or writing a name) and instead allowing a freedom to explore just the charcoal, paper and seeds extensively. The children easily filled the 25m of paper and really enjoyed drawing the seeds and their components many times. 

Jellyfish:

Elizabeth researched species of Jellyfish found in the waters around Walney, including a report of the Portuguese Man O War having been washed up unexpectedly. Being named after an iconic and deadly warship it seemed an interesting parallel in a Town sustained by BAE systems and Nuclear Submarine building. Using waste domestic plastics Elizabeth made Portugese Man O War and Lions Mane Jellyfish bodies which were used as prompts for discussion and activities during a workshop with the children in Year 5. The children also used a variety of repurposed/new natural materials to turn the plastic bodies into complete Jellyfish for display in a window installation at Barrow Market Hall.