THE TREE OF LIFE The Dyce Learning Partnership- an Intergeneration Art Project involving philosophy, free writing and fused glass. The Tree of Life was an intergenerational project involving 40 Primary 6 children from Dyce Primary School and the Dyce Community Centre Fused Glass Group. It originated from a simple conversation in the glass group between Tutor, Jane Ronie and group member Marjory D’Arcy about how interesting it might be to do a fused glass project with the primary school children. This tied in with Jane’s long held vision to create a fused glass tree as a vehicle to learn about the skills involved in making fused glass art. Permission was granted by the enthusiastic Head Teacher, Marion Kerr, funding was secured from the Dyce Learning Partnership and the project planning began. Whilst studying philosophy many years before, Jane became aware of the benefits of having philosophical discussions with children via a BBC programme called ‘Socrates for Six Year Olds’. This began the journey in the creation of the now widely used P4C initiative (Philosophy for Children) which is commonly used in schools today.
Tree of Life image created by pupils
In the first session the children were introduced to the idea of a tree being a symbol of life - a seed which if fed sufficiently grows and develops much like that of the human being. This led to the philosophical question of ‘What do you think makes a good life?’ The objective was that each child would make a glass leaf as a representation of their own individual ideas in answer to this question. With such a large group of children, Jane realised she would need help in the facilitation of the discussions. She invited Elaine Reid, a writer and Words for Wellbeing workshop facilitator to collaborate. Like a light being switched on, they both realised that by adding Elaine’s skills in visualisation and free writing, they had stumbled onto a powerful mix of influences and different ways of approaching the subject matter. This resulted in the project begin split into two stages. Stage 1 involved one workshop each of philosophy, free writing and artistic design. Stage 2 involved the children coming into the glass workshop in groups of eight, one session per week. With the assistance of the members of the fused glass group the children learned how to use the tools, glass materials and good health and safety practices. The adults learned how to share their skills with the children whilst allowing the children to retain ownership of their ideas. Many good working partnerships were formed. In conclusion, the children were brought back together in one group with Jane and Elaine to reflect on their overall experience of the project. During this final session the children wrote about their favourite memory and what they had learned. They then ‘found’ their favourite lines from their own writing and these were woven together to create a group poem. The tree has been mounted onto an aluminium board which will be displayed in the school foyer.
On Friday, 26th June Dyce Primary School hosted a celebration of the project. This was a rich experience for all participants and invited friends and family. The children gave a presentation and the event culminated with the children singing ‘I’m On Top Of the World’.
Capacity Building officer Input: Chairing of Learning partnership meetings to discuss the Glass Fusion Intergenerational Project budget allocation, evaluation requirements and linking to priorities, recording of celebration event.
Above : Celebration Event held at Dyce Primary School on Friday the 26 th July and Glass Fusion examples below: