By Kate Hodges
15th June 2018
MAKE and LEARN Spill and Drill
Warm summer days make messy art stress-free and easy. We’re going big on action painting this summer. It’s perfect for kids and teenagers of all ages. Learn about seminal action painter Jackson Pollock here, and create your own piece inspired by his work. Want more messy, creative fun? The Artful Parent have some great ideas for more projects, including painting with a drill, massive splatter paintings and getting sploshy while dragging paint-dipped toy cars across a canvas. If you’ve got loads of space, go all-out and use a bike to create wild, extravagant paintings. Remember, it’s not about the result, it’s about the glorious, messy process! Photo: The Paint Book by Miri Flower (£9.99 Frances Lincoln)
EVENT Going Wild
The Wildlife Trusts host the first ever Big Wild Weekend! Choose from over two hundred nature-tastic events – experience the magic of sitting in your own bird’s nest, take an exhilarating all-night moonlit ramble, hunt for glow worms, build dens or join a seashore safari! The weekend marks the middle of 30 Days Wild – The Wildlife Trusts’ annual nature challenge – which dares people to do something nature-related every day during the month of June. If you’re in Derbyshire, try sitting in a bird’s nest with HandMade Theatre and enrol in hatchling college where you’ll learn all about native birds. Connect with nature through open air yoga, and dance; enjoy music, campfires, and toasted marshmallows. Mendip-dwellers can join a dusk-to-dawn expedition looking for owls, glow worms, nightjars and stars with nature and astronomy expert, Chris Sperring. Elsewhere, create art from marine litter or try your hand at worm charming! Find the whole programme here
RECIPE and DO Sweet Truth
Why not head into the woods as night falls? It’s one of the most atmospheric times for a wander, quietly watching for nocturnal animals and birds, and smelling the delicious blooms that have started to appear. Honeysuckle is one of our sweetest-smelling flowers, its sweet scent attracts butterflies, bees and dormice. Honeysuckle is thought to be an effective treatment for respiratory problems, is an anti-oxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. Forage a few blooms and use it to make Honeysuckle Syrup, Honeysuckle Sorbet or Honeysuckle and Jasmine Cupcakes.
EVENT Welcome Stranger
Now, more than ever, we need to understand why people seek sanctuary in the UK, as well as celebrating their contributions. Refugee Week is the umbrella for an incredible variety of events; plays that tell the story of past exiles, art exhibitions that include work from asylum seekers, festivals with music, poetry and dance – we love the sound of the workshop at Leeds Art Gallery which will encourage visitors to create works inspired by birds and the large floor map of the city.
EVENT Azure Thing
Corsham’s joyous Blue Sky Festival celebrates the arts through performances, exhibitions and workshops, and lots of it is free! Take part in free family workshops, ride the Bewonderment Machine, join a band, or meet The Selfish Giant. Grown-ups will find the Scummy Mummies Show resonates, while Young Open celebrates the artistic works of under-18s. Small and perfectly formed. Some events ticketed, some free.
