Creative Material Play
Creative Material Play project was a series of workshops that involved the making of collaborative artworks from various basic materials including clay, wood, paper and charcoal, metal as well as plastics. The workshops drew on traditional ways of making in illustration and in sculpture and was led by Eleni-Ira Panourgia and Katie Forrester at Edinburgh College of Art as part of the Innovative Learning Week and TEDxUoE 2016.
This project engaged participants with the creative aspect of materials promoting collaboration for the creation of artworks. It focused on experiential learning and discovering through direct exploration in a cross-disciplinary framework concerning illustration and sculpture techniques. The workshop was tied into the theme of Ideas in Play as making is experimenting and playing. The participants experimented and explored the characteristics and functionalities of various materials. They also experienced being creative in a team and discuss new possibilities of making artworks by playing with materials. We, as organisers, had the chance to see materials transforming into artworks outside the studio, getting involved with the public, interacting and discussing various issues that arise during the creative process. This event also reflected the intuitive playing with materials as elements that are being constantly explored during our research.
Creative Material Play was nominated as 'Most Creative', 'Most Experimental' and 'Most Impact' in the Innovative Learning Week Awards.