creative climate champions
student toolkit
contents Introduction 1 Skills 2 Reimagining 3 Printmaking 5 Connecting 9 Moving Image 11 Expressing 15 Storytelling 19 Exploring 21 Chemigrams 23 Questioning 25 Paper Making 27
Welcome to the Creative Climate Champions student toolkit!
The following activities will help you to connect with the climate crisis in new creative ways; through reimagining, connecting, storytelling, exploring, and questioning the world around us.
We hope that from this toolkit, you will have learnt how Nordic artists working today are getting creative with more sustainable methods in their own work. Hopefully, this will inspire you to become the next generation of creative climate champions.
1
skills
2
reimagining
Lesson 1: thinking forward
In this activity you will learn to reimagine what our future could look like with new creative tools. It’s a great way to give us new feelings of hope and push us into action. Floortje, our artist for this skill tells us “Don’t take it for granted, the way something has always been done… Thinking in new ways will bring about change”.
CCC Skill: Reimagining
For us to be able to take action against the climate crisis, we need to think of new ways to do so.
Reimagining allows us to think of new possibilities for our future, allowing us to have hope and always imagine something new. This skill can be practiced both on big scales with reimagining new worlds, to much smaller examples such as taking more sustainable options in our everyday lives.
Printmaking is the technique of transferring an image from one surface to another. It allows artists to make lots of copies of the same print. There are lots of different ways to do it, usually using a block for your design and a roller to transfer the ink!
3
Floortje is a mixed media artist (she uses lots of different methods!), focusing on community, working with peoples experiences. Her work is influenced by the landscapes around her, and she finds the wilderness of the Nordic region very inspiring as she can feel overwhelmed by nature here, connecting her more to the land.
Floortje has been working in Svalbard Norway for the last few years where she describes the climate “being very present around you and your thoughts as it is changing all the time” The landscape in Svalbard is mostly rocks, ice and moss which Floortje describes as being difficult to connect to, but says we must rethink how we “collectively take care of something, even when it may be difficult”.
floortje zonneveld
4
printmaking
In this activity you will learn how to place yourself in a context of a place unfamiliar to you, and reimagine what it may look and feel like.
Through printmaking techniques, and reimagining how we involve our communities in the presentation of our creative work, this activity aims to help you learn to reimagine what our world could look like in the future.
What might Svalbard be missing?
1. Draw your ideas
5
3. Cut out your design
2. Choose your favourite drawing and transfer onto lino printing block
6. Display your groups community panel!
4. Ink up your roller and make a test print
5. Print your design onto the community garden panel
6
postcards
7
8
connecting
Lesson 2: empathy and emotions
Learning what it means to connect to the environment around us through empathy. Harnessing our complex emotions around the climate crisis and turning them into action!
CCC Skill: Connecting
In order to connect better to the climate crisis, we need to learn how to connect better with the relationships around us already.
Emotions can be a scary thing to talk about, but once we start it becomes much easier. When we are connecting with others, remember to always be mindful of people’s feelings and lives before asking anything too scary.
If we are able to connect better with our friends, family and the world around us, we may find it easier to connect to the scary feelings of the climate crisis!
A time lapse is a technique film makers use that slows down the amount of frames captured to be slower than those that we see, resulting in the moving image you view to be faster… or lapsing!
Processes that are very subtle to our human eyes are great to capture on a time lapse (such as stars moving in the night sky) as we can track them better. The technique was discovered in the late 1800s.
9
Juliana is an artist working across media, sculpture, film and installation. She works with people, and often with people with disabilities. She describes sustainability and climate action as always being part of her practice, it’s part of everything she makes. Juliana has always lived in cities, so has an interesting view on what it means for her to be immersed in nature. She finds the hidden gems of nature within a city, and is focused on the feeling of nature, not just what it looks like.
juliana capes
10
moving image
In this activity you will learn how to make a short film that displays how the outside world makes you feel.
When thinking about the climate crisis, it is important to acknowledge and connect to our feelings and emotions. By seeing our emotions in new ways, we hope that we will be able to engage more people in the fight for climate action!
1. Make a Tripod! (Instructions on page 14)
2. Find what you want to film
3. Leave your device to record a time lapse for 5/10 minutes
11
How does the moving and changing weather make you feel?
Now flip this question! How does the weather feel?
6. Add these colours to a new time lapse, linking emotions and colour
Write down all of your answers to the questions before on some paper.
5. Link the emotions you wrote down earlier to the coloured paper
4. Watch your time lapse back... now is the time to change things.
7. Watch back and discuss in a group!
12
connect cards
Putting yourself in the Weathers shoes! Imagining the emotions of the weather in other places. Cut out this set of cards, and use them to play the game in a pair. One person plays the role of the weather, and the other is the asker. The person playing the weather should pick where they are from, what kind of weather they are and who they affect. The asker should use the cards to ask the weather questions, and together discuss the answers. You can even add your own questions/prompts onto the cards.
13
1. Take an A4 piece of paper, fold it in half lengthways and then roll it into a cylinder of around 6cm diameter (the straight line passing through the centre!).
2. Use some tape to hold it in place.
3. Cut two triangular indents into opposite sides of the cone, about 2cm deep, to rest a phone.
If you are using a electronic tablet, use A3 paper or make a bigger version.
14
expressing
Lesson 3: communicating our stories
Learning what it means to express ourselves and voices of those in need through creative storytelling techniques. Utilising our self expression as a way to connect to others through performance.
CCC Skill: Expressing
To express ourselves means to show who we really are, and what is important to us. This can be achieved through creative storytelling; allowing us to highlight the unique stories that make us who we are.
This CCC skill aims to allow for mistake and freedom, trying new things and being playful in our approach to creativity. This playfulness is often left behind when addressing climate action, as the topic can be negative, so this skill aims to do the opposite and encourage joy!
Performance art is often described as art that includes movement, ourselves and is live. Artists like to involve their audience in the work through interacting with them.
We use the term “interdisciplinary” for this kind of art. This means it can cover lots of disciplines such as photography, painting and many more, all in one piece!
15
The Arctic Creatures
The Arctic Creatures are a group of 3 friends: Stefán Jónsson, Óskar Jónsson and Hrafnkell Siguðsson. They come together as friends to hike and explore the Icelandic landscapes; venturing into the wilderness together. During these hikes the trio noticed waste and junk littering the beaches of Iceland; from fishing nets, to plastic bottles and barrels. They started to take pictures of themselves with the waste objects, often referencing famous scenes from history or films and creating strange, comical and fantastic images.
Jessica Auer
Jessica Auer is a Canadian born photographer who now resides in Iceland. Her work is place based and explores environments such as the Nordic regions due to their fragility. She is interested in places that undergo a lot of transformation; such as Iceland, mainly with communities and tourist destinations. Her work may look mostly landscape based but it is the people and their feelings of those places that she tries to capture, alongside the impact we as humans have on the planet.
icelandic artists
16
17
18
storytelling
In this activity you will learn how to create an image through storytelling, that reinvents waste found in your local area.
We encourage you to sitaute yourself in the image. By incorporating ourselves into the stories, hopefully the audience will connect with the issue more!
1. Look at the Arctic Creatures photos. List the environmental concerns you see.
2. Go to your local Coastline. This can be the sea, river... or pond!
3. Collect any plastic waste you find.
19
4. Stop to think where and who this came from. What is its story?
5. Create a new story for your waste, give it a new life!
6. Get involved! Situate yourself within your new story.
8. Photograph and display your outcome.
7. “Perform” the outcome. Place your waste in its new setting.
20
exploring
Lesson 4: materials and processes
In this activity you will learn how to make a chemigram. We will learn how to incorporate the natural world into a traditionally un-natural process of photography. The artist Edd Carr encourages us to think more sustainably about the materials we use, so remember to always consider new ways of looking at the processes we create within. Get exploring!
CCC Skill: Exploring
To explore a creative process, means to investigate it and learn more about it. This is so important for us as Creative Climate Champions as it allows us to take back control of the materials and processes we like to use!
When we are exploring it is great for us to embrace being free with how we look into things, open minded and always being kind to ourselves when we make mistakes.
If we do this, we might just be able to uncover more sustainable ways of doing things for the future.
A chemigram is a form of photography that uses resists on photographic paper. A resist is a way to hold back the photograph from developing in the dark room process and produce more experimental and abstract photograph outcomes. It was discovered by Pierre Cordier in 1956 and has been used by many artists as a more experimental and fun way of creating photography!
21
Edd Carr is an artist who works with photography and moving images. His work often looks at climate issues and is influenced by growing up in the countryside. He works using “natural materials and photographic processes combined”, and enjoys “shooting analogue film and developing film using natural developers that are taken from the landscape where the film was shot”. By mixing the landscape into his process and his outcomes, Edd is able to make artwork that is ecological in all of our senses.
edd carr
22
chemigrams
In this activity you will learn how to make your own Chemigram, inspired by Edd Carr’s sustainable process we have just learn about.
Follow the steps to make your own. Make sure you have all your materials ready, and some old clothes as things might get messy!
Remember to keep in mind your CCC skill of Exploring when making your chemigram.
1. Discuss alternative materials to everyday objects
2. Discuss and share your findings
3. Draw your findings! It can be real or abstract.
23
5. Time to get creative!
4. Head outside and forage for plant materials such as rosemary
6. Take out your dark room paper-it will react to light immediately!
12. Wash in water and then hang to dry and enjoy!
7. Apply your resists: using a brush or your foraged materials.
8. Think about the emotions discussed earlier when applying the resists.
11. Submerge in the fixer solution for 5 minutes.
10. Apply your fixer. Submerge in your tray or paint it on.
9. Apply your developer. Submerge your paper in the tray or paint it on.
24
questioning
Lesson 5: life cycles and uses
Learning how to question the world around us and understanding the connections to where we are from. Sometimes, things are not always as they seem, and we must question the histories we have been told. This is a great CCC skill, one that can lead to new discoveries and more equal futures.
CCC Skill: Questioning
Questioning the world around us is a great skill to learn when addressing climate action, as it allows us to always search for new ways to change.
Often the processes and materials we use have been around for a long time, and do not reflect the world we now live in. If we learn to question with strength and knowledge and provide new and more sustainable alternatives, we can hopefully demand a better future for us all.
Paper was first invented by the Chinese in AD 105, using old rags and tree bark. Later on, the use of paper exploded all over the world and was the first real way of communicating globally! Nowadays, paper making has become much less hand crafted, and uses a lot of natural resources of timber and water leading to deforestation in many countries. More sustainable paper alternatives that use recycled materials are a great way to make a positive impact.
25
You can even use the paper mulch to make your own paper sculptures! In our workshops we have used and incorporated natural materials found in our local surroundings to make interesting shapes.
Caitlin Dick is an artist whose artworks are inspired by the environment. She uses sculpture, film and printmaking. Caitlin likes to explore how we as people interact with our natural world around us. She likes to focus on the tiny parts of nature that we sometimes don’t pay enough attention to, and always keeps in mind how we can better protect our environment for the future.
caitlin dick
26
paper making
1. Add a handful of paper pulp to your water basin.
In this activity you will learn to make your own paper.
The paper industry has a long history of its negative effects on our environment, and so making your own can be a great way to reduce your personal impactand a fun activity!
2. Stir the water so that the pulp flows around in the basin.
3. Dip your mould and deckle into the water basin.
27
5. Lift off the deckle and set it to one side.
4. Shimmy it around and lift up the mould and deckle.
6. Layout your cloth and flip the mould onto the cloth.
7. Press down and use a sponge to soak the water out.
9. Peel off and reveal your paper.
8. Lift the mould off and leave the cloth to dry.
28
With these skills, you are now set to become a creative climate champion of the future... good luck!
www.naarca.art
Created and designed by Maraid Mcewan, in collaboration with all artists mentioned.