Timelapse - Mural - 'Kindness to the Environment' 2021
Last year Roundfort National School got in touch and asked me to work with the children and create a mural funded by Creative Schools. The children chose the theme ‘Kindness to the Environment’. Soon after, the first lockdown ensued and working with the children was postponed. In the meantime, I researched ways to make the topic of Kindness to the Environment a tangible and manageable task. Saving the planet is a daunting prospect, but individually, in day-to-day life we can make a difference. I decided to keep it simple and focus on what we can do in our own gardens.
I chatted to the children in 5th and 6th class over a couple of Zoom meetings and asked for their ideas. The whole school drew pictures of flowers and of animals of many kinds, including birds and insects which we might find in our garden. We discussed the benefit of growing flowers and planting trees to attract wildlife, and building havens or ponds to provide shelter and resources for these creatures. Some of the children were already growing their own vegetables and learning to compost. Inspired by my talks with the children and their artwork, I got to work on a design. Last year’s Parish magazine also provided great inspiration, having read about the Eco Congregation, Falling Fruit Ireland, and of course the Gilligans in Ballygarries who built a barn owl nest box with great success. The barn owl would become a one of the main stars of the mural.
In Summer 2021, once restrictions were lifted, we eventually got to work. Once I had the design in place on the wall, the children helped me in groups of three. I showed them how to mix colours, blend and shade, and use various techniques for different effects. Some days we were hindered by the rain, and work had to be redone where paint had run down the wall or washed away. The whole school placed their handprints to create leaves on trees, with the title ‘Our Imprint on the Future’.
As we painted, we discussed the creatures that appear in the mural and their needs. Even something simple like a pile of rotting wood at the bottom of the garden is a great place for stag beetles, whose decline in numbers is attributed to the tidying up of parks, gardens and greenspaces and the removal of tree stumps and dead wood. Without dead wood, the beetles have nowhere for their larvae to grow. Feeding the birds, sowing a wildflower meadow, building a bug hotel or even an owl nest box are simple little projects that can make a difference in our local area.
I took photos of the progress and created a timelapse video from start to finish: this can be watched on the ‘Roundfort Village Enhancement’ Facebook page and Roundfort National School webpage. It was a great experience working with the children and hopefully during the summer they worked on some projects to invite nature into their own gardens. I hope that – in conjunction with the November COP26 Climate Change Conference – this artwork will prompt the young of the whole Parish and beyond to be mindful of Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss, local and global, and to consider how they can contribute towards solutions.
