Play Workshop @ Art Space Portsmouth

I was inspired by Eva Rothschild's 'Boys and Sculpture' (2012) which I saw at the 'Play Well' exhibition at the Welcome Collective (see previous 'Play Well' blog post). It was really interesting to see how the boys disrupted the aesthetics of sculpture through play and they are adapting the exhibition space into chaos - this chaos, however, was due to the fact the boys had the freedom to participate in whatever way they chose and I think this was important to the work. I wanted to create a workshop/environment in which children could interact with the soft sculptures I had made throughout the year in whatever way they chose in order to observe how they would naturally play rather than a performance. To explore this, with the help of my tutor I was able to set up a play 'workshop' with a group of six children (1x 6 years, 2x 5 years, 1x 3years, 1x 8months, 1x 3months) really interesting dynamic of 4 lively children with 2 babies - it was mostly an all-girl group so it was interesting to see the dynamic shift from 'Boys and Sculpture'.

To begin the workshop I brought as many of my soft sculptures as I possibly could down to Portsmouth Arts Space, here I laid them out across the floor - similar to how they would in a nursery of soft play centre at the start of the day - to create an initial playful environment for the children to entre. The room was quite an intimate space and this worked well as the space didn't overpower the sculptures. Like Eva Rothschild, I didn't want to give the children instructions, just that they could play with the sculptures however they wanted. The babies who were accompanied by their mothers, would lie across the sculptures and, for them, it became more about the sensory experience - stroking, patting and pushing the sculptures. This was a smaller part of the workshop and I would like to set up one another time just with infants 1 year and bellow to observe the contrast in play.

Initially, the children were drawn to the large sculptures – especially the flowers – as they were able to get into them and wear them, becoming physically part of the work. They then created spaces for themselves with the sculptures saying "this is my home, that one can be yours", which was interesting to see that the children wanted to mark there territory even when playing collaboratively. After the boundaries of "this is mine" were broken, the girls began to play together. The chains proved a success in this respect. Three of the girls got into rings of the same chain, pulling each other and moving around the space, creating a comedic dialogue. It was really interesting to see how the participation digressed throughout the workshop (i have broken these down into three sections of play):

HIDE AND SEEK: The children became fascinated with the idea of hiding amongst the sculptures. To begin with, they would have a larger sculpture over there lap or legs, almost like a blanket, before pulling other pieces on top of themselves until they were completely covered. They would then ask the nearest adult in the room to find them, which they took much joy in the adults circling around them and the children jumped out or giggled when an adult felt through the sculptures to the child. This was a repetitive process, becoming more elaborate each time and, in the end, they felt their hiding skills weren't enough and asked their parents to hide them in even large mounds of soft sculptures before asking someone to 'seek' them - repeating the process again for 30 minutes.

ROLE PLAY: Three of the girls set out a 'base' in the corner of the room of a surface of lots of sculptures, perhaps imitating a home. They would then give each other character roles of a family "I'll be the baby, you can be the mummy...", once roles were established, they began acting as there characters and creating scenarios that they believed would take place in the home. I found it so interesting how they could take the abstract forms and turn them into an imaginary set for their games. Later on, their characters switched. They wanted to be animals, once one said "I'll be a Cheetah" sure enough that is what they all wanted to be! Growling, crawling across the floor and pretending to feed each other meat. This change in the dynamic of play was really fascinating and humorous to observe.

FLOOR IS LAVA: Using the looped chains, with my help, the children began making a track across the floor. They informed me that the floor now lava and the only place safe was on the trail. The children would walk across the floor, then one would shout "1,2,3 the floor is lava", quickly the children would rush to the sculptures especially the largest of the sculptures which they later established as the 'safe zone'. Their game then expanded... not only was the floor lava but there were now monsters (which were played by a couple of the parents). The children would run-up to the parent whose back was turned and begin making noises in a way of 'tormenting' them to chase them. The parent would then turn to face them and the children would run back to the safe zone.

Overall, this was a really rewarding and interesting workshop. It was fascinating to observe how the children played, the shifts in the dynamics of games and the joy that repetition brought them. I think that the sculptures were well received by both the children and their parents. One comment I had when chatting with the parents was that they felt the sculptures were much more playful and pleasant than plastic ones found in pay centres. I did initially think about making sculptures with a plastic surface so they could be wiped but after hearing this feedback I think the soft sculptures I have made are enough - but could explore different materials. In hindsight, I think the space would have worked better if I had of made/brought more sculptures but I don't think this would have been physically possible. I need to think of other ways to make the space feel more perhaps immersive, perhaps coloured lights that unify the room and the sculptures together - how would different colours affect the space?... Another problem that occurred during the workshop was the hard flooring - this is something to think about if I were to do it again. It would be interesting to create my own playmat (like a crash mat) which could lay underwear the soft sculptures an add another layer of sensory as well as decrease the risks of accidents.

The full video can be viewed here: https://lucywinnicott.wixsite.com/artwork/soft-sculpture-interaction-children