Superfolk
Animal Detectives
2nd May 2017
1st Classes
Superfolk's workshop gave consideration to what animals we share our locality with, as well as to seeing the intriguing traces they leave behind, visible when we take close inspection...
Firstly, Gearoid Muldowney and Jo Anne Butler introduced themselves to the class as designers who live on the west coast of Ireland. They told the children about their walks with their dog Woody on the beach, and how they look for inspiration on these walks, for their work making furniture and homeware. They told the children how they sometimes like to be 'animal detectives' too. 'What clues would you look for to see if animals had been around?' they asked the children. 'Fur, feathers, crumbs, footprints, skin shedding, nests, dens, droppings, smells...' they offered. They showed the children images of animal tracks in the mud, the sand and snow and the children guessed at the type of animal from the hoof / foot / paw print in evidence. After the discussion they went out to the garden to search for animal prints that Superfolk had previously hidden in various spots throughout the garden. The students' task was to find the prints and then to use their newly acquired knowledge to identify what print belonged to what animal. Back inside the classroom they created individual stamps which they used to print their own set of animal prints.