Our Corner of Paradise was a series of workshops held across Shieldfield and its surrounds, in September and October 2024.
Our Corner of Paradise encouraged us to examine and care for the everyday resources and valuable green spaces we have around us. The title for the project is taken from Modern Nature, the diary of Derek Jarman’s iconic garden in Dungeness. The project considers how gardens and green spaces are far more than just space for cultivation, but sites for building community, conversation, knowledge sharing, quiet protest and degrowth.
Our thanks go out to the team at the Shieldfield Youth Programme, Shieldfield Art Works, Michael Jefferies and Ouseburn Farm.
The workshops culminated in an exhibition at Slugtown.
Company was kindly supported by Ragdoll Foundation and Malings Community Fund.
Giant Flower Making
To bring some colour and joy into our gallery as the evenings close in, we made some giant paper flowers to appear as if sprouting from the gallery’s floor. The flower petals were made from a template, crepe paper and florists wire, with each petal decorated by kids, before being attached to the stems and flowerhead, with more crepe paper.
Paper Pulping
We collected all our half-finished SlugClub issues from the past couple of years, and, rather than sending them off to be recycled, decided to do it ourselves – by pulping them into paper. After splitting them into colour groups we used home made deckles, a lot of ripping, to make some beautiful speckled handmade papers.
Walk and Draw
Dr Mike Jefferies led us on a walk and draw around Ouseburn, looking at all the incredible flora and fauna we have on our doorstep. We went pond dipping at Ouseburn pond, and recorded and drew all our findings on our handmade paper, using Chinese inks and tools we made from sticks and rosemary fronds.
Waste Sculptures
We brightened up our gallery further by making some decorative flower sculptures using nothing but scrap materials we had gathered during this year’s SlugClub. We used scrap cardboard, buckets of salt, paint and stickers to make stunning (and messy) sculptures.
