#createfoodival

There's a lot to share about all that's happening at the Tooting Foodival on 14th September, so we'll cover all of these in separate blog posts.

We hope you enjoy the info about our creative offer for adults and young people. All invited to our base in the large yard part way down Hereward Road.

Here's your invitation 

to a diverse 6 hours of creativity:

Our schedule:

11:00-12:30 We'll be micro-observing with Annie, Nikki & Chuck using magnifying glasses and a microscope, drawing and creating the first small worlds which we'll post on Instagram with the hashtag #createfoodival. We started with posting a first example today - have a look.
We can't wait to encourage visitors to be drawn to nature!
We'll continue these activities all day in parallel with the timed special sessions below.

12:30-1:30 We welcome May Webber from the UK national charity Butterfly Conservation
May will bring specimens of insects for us to explore with the help of her expertise and enthusiasm. With May and Nicola we'll draw and realise that what's good for insects in London is also good for people.
MAYBE we will be able to run moth-trapping locally on Friday night, and bring the catch in unharmed to observe and draw.

1:30-3:00 Nikki and Matt will be creating Microbrellas - our spin-off from this spring's Jellybrella project which created big jellyfish-sculptures using scrap umbrellas and linked sea life with ocean plastics.

Making beautiful detailed microbrellas also aims to highlight how minute nano-plastics in the oceans are as damaging pollution challenge as large-scale waste.


We may have a visit from Jasmine the Mermaid and her stop ocean plastics campaign!


3:00-4:30 Paul will lead us to create easy-to-use small home planters out of re-purposed materials. You can take these home and keep growing fresh food this autumn.

All day Think Outside will join us in the creative yard with excellent outdoor learning activities complementary to #createfoodival - thanks for joining us, Beata & Think Outside

We'll display what you make on this inspiring sea turtle table made by Jamie Pattinson - it's a wonderful object with a plastic waste message.

The #createfoodival facilitators look forward 

to seeing you on the 14th from 11:00 to 5:00. 

And there's all the rest 

of the Foodival to enjoy, too!

Jellybrella: TTT's invitation to be creative

A second set of photos of our Jellybrella creative workshop on May 11th. These  are all about the day as an invitation to be creative...welcoming people in new ways...and what participants thought about it.

All the background on this participative creative community sustainability project is in a past blog post - please click here It includes "what and why is a Jellybrella?" 

We asked for feedback and below there's a photo of two of the evaluation forms completed on May 11th (click here to enlarge):

We're proud that participants found the Jellybrella day welcoming and inviting.

Reaching parts we had not expected, David even wrote a very special Jellybrella song for one young girl who is a fan of Morrissey (think 'Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up On The Stage').

May 11th lyrics here

About 60 people came along on May 11th; over half were children. The participants were very diverse: half were english and half from many other places: several European and S Asian countries - and Mexico!




In our earlier adult workshops in March and April the balance was 2/3 of participants from countries other than the UK.
Lastly, everyone was from other countries in our February family workshop with CARAS refugee family participants. 65 took part in that workshop (2/3 were children).

A total of 140 people of all ages and cultures took part in our 5 Jellybrella workshops.

We're going to write up our collective reflections on the Jellybrella project, and we'll share our learning soon.

And we'll share our ideas for Jellybrella 2!

Making together to create a Jellybrella on Saturday

We were thrilled with the Jellybrella creative workshop on last Saturday May 11th which we facilitated at Sprout Arts in Furzedown as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
The weather was mostly kind and we did most of the day outdoors. Thanks for all the support and to Nikki, David, Jane & Chuck for facilitating.

Lots of people came and many of them worked together - parents and children, friends, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren - as well as others who created solo.
It was fascinating to experience the energy of all these different relationships expressed in making together. 

Do you work closely, or independently? Is there a plan or are you both developing the Jellybrella as you go along? Who's leading? What's the energy like - thoughtful, stimulated, quiet, noisy?
 

These photos celebrate making together - and we'll share some more sets of photos on other aspects: happiness, pride, fun, wellbeing, surprise, working with the re-purposed materials, the Jellybrella's message & story. 




Jellybrella has been fascinating and we have a lot to reflect on in terms of community participation and carrying off bold ideas.
We also have more to share on the adult workshops that led up to this public event on Saturday.
If you missed it, here's a link explaining the Jellybrella project which we've been working with throughout this spring: https://tinyurl.com/y6t9pb9o

What combines creativity, community participation, charity, fun, repurposing waste, wellbeing, inclusion & shopping for good?

Jellybrella does! (now we know...)
On the Bank Holiday weekend and all next week: combine your love of creativity and fun with shopping in a good cause.

Visit the super new Wandsworth Oasis shop at 61 Balham High Rd & admire windows full of Jellybrella creations. 

The Jellybrellas were created last week by local adults with sight loss from Thomas Pocklington Trust Balham Resource Centre nearby: these two photos are from that workshop.















Thanks so much to Gill the Balham Oasis shop manager for all the support collecting customers' umbrellas since February and saying 'yes, have the window!' as a wonderful opportunity to share the joy of Jellybrella! Thanks also to Michelle the manager at Oasis Trinity Road and Joy in Oasis Mitcham Lane.

Make your own Jellybrella on Saturday May 11th at our free public workshop at Sprout Community Arts - all the details at tinyurl.com/y6t9pb9o

What will your Jellybrella be like? 

We can't wait to find out!

 

Jellybrella creative workshop takes off on May 11th

We're thrilled to be running the Jellybrella creative workshop in a fortnight as part of Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
Free and for all ages: all welcome to join us!

We're holding the Jellybrella workshop from 10:00 to 4:00 on Saturday May 11 in Furzedown at Sprout Community Arts.
Bring an umbrella or two if you can - perhaps you can re-make a neglected one or celebrate your favourite loved brolly.

We'll get straight into making led by Nikki and Chuck, and at intervals our storyteller David will move us with tales of lost & found umbrellas & living with less waste. He'll be helping us be imaginative and thoughtful about the links between being artists for the day and taking care of the health and wellbeing of our neighbours, community and city.
We'll finish with a parade right outside Sprout - and if it rains, there's no problem as we'll have Jellybrellas.

To  book workshop places - don't hesitate to bring the family - please visit Transition Town Tooting & Jellybrella event pages on Facebook here and send us a message.

A bucket of donated brollies  - each of them waiting to be transformed by you into a Jellybrella.
Come on May 11th to our creative workshop and find out the difference!




 

We're very grateful to Wandsworth Grants Fund and the Wandsworth Arts Fringe team for supporting Jellybrella.
That's all the May 11th workshop details; please read on for more of what we have learned so far while doing the Jellybrella project.

Donate and transform your old or broken umbrellas into a Jellybrella!

Our Jellybrella participatory arts project reuses waste to celebrate creativity, diversity and sustainability. The main event is a free family day on May 11th at Sprout Community Arts in Furzedown, offered as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. More info here.

Donated at TTT's ACE

The raw materials we're using are all saved from scrap, and the key thing we need is lots of umbrellas! 
Maybe some of the lost umbrellas of Tooting which gather wasted and folorn in corners of pubs and cafes?
Maybe an old or broken brolly of yours? 
Maybe one you find in the road?
You can donate in many ways to the Jellybrella project: your golfing or fishing brollies, pretty parasols, or classic old school British black rolled-up umbrellas.

Where to donate a brolly in March & April:

• Bring to the Tooting Community Garden any Sunday between 11:00 & 1:00. We're at 5 North Drive SW16 1RN
• Bring to any other TTT meeting - for example the Open Monthly Meeting on Tues 12th. Details on TTT events calendar.
• Leave them for us at the Work & Play Scrapstore
• Leave them for us at any of 3 Wandsworth Oasis charity shops - at Amen Corner, at 40-42 Trinity Road or at 127 Mitcham Lane
• Leave them for us at the South London Makerspace in Herne Hill

Jellybrella: TTT's creative project for spring 2019

In Spring 2019 TTT is inviting everyone to join in with Jellybrella, our free and participatory community arts sustainabity project reusing waste to celebrate creativity, diversity, welcoming, wellbeing and making alongside others.  
We'll be popping up in February, March, April & May. All invited!

It's early days to be sharing this, but we've started to share info on Jellybrella so it's an opportunity to tell the full story on the blog. Yesterday we created an Instagram account - have a look.

Thanks loads to David Pitt for donating time to create our logo!

We're proud that the May 11th event will be part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. It will be a free family creative workshop for adults & children where we'll use scrap materials to create exciting sculptures. 

Specifically we'll be transforming the lost and found umbrellas of Tooting, getting together to enjoy some community making -  we'll all become artists making our community beautiful with stories & hands-on making together.

ReSparkle! Celebrating Creativity and Christmas crafts at Tooting Library

TTT have been ReSparkling with Tooting Library since 2012 - it's always a magical event upstairs in the beautiful children's library. 

Indoors last Saturday the library was full of colour, light and energy as it became darker, wetter and stormier outside. 

It's a free and simple event: for two hours we offered 5 activity tables, with eight of us helping.  

Why is it so fun and rewarding?

We think it's because:
1. There are familiar faces and new families every year - diverse, multilingual, positive, keen to experiment.
2. Creating a special occasion together is a good feeling 

3. The Library is such an excellent trusted community social hub in the buzzy retail heart of Tooting. Everyone is welcome, nothing is for sale, everyone can work at their own pace and  materials and goodwill are shared freely.
4. Children, parents and carers are discovering and making together - all generations trying out very different activities, getting familiar (again?) with using glue, scissors, staplers, velcro.
All these activities and more can be repeated at home.

5. Everyone creates using simple materials - making beautiful decorations and presents out of everyday things and scrap saved from waste.  
6. There's always new ideas - new activities, new facilitators from TTT, creative solutions from participants (turning the drinks cartons inside out to show off the silvery liner was very neat!)

There's more photos by Bryony, Chuck & Annie to look at online - please click here. And there's more of just Bryony's beautiful photos of ReSparkle online here - thank you Bryony!

ReSparkle! exactly six years ago on Dec 15th 2012

We value our long-lasting partnership with Tooting Library very much and want to say thanks to the Library team for hosting us so many times since 2012.

Many thanks to our TTT team of fab facilitators: Annie, Bryony, Elly, Jane, Jeni, Nicola, Resina & Chuck.
We're looking forward to December 2019 - please put ReSparkle in your diary!

ReSparkle! with TTT at Tooting Library, 2pm to 4 pm on Saturday 15th December 2018

All welcome to join TTT's free Christmas crafts workshop at Tooting Library, creating beautiful presents and decorations to take home.

We've been inviting everyone to ReSparkle! since 2012, and it's always a magical event.

 

When? Saturday 15th December from 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Where? 75 Mitcham Road SW17 9PD
We'll be upstairs in the lovely children's library.  
Free, drop-in and for all ages.

All materials provided - and everything we'll use to make beautiful creations is waste that's being saved from going to scrap.
"Reduce...Re-purpose...ReSparkle!"


Thanks loads to our partners at Tooting Library - if you have any queries, please phone the Library on 0208 767 0543. NB children under 8 must always be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Come and join the fun - please spread the word and tell your friends. Click here to read or download the poster.

The fabulous OaKomotion! Carnival promenading in Furzedown: re-imagining, movement & change

Ten days ago the fabulous OaKomotion! travelling Carnival promenaded all round Furzedown.

The whole amazing sunny event was based on the sucess of the Furzedown Oak Community Project. 
In the Project community artists and host groups adopted sections of the large American Oak felled locally. Then they created sculptures to give the oak a rich and longer life. Read all about the Project here!


Oakomotion! started at 10:30 on Sunday 24th June outside Sprout Community Arts. As Fio Adamson says: 
"As soon as Vince and the Never Wilbies started playing outside Sprout at 10.30 on Sunday morning I realised that music in the streets is all we need to complete the Furzedown dream."
Read about the whole carnival day in Fio's report - read or download here.


Tooting Community Garden hosted the last part of the day. Fio writes:
"A secluded dream-place with bees buzzing, veggies growing and flowers greeting the sunshine.  The Bean Dragon made by myself and 80 others still lives and should live there for many years to come. Remember the Big Day Out 2016, Dahomey Road street party and the Foodival the same year? – yes,  you too probably chipped away then at the big piece of Oak and helped it on its way."

Here's the oak Bean Dragon - part bench, all magic:

Below there's the new Community Garden table made with young refugees and asylum-seekers from the Tooting charity CARAS.
It's inscribed in many languages with messages of welcome, and all were invited to add more. When there was no more room on top it was the turn of the table legs to be decorated. Come and see the Dragon and the table any Sunday from 11-1 when the Garden is open to all.

Really the whole day was about re-imagining, movement and change,

from a felled tree to some beautiful living sculptures; 

from all corners of Furzedown to our hidden but accessible oasis. 

Thanks to Fio and all the OaKomotion! team.

Here's the dancing finale in the garden: