Colour Your Canal with artists Cath Carver and Christina Kalinowski

Artists Cath Carver of Colour Your City and Christina Kalinowski of Doodle Designs have been working with secondary school children from years 7-9 at Aylward Academy, and created a unique toolkit to help young people create their own designs and transform their local canal through colour.

As part of the project the young people visited the canal with the artists as part of the Hinterlands project and in preparation for July's Festival of the Lea. During this visit the participants had a Colour Encounter along the canal, discussing colour connections and using the Place Diagram from Project for Public Spaces to understand what makes a Great Place. They then explored the local environment by walking along the canal and discussing the landscape with the artists, thinking about how it made them feel, what colours are present and what creative interventions could be made. Following this they headed into BLOQS for a collaging activity, using photographs of the canal and adjacent locations combined with colour acetate sheets to improve the places. Colour and vision was also playfully investigated using glasses and paddles. Following this, the artists visited the school to carry on the session, with pupils annotating images with sketch designs, and then developing their ideas of what they’d like to see along the canal through model making or collage. Final designs included a safe space to rest and read, gardens for pollinators, and a sensory wall. The pupils also gave feedback on the festival, helping to shape the final Colour Your Canal activation which will be taking place during the Festival of the Lea.

Take Part in Festival of the Lea

To take part in Festival of the Lea on Saturday 13th July, download your free zine below and bring it with you on the day! Create your own designs and apply colour to the line drawings with pens, paints, colour acetates, collage and mixed materials. At the festival you can join an art workshop and make the towpath colourful with spray chalks and other materials.

Download your zine here.

Download your toolkit with extra resources here. (optional)

Download extra colouring in sheets here. (optional)

Primary and secondary school teachers can print multiple copies and distribute them at your school. Get in touch with us if you’d like more information about how your school can participate.