200 school children and four artists transform traditional bird hides into ‘bird hide art’
Hundreds of school children have been working with talented artists at College Lake Nature Reserve near Tring to create fabulous art installations in the bird hides.
‘Bird hide art’ is a totally unique concept that aims to attract new visitors curious to see how simple wooden bird hides can be transformed into stunning works of art that will enrich visitors’ experiences of the wildlife living on the nature reserve.
‘Hide! at College Lake’
Launch at 10.30am on Tuesday 16 November 2010
Visit the hides, talk to the artists, enjoy watching wildlife at College Lake
College Lake Nature Reserve near Tring is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). The Hide! project is produced by Outdoor Culture, a not-for-profit enterprise that helps people enjoy green spaces through arts, learning and play, and is funded by the Aylesbury Vale Community Chest.
Cathie Hasler, Community Wildlife Officer for Buckinghamshire based at College Lake has watched the project develop over the last nine months. “The Hide art project will surprise, inspire and educate all our visitors. It was fantastic to see the local children visiting College Lake to work with the artists and having the opportunity to get closer to wildlife, re-creating that interaction through colourful and interesting installations”.
120 children from Bierton Church of England Combined School near Aylesbury worked with artist Martin Prothero in the Fitter Hide. Martin created new editions of his ‘Carbon Light Life’ series. This was done by laying down sheets of glass coated with carbon on paths used by animals so their footprints are captured as silhouettes. These are then lit by natural sunlight through the hide windows.
The children also worked with natural materials they found around the College Lake Nature Reserve to create stencils with dead plant matter and ‘drew’ silhouettes with sieved, chalky soil from the reserve. A selection of these pictures accompanies Martin’s work.
80 pupils from Ashmead Combined School from Aylesbury became explorers at College Lake, using binoculars and magnifying glasses to seek out interesting things and recording their discoveries through sketches, photography and film. They worked with James Aldridge who was inspired by the history of College Lake from dinosaurs to 20th century quarrying.
In the Castle Hide James created a series of mixed-media panels exploring the conservation needs of birds that migrate to and from College Lake, and used old suitcases as display boxes for found objects and documentary photographs.
The global water cycle inspired Aylesbury artist Stu McLellan to illustrate the history and future of College Lake in the Woodell Hide with fragments of a graphic novel in a witty and subversive style. Stu also celebrates the nearby orchard which provides valuable food resource for birds and insects on the edge of the lake.
High Wycombe-based artist Lynda Cornwell used light, colour and reflection to transform the Tump Hide at the far end of College Lake into a constantly changing work of light and patterns.
Lynda painted the hide walls with patterns from species found at College Lake that are usually only visible to animals that perceive ultraviolet. By viewing the species in UV-light, the markings become apparent, and Lynda used white paint to make these patterns visible to the human eye. She installed prismatic film on some of the windows so that direct sunlight illuminates the UV markings with a rainbow. Lynda’s installation looks different from minute to minute and day by day, depending on weather conditions and the movement of the earth in relation to the sun.
The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) is one of 47 Wildlife Trusts across the UK working to achieve the shared aim of securing a better future for wildlife. BBOWT’s vision is to create a region rich in wildlife and appreciated by all. BBOWT manages 80 nature reserves across the three counties, works with other agencies and individuals to help safeguard the wider countryside, and aims to inspire people to take action for wildlife. BBOWT has over 52,000 members. Find out more at www.bbowt.org.uk.
