I worked on the Creative Learning Outdoors project for Creative Partnerships over the Winter months of 2006, ending with a final outdoor sound installation show in May 06. I was developing ideas of stimulating literacy through moving image and sound work, and the final outcome of this was to be shown in a small wood of 800 year old Yew trees in Langley Country Park.

Our initial visits to the Park with a class group of Primary School children were sound, image and material gathering expeditions. The following work in the school resulted in large amounts of written word and each student wrote a short poem about an aspect of nature they had observed in the Park. My initial idea was that they would then create large sculptural words, install them and re-film them in the Park environment.

As often happens with these projects, the school system got in the way and, with one magnificent exception, the word sculptures were never made.

Going back to the earlier sound work for the final event, I created an 8 channel sound installation in the Yew trees wood, planting speakers in the trees and undergrowth and hiding a video screen inside the thunder split trunk of a large tree. There was something very magical about working outside, especially with the winds of North Africa giving us the hottest day of that year.

Creative Learning Outdoors Video (QuickTime MOV. 12mb)