Food bank tree
Decorating the Stokey fir tree with year 5 pupils
If you're in Stokey this winter you may spot one of our Twinkle stars at the top of the fir tree next to the fire station, along with a bright festoon created with the year 5 pupils of William Patten Primary School.
Following our Constellations project, we were asked by local business association See You In Stokey to think of something to brighten up the tree again, but this time in support of Hackney Food Bank. The idea was to draw attention to their work and put up a sign asking people to contribute.
When I asked the food bank what was most needed, they talked about non-perishable foods and, after mulling it over for a bit, I thought of the idea of making oversize tins. Rather than making them straightforward depictions of real tins of food, I figured it would be more fun to think of odd things to put in tins. I was a little nervous about being seen to be making light of the food bank's work, but they seemed excited by the idea so I got in touch with the school across the road from the tree.
Working with studio-mate, Sal Jones, we ran workshops with both year 5 classes. We talked about the history of canning food, looked at old and contemporary labels and discussed the design of them and what label design is for.
Some of the old labels we showed to the young people
Then we set the pupils loose coming up with their own idea for what would go in their tin, and designs for the front and back. I never cease to be amazed by the inventiveness of young people. We had the expected favourite foods – tinned pizza and tinned chocolates – but also some delightfully oddball ideas like tinned bread and tinned cheese.
The young people really got the idea and ran with it. I was surprised and delighted to see an unexpected collaboration involving one pupil "licensing" the tinned sweets of another to incorporate into their tinned lunch box! I was also really pleased to see some traditional, but beautifully drawn fare like the classic tinned peaches.
We've hung everything that was made in the workshops on the tree. Sadly many are a bit high to easily read, but hopefully the pupils will recognise their own creations. They'll be up from November through to end of January / beginning of February (depending on when we can get them down) – hope you get a chance to see them and please consider donating!