Youngsters ‘Move to Create’ in summer workshop

By Gema Martinez Corrales

Through movement, youngsters created a fun art piece as part of a summer morning workshop at the GEMA Gallery.

Zoe Bishop held a ‘Move to Create’ workshop on Thursday as part of the Gibraltar Cultural Services Summer Programme.

Ms Bishop has been running the workshop for four years, starting in 2019, and skipping a year in 2020 due to Covid, she was assisted by her friend Aimee Moss this year.

The workshop involves a series of games and activities where children can interact with each other and enjoy being creative by making one large piece of artwork together.

“It’s about community and being in the moment, and in the process of making art,” Ms Bishop said.

She added the children get to know each other by drawing things related to them.

They start by drawing things about themselves and getting to know each other, and then learn about different types of mark making and lines.

“We tell them to think about their feelings and draw that using charcoal,” Ms Bishop said.

“Then we get to the really messy stuff, which is the painting.”

Through the painting, the paper is filled more and more as the children roll paint on, or work in pairs to move marbles covered in paint around a tray to create trails.

“They’re having to work together to create the piece of art,” she said.

Once they finish all their activities, they will look at the paper, and if there are any empty spaces, roll paint on them.

Ms Bishop said that the main focus of the session was “removing the pressure of making something of a certain standard, and focusing on the moment of creating”.

She also described the importance of working together to create, and teaching teamwork skills, and how valuable it is for children.

Gema Martinez Corrales is a student on work experience with the Chronicle.