Children sculpt heroes from headlines
29 July 2004
Athens may be the venue for the Olympic Games sporting action, but this week some serious ‘sculpting’ action has been taking place in London’s Battersea Park.
The sculpting challenge was set by the Rethink Rubbish Western Riverside campaign for children attending the Battersea Summer Scheme. Local artists Claire Freer and Sue Pritchard from ‘Art in the Park’ helped local children to create four, six foot high celebratory statues each depicting an Olympic sport; running, swimming, diving and fencing. What’s more the statues are made from recycled materials - old newspapers moulded onto scrap wood frames.
Jim Fielder from the Rethink Rubbish Western Riverside campaign says; ‘through this project, children have taken items of rubbish and given them a new lease of life - whilst having great fun in the process. They have learnt about reusing and reducing rubbish as well as recycling; 60% of the contents of your bin can be used to make something else, rather than just going to rubbish tips.’
Each sculpture took a day to create with children taking turns to make and mould the papier mâché. Wandsworth council will be displaying the statues in venues across the borough over the next couple of weeks.