STRATA POEM: GIANT WINGS
This is a group poem created by Years 4 and 5 Pupils from Bolsover C of E Junior School in February 2012, describing what is found in the three geological layers of Coal, Magnesian Limestone and Clay underneath Bolsover!
COAL
360 Million Years Ago…
Layered leaf, broken bark,
Brittle fossil, stratified rock,
Colourful, colourful – fly, fly, fly,
Up in the sky – Dragonfly!
MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE
250 Million Years Ago…
Sky-smooth, spiky, stripy shell,
Sharp-sounding, serrated sea-snail shell,
Delicate, glamouring, cream-coloured shell,
Shell like a spinning top – emerald swirl!
CLAY, PEAT, MUD
100 Million Years Ago until the Present Day…
Sparkling coins, rattling noise,
Teeth stabbing sharp as cutlasses;
Solid bone, titchy stone -
Snap like a shark!
Bolsover Dragonfly for Nottingham Light Night and Creswell Crags
Working with project coordinator Rebecca Clay from Creswell Heritage Trust, Junction Arts delivered a response project to build a giant illuminated dragonfly lantern to help promote an exhibition featuring The Bolsover Dragonfly, a 300 million-year-old fossil found in a coal mine in Bolsover during the 1970′s, which will be exhibited at Creswell Crags from 30th March 2012. Following a successful Arts Council England GfA funding bid by Cresswell Heritage Trust, Junction Arts engaged willow artist Liz Sparks to work with sixty Year 4 and 5 pupils from Bolsover Junior School to create the Dragonfly Lantern during workshops on the 7th and 8th February 2012. Rebecca Clay introduced each session with a powerpoint presentation about the Bolsover Dragonfly fossil, explaining how it was discovered locally by coal miners and describing the geology of the area. The pupils were instructed in elements of 3D construction, drawing and design skills by Liz Sparks, using willow and tissue paper to construct the Dragonfly sculpture. Aly Stoneman from Junction Arts also ran writing workshops with pupils alongside the design workshops, using examples of fossils found locally in different layers of strata to generate written responses and poems. These were later transcribed onto acetate and layers of mounting board and coloured card to be exhibited as strata poems at Creswell Crags and Nottingham Light Night.
The completed dragonfly lantern was displayed to the entire school in assembly on the final day. The giant lantern was subsequently exhibited at Nottingham Light Night on February 10th 2012 where the dragonfly accompanied the Creswell Heritage Trust information stand on top of the hill in Nottingham Castle gardens and so was visible from the entrance and many other points in the grounds to the 9000 people who visited the Castle grounds that evening. The Dragonfly Lantern, drawings, photos and the strata poems produced at Bolsover Junior School will be exhibited at Creswell Crags during the schools exhibition from July until September 2012. Fifteen pupils from Bolsover Junior School will also be attending the VIP launch at Creswell Crags in March and reading their poems at the event.
