The Qattan Centre for Educational Research and Development organised between 7-9 March a 3-day workshop on ‘Wood Art in Education’ at the Teachers’ Centre in Nilin, supervised by Alaa Abu Saa from Dar Qandeel Centre for Arts and Culture.
Fifty students and their teachers participated in the workshop, which developed contexts for learning via the integration of crafts, like carpentry and woodwork, into art projects in schools. The workshop participants included students from Rantis Boys Secondary School, Budros Boys Secondary School, Nilin Boys Secondary School, Nilin Girls’ Secondary School and Medya primary school.
With their small hands, the children were able to adapt and work with the wood. Using storytelling, painting, and writing, they translated their vision and fantasies into tables, chairs, and souvenirs. Transforming wood into educational material by working with it in an educational context, writing down their desires and translating their fantasies, the students were doing far more than simply contributing to a school project.