Pupils at St Nicholas Junior School in Beverley have launched themselves into the “A Moth for Amy” project by designing and creating more than 300 mini moths in a unique twist on the Amy Johnson Festival.
Inspired by their involvement in the A Moth for Amy public art project – which saw pupils from the Beverley school decorate one of two giant moths sponsored by regeneration company Wykeland Group – teachers at St Nicholas decided to go one step, or should we say wing, further by rolling out the project to all students at the school.
Modelled on Hull’s highly successful “Larkin with Toads” project, A Moth for Amy is a mass engagement public art initiative which aims to erect artist-decorated moths at sites across Hull and East Yorkshire, and at other relevant locations across the UK.
The moths, designed by local sculptor Saffron Waghorn, will form part of a trail of more than 50 moths across Hull during the Amy Johnson Festival and leading into 2017, Hull’s year as UK City of Culture.
Pupils from St Nicholas School and All Saints School in Hessle were invited to take part in the A Moth for Amy project by Wykeland, who commissioned the students to come up with unique and creative ideas to decorate two of the 1.5 metre-wide moths which will form part of the moth trail
Wykeland will give pride of place to the moths at its Flemingate development in Beverley and on the Bridgehead woodland trail, at Wykeland’s fast-growing Bridgehead business park situated close to the Humber Bridge roundabout, with both sites forming part of the moth trail.
Rebecca Raisin, class teacher at St Nicholas School, said: “Our pupils were incredibly inspired and excited when Wykeland invited us to design and decorate one of their moths.
“Although only a small group of children worked on the giant moth initially, we made sure the whole school was involved by having Amy Johnson-themed lessons and activities, and we found that the project really sparked everyone’s interest, regardless of age.
“The pupils were so enthusiastic we decided to ask each of our students to design and create their own mini moths as part of the exhibit.”
More than 300 pupils at the Beverley primary school each designed and created a mini moth using a variety of different materials such as fabric, paper, cardboard and silk.
The mini moths will go on display at Wykeland’s Flemingate development in Beverley from July 1 and will be seen by thousands of people following the moth trail.
Dominic Gibbons, Wykeland’s Managing Director, said: “Our intention in supporting the Amy Johnson Festival has always been to ensure that our contribution has a significant community impact.
“That’s why we have asked St Nicholas and All Saints schools to design and decorate the moths we have sponsored.
“It’s brilliant that St Nicholas School has taken this even further and created hundreds of mini moths which will have pride of place at our Flemingate centre.”
Elaine Burke, Wykeland’s arts consultant, said: “We’re excited to continue our long relationship with pupils and teachers from St Nicholas School”
“This project builds on previous innovative work we have done together at the Flemingate centre. St Nicholas children decorated the hoardings around the building site while Flemingate was being built – and they visited the site several times during construction – so they have been with us every step of the way.
“This time, we’re delighted to be involved with the A Moth for Amy project and to play our part in the Amy Johnson Festival. It is so exciting that every child at St Nicholas has taken part in the project – either painting the big moth sculpture, or creating their very own micro moth to celebrate Amy.
“Wykeland is proud that these projects make such an impact on the children involved – inspiring pupils to aim high and feel excited about their achievements; increasing their confidence; and enhancing creativity and problem-solving skills.”
The 16-acre Flemingate development – Beverley’s largest-ever regeneration project – is a £120m scheme by Wykeland. In addition to the shopping centre, it is also home to the East Riding College campus, an 80-bed Premier Inn hotel and six-screen, 1,000-seat digital cinema, Parkway, as well as 130 high-quality homes.
