Last week, Holman had the great pleasure of completing a full week as Artist in Residence at Queen Mary Elementary School on the west side of Vancouver. He gave presentations about his work on Monday, and then spent the next four days teaching hundreds of students to felt.
Students in grades 3 to 7 needle felted, while the K to 2s learned to wet felt. The little ones made felt by wet felting in a Ziploc bag. Not only were the final results beautiful, it was pretty much mess proof!
There were hundreds of needle felted pieces made by the older students. Here are just a few examples, starting with three students who honoured Star Wars Epic Yarns by felting stormtroopers. Ambitious and mazing work for first timers!
And here are some of other needle-felted pieces. The subtle yet beautiful detailing on the stem of the pumpkin is terrific, and shows real artistry.
And this octopus is just too cute!
The students were really proud of their work, and rightly so. Here is staff at Queen Mary getting ready for the big felt show at the end of the week. There were literally hundreds of student projects on display. At the right front of the picture, you can see wet felted pieces turned into bow ties for Father’s Day cards!
And here are some students checking out the exhibition.
By the way, Queen Mary is a school with a view! Check out these photos shot from classrooms and school hallways.
The students really enjoyed Holman’s visit, as can be seen from these journal entries by some of the grade 1 students.
Holman enjoyed his week at Queen Mary immensely, and he would like to thank the enthusiastic teachers, staff, volunteers and students for making the week so successful. Finally, a big thanks to the teacher-librarian who invited Holman to her school. Aren’t librarians the best?