Our Youth & Education team had a busy half term at Cody Dock last week! Here’s what we got up to:

Natural Printing workshop

On Wednesday 30th October, we were very excited to host the Shipman Youth Zone for a Natural Printing workshop. We learnt about the natural printing technique ‘cyanotype’ which uses photo-sensative chemicals and UV light to create beautiful stencil-style prints. For this technique to work, objects are placed on cyanotype paper and left in the sunshine (or under a UV lamp). The spaces where the objects are left on the page remain white while the surrounding space develops in the light to create a dark blue colour. We collected natural materials from around the dock and had fun creating interesting shapes with what we found, with some of the group creating the illusion of natural landscapes, some creating abstract designs and others even displaying scenes from their favourite anime stories!

Cody Wildlings: Spooky Halloween

Next, we had our Cody Wildlings for a Spooky Halloween session on Thursday 31st October. We learnt a little about the bats we see at Cody Dock, we have recorded six species so far on site – the Common pipistrelle, Brown long-eared, Noctule, Soprano pipistrelle, Duabenton’s and Nathusius’ pipistrelle. We spent a little time along the river, learning about some of the spots where we can see these species during summer evenings and collecting materials to help us create our own flying bat Halloween decorations – just in time for Halloween that evening. 

Spotlight’s Youth Empowerment Board: Zine Workshop

To end our week, we hosted Spotlight’s Youth Empowerment Board for a fabulous Zine workshop! Zines are self-published mini magazines, often used to explore art, music and pop-culture as well as being instrumental in many political and social justice movements and an important tool to amplify marginalised voices. They are also a fun way to get creative and to share information with others. We spent some time exploring Cody Dock, noticing the wildlife that lives here and discussing some of the threats facing wildlife today. As a group we took time to consider what stood out to us about the river side – both natural things like the trees and bird song and artificial things like the high rise blocks and bridges. We encouraged the group to take inspiration from these things and anything they are passionate about to create their own zines. They came up with some amazing and unique connections between nature and their personal interests, including an exploration of the link between maths and the natural world…