King’s Lynn school hosts eco art installation

Budding eco artists got to enjoy the fruits of their labours when an awareness-raising art installation they had helped to create was displayed at their school in King’s Lynn.

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Springwood High School was visited by The Meadow of Hope community-based art project, which consists of more than 400 flowers crafted from plastic bottles to highlight the growing problem of plastic pollution, and was in the process of touring the area.

Curated by Tim Mann of Blackfield Creatives, in collaboration with the West Norfolk Youth Advisory Board, the project involved environmentally aware students from across the region, including 60 Year 8 students from Springwood, a member of the West Norfolk Academies Trust.

The group made 120 flowers for the installation at a workshop run by Mr Mann at the school in February, and were able to admire the finished work of art when it visited Springwood on July 11 – with some of them also helping to assemble and dismantle the exhibition.

“Having taken part in the workshops, students were delighted to see that the flowers they had created were part of a much larger project, which is having an impact on the community,” said Agnieszka Munns, who is Environment Committee Lead at the school and co-ordinated the students’ involvement. 

“It gave them a sense of ownership by contributing. They felt they were part of a bigger conversation about single-use plastics and the damage they cause. By being visually confronted by the plastic ‘meadow’ outside their school reception, they were reminded how the simple act of recycling and resting their plastic bottles can help the environment.”

Following its display at Springwood, the Meadow of Hope Installation travelled to Snettisham village centre, and then onto Snettisham Beach, to illustrate the impact that single-use plastics have on the ocean.

Members of the public will have a final opportunity to view the installation when it visits the Vancouver Quarter Shopping Centre in King’s Lynn on Wednesday 26 July.

Mrs Munns added: “For me as a scientist, using art as a medium through which important environmental messages can be communicated was a whole new approach, which I thoroughly embraced.

“Working with Tim Mann was a great opportunity to get a different perspective on how to make our students aware of critical global challenges like plastic pollution, by making the installation eye-catching and drawing attention to the plastic problem.”