Storytelling chair built for Wycombe school
10:10am Saturday 28th July 2012 in News By Beth Graham
A STUDENT has created a storytelling chair, designed to inspire pupils at a High Wycombe primary school.
Jordan Cottee, in his third-year of studying BA (Hons) Furniture at Bucking, spent six months planning and building the four-foot high chair for the students at Booker Hill Primary & Nursery School.
He then unveiled the chair during an assembly at the school.
Booker Hill pupils met with Jordan to give him their ideas and also visited the furniture workshops at the university, to see the chair in progress.
Jordan said: "The chair has a twisted wooden back, to signify the twists and turns that a story takes, and the pupils also contributed story descriptions that have been laminated on to the chair to help inspire them to think of stories."
Jordan even included a leather seat decorated with the school’s yellow and green colours, meaning it sits well in the school’s recpetion area. Jordan added: "This has been a very enjoyable project to take part in and I hope the children get a lot out of seeing the construction of the chair through to completion and then seeing it situated in their school."
Geraldine O’Brien, headteacher at the school, said: "We are really pleased with the chair and all the time, effort and patience Jordan has put in to making it and involving the pupils in the design process."
"It has turned out exactly as we hoped and should prove an inspiration for schoolchildren for years to come."
Pupils Ronan Cullen-Johnson and Nayaab Akram, both aged nine, were the first to get an imaginative seat. Nayaab said: "This is so amazing and all the children at school like it but I would really like to take it home so I could sit on it myself whenever I wanted."
Other furniture made as part of the project included a bench for the Welsh Assembly Government and a chair for legendary Soho Jazz Club, Ronnie Scott’s.
Source: www.bucksfreepress.co.uk
California's dubious distinction - Lowell Sun
The Associated Press
IRVINE, Calif. -- California is still dominating the foreclosure scene.
California cities made up seven of the top 10 metro areas with the highest rates of new foreclosures in the first six months of this year, according to data to be released Thursday by RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure properties. That's unchanged from the same time last year.
Foreclosure activity also spiked by more than 25 percent in and around Philadelphia, Chicago and New York. The new inventory could start hitting the market in the next several months, potentially weighing further on home values.
Stockton, Calif., located south of Sacramento, had a higher foreclosure rate than any other metro area in the U.S. in the first half of 2012. About 2.7 percent of homes -- or one of every 38 -- received a foreclosure filing between January and June. That rate was more than triple the national rate of 0.8 percent.
Stockton itself filed for Chapter 9 protection last month, making it the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy. Officials were unable to reach a deal with the city's creditors to restructure hundreds of millions of dollars of debt.
Other Central Valley cities with high rates of new foreclosure filings were: Modesto, Merced, Bakersfield and Visalia-Porterville. Elsewhere in California, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and Vallejo-Fairfield made the list. The Atlanta, Phoenix and Las Vegas metro areas rounded out the top 10.
It's a familiar template. Eight of the cities -- all except Atlanta and Visalia-Porterville -- were among the top 10 on RealtyTrac's list last year.
The number of U.S. homes entering the foreclosure process for the first time increased in May and June, as banks aim to make up for time lost last year when mortgage lenders grappled with allegations that they had processed foreclosures without verifying documents. The nation's biggest lenders reached a $25 billion settlement in February with state officials. That's cleared the way for banks to address their backlog of unpaid mortgages. California saw an 18 percent spike last month in foreclosure starts, or homes placed on the foreclosure path for the first time.
But Thursday's data also showed glimmers of encouraging news. Nine of the 10 cities with the highest rates saw rates drop year-over-year. Stockton's rate fell from 3.2 percent in the first half of 2011.
There are some 3 million U.S. homes behind on their mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Source: www.lowellsun.com
High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork - AboutMyArea
High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork
Passage 101 before makeoverAs part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, a well-known passageway has been transformed from a dark and dingy alley to a bright and inviting pedestrian link between the High Street and the Lurke Street car park area. The transformation has taken place as part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, and Mayor Dave Hodgson will unveil the new look passageway at the northern end of High Street, nicknamed ‘Passage 101' at 3pm, on Friday 27th July.
The passageway's new appearance is a result of Bedford Borough Council commissioning Bedford College HND Fine Art, and 3D Design students, to produce ideas for heritage inspired artwork, to be displayed on its walls. The work forms part of the Bedford High Street's Townscape Heritage Initiative project, designed to regenerate the High Street and its surrounding areas.
Passage 101 after makeover‘Passage 101' has been re-vamped through repairs to the paving, lighting, brickwork, drainage, the installation of CCTV and a deep clean.
Bedford College art students presented their decorative ideas to a panel which included Mayor Dave Hodgson, members of the THI's Partnership Board and Councillor Bagchi, of Castle Ward. After much deliberation, the winning designs by Michelle Crowther were selected.
Passage 101's design taps into Bedford's local newspaper printing history, featuring news print character blocks arranged on panels within the newly-white walls.
The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "The passageway is a well-used link for the town centre, in particular for users of Lurke Street Car Park. I am delighted that it's been transformed into a much more pleasant walkway thanks to the renovation work and, in particular, the artistic talent involved.
The first requirement for us was to give the passageway a thoroughly decent clean and comprehensive repair job. That's really changed the feel of it, while the artwork makes it a much more appealing, attractive route to use. The brighter, lighter feel and the CCTV installation will also help tackle the anti-social behaviour which in the past has spoilt the pathway for everyone.
Michelle with artworkIt was a real pleasure to sit on the panel to help choose the winning design, and I must congratulate the students who took part for the great array of creativity and talent which was on show. Regenerating the High Street is a key element of our efforts to support a vibrant, thriving town centre, and the transformation of this passageway is another positive step in this direction."
Michelle Crowther, student with winning designs, said: "Passageways, like newspapers, are just fleeting diversions from our lives, and once used, they are often discarded. My design will make the public more aware of the space they are using, while creating a permanent reminder of Bedford's newspaper printing history."
Richard Lloyd HNC / HND Fine ART Course Lecturer, said: "Without doubt the definitive appeal with live briefs for students is the potential that they present with an actual process, one that creates responsibility and a chance to impact on a real audience. This brief has been challenging for all concerned and given students something very tangible to measure themselves against. The strength of the degree level HND course at Bedford College is the vocational nature of the project briefs and the emphasis we place on first-class student experience".
(images supplied by BBC)
Report this article as inappropriate
Comments
You need to log in before you can do that! It's only a quick registration process to join the AMA network and completely free.
Source: www.aboutmyarea.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment