Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow

'As streams from little fountains flow, Great oaks from little acorns grow'

The next image in the series of 'Journeys' mosaics has got underway. In these three weeks every child in the Infant School (around 360!) and a number of teachers will have made a personal, small clay contribution to the Oak Tree, in the form of clay oak leaves and acorns and the odd butterfly.  The children have almost without exception have grasped the concept of being artistically represented in this way and even the notion that the school can be thought of as a tree! Surprising for some, but the analogy of school being a place for learning and growing has been a useful one. The children have very much enjoyed their involvement and it's been a real joy working with them in this way! 

The mountains of leaves and acorns now waiting to be fired and glazed is only a little daunting but are going to look fantastic within the finished piece, I'm certain!

Thank you to the staff involved in the ferrying around of small children, especially TA Sam Barnes!

Time passes but the seasons always return

The making of this first piece has been a journey in itself with only the final stems to 'ground' the piece, to complete the picture. Conversely, the image has grown from the top downwards the opposite direction to nature. 
From a personal development perspective we experience growth in a far more random pattern - the growing of consciousness and learning comes when our 'teacher', which may be a person or simply a given experience, triggers our inspiration.


It is perhaps by looking back to where we started, that provides a different perspective of any journey, when we see the true colour of things past and feel our feet on the ground for the next part.

T. S. Eliot
	Little Gidding V
	"We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, remembered gate When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; "