Reflection, PDP.

This piece has been interesting and enjoyable. The concept I believe is strong and met all the requirements of the brief. It was a fun and different concept to others and we went in a completely different direction to others. Myself and Olivia worked well together as a group, allowing one another the opportunity to add to the work, and the work was shared between the two of us.

We were asked to create a mock up design of the piece, which we did by making lots of plastic flower pots, however due to both of us having to deal with very personal matters we had to put the brief on the back burner and sadly never had enough time to finish the image. However when it came to producing our A3 board we both thought that aesthetically it looked better being all drawn images, rather than having a mix of draw and one photograph.

I like the concept and the design of this piece, unfortunately it didn't get accepted by Wrexham council and we didn't have a opportunity to do those finishing touches that the council wanted.

Bee-ing around

I was walking through the garden centre outside chester the other week and noticed this massive stand to do with Bee conservation. They had everything from locally produced honey to make your own bee hive kits. The idea was to support national honey week (1st week in May) and to raise further awareness to the plight of the bee.
This stand interested me as it had links to our plant pot idea, and I liked the ideas people were creating to encourage people to conserve our honey bees.
Perhaps something like this could be done in Wrexham as I haven't seen anything like this other than in this garden centre.

Construction.

Initial thoughts of the recycled plant pot would be plastic bottles with plants inside (which attract the bees). Further thoughts about the overall design of the pot have lead us to wonder how the pot itself will stand up and support its weight.

Further to this we have progressed to considering/using tin cans (baked bean tins) for the structure of the piece. The reasoning for using this product is, it's cheap, recycled and although it rusts in rain etc, the change it colour could become an effect, extra texture and colour etc.

The next step in the project is to create a mock-up prototype of the structure. We also need to price up the flowers and the printing costs for the piece.

Olivia and I are pretty satisfied with our idea and how the project has shaped out. I think that as a group we have worked well together, shared the work load well and supported, developed one anothers idea. The final idea is different, cheap, easy and covers the brief. I believe that adding to the conservation aspect of the brief has given our idea an edge. It is also a very important concept, and raising awareness to conservation is vital to our future. In my opinion.

Awareness of the decline in the bee population is a environmental crisis happening before our eyes, and it is everyone has a part to play in the salvation of this creature and ecosystem.

Bee research.

One of the main ideas in the plastic bottle plant pot is to encourage bees to come and pollinate the flowers. Thus improving the numbers of bees (hopefully) in the Wrexham area. It is culturally important at the moment, as research has shown that the Bumble Bee and Honey Bee populations are decreasing. Reasons for this are currently unknown, but there are many theories to do with Global Warming, increased use of insecticides on plants and evidence of a disease and parasitic growths on the bees.

It is highly worrying that these animals are demising at such a rate, for the play a vital part in our horticultural and agricultural worlds. As well as being an important part in the ecosystem. The Bee pollinates many plants which we require for food. They are highly important pollinators of flowers.

'It is often said that one in three mouthfuls of food is directly dependent on the pollinating activities of honeybees; and these same bees play a vital role in providing food for wildlife (e.g. through the development of fruit, which is a food source for many other species).' source http://www.honeybee.co.uk/the-importance-of-bees/

2010.

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man," Albert Einstein.

The plant pot will have information plates on the sides of it. These are to bring awareness to the importance of Bees and to encourage the people of Wrexham to plant flowers which will encourage further Bees to the region.

I believe that this could be a very good promotion for the town (and surrounding villages) as it shows the wider Wales and UK that here is a town attempting to improve the wider conservation of this vital animal.

It would be beneficial to get further information/endorsement from companies such as WWF or honeybee.co.uk as these places would provide more support and information to the cause.

Feedback 25 March 2010.

On the 24th March 2010 the Wrexham in Bloom team came to Regent Street to look over the ideas which had been produced. For this we needed to create an A3 board communicating our idea fully.

The board which myself and Olivia produced did not have an image to suggest where the recycled plant pot would be placed, however we did have a note on the board stating where the pots would be placed.

This was not noticed however.

Our A3 board for Wrexham in Bloom.

We received positive feedback from the Wrexham in Bloom team. They want us to make a prototype of the plant pot to demonstrate it's appearance, height and where it would be placed. We are also required to price the piece-for our idea it would be minimal as the bottles, construction is free. We would need to however do costing for the plants and the printing for the information table.

Further ideas to the plant pot is whether we could get any endorsement from companies aiming to protect Bees: Save the Bees UK Getting an endorsement from this company could give the Wrexham in Bloom campaign further 'umph' and also would provide us with further information on how to attract and encourage the Bees back.

Bees and bottles.

Examples of recycled bottles becoming something more.

This blog demonstrates how versatile bottles can be. From anything to candlesticks to magazine racks. Thankfully, this lady hasn't created a plant pot-or anything similar to our idea for Wrexham in Bloom.

Further examples of more adventurous usages of plastic bottles.

Our model will require over 30 plastic bottles to make an impact, and we also will need to research flowers that attract Bees in order to link the over-all design back to the initial brief.

Researching plants which attract bees, many of the 'flowers' would be too large for the pots, however there are some perennials which would be suitable for the idea.

List of possible flowers to use:

• buttercups
• crocuses
• dahlias
• geraniums
• hyacinth
• lavender (herbs, produce an appealing sent)
• poppies

Why do we need bees?

Why do we need to recycle?

We have all separated into individual tasks. I am researching and creating notices with information on them. I believe my strongest talent is research.

Currently I am writing up the information on, why we need to recycle, why we need bees and what the plant pot is about.

The idea is that these information notices are to be put around the bottom of the plant pot. So that when people are looking at the pot they understand/learn what is going on there.

Cons to this idea however, are the placing of the pot in the centre of the town could put it at risk of getting destroyed by people.

Ideas.

Initially we were put in random groups to discuss/create ideas for the brief. This was a very interesting and allowed for a widening thought process. However, since this happened-my group disbanded as fellow members of my group either wanted to work alone or with someone they had worked with previously.

So, I went to work in a group with people I know I work well with.

In my group we decided to try and bring the recycling, bloom and bees together for our project. Too much? Perhaps, but the idea seems pretty simple.

In the initial talks with the Wrexham in Bloom people, they discussed the idea of recycled plant pots. We have taken this idea further, and intend to make a sculpture plant pot out of plastic bottles and tins. The pots will be filled with flowers known to attract bees.

Upon thinking of where the pots could go, we discussed placing them around the route-but we thought everyone will go there. We wanted our idea to go somewhere else.

Wrexham in Bloom wants to brighten up the town. Looking at the town centre, since Eagles Meadow was made, is becoming empty and grey. The plant pots for the town centre are empty, but for some rubbish.

Our idea is to make these recycled plant pots, and place them in the town centre. Not only will they look interesting/different (we hope), they'll be filled with bright, pretty flowers. And on environmental issues, they are recycled pots and they aim to attract the bees back to Wrexham.

Another part of the In Bloom campaigns, is educational. We plan to make information points around the plant pots, explaining the importance of recycling, and why bees are important and we need to look/attract them to our towns.

Meeting at the recycling plant.

At the recycling plant, it was evident that a lot of time and effort (and money) had been spent to make the plant fun and educational to the children/visitors.

This, I believe was one of the key points to make Wrexham in Bloom work. Fun and educational. People don't want to be talked at, and people seem to enjoy learning and remember more when it's fun. Long texts, of boring jargon are easily ignored. Bright characters, bold colours and minimal text.

Recycle with Michael. The councils mascot.

The councils own personal character 'Michael Recycle' is apparently very popular with the younger children. We are also allowed to use the character in our Bloom ideas.

But has he been used before?

Wrexham councils version of Michael.

Initial thoughts on brief.

The brief, set by Wrexham Council, was to help the council advertise and win Britain in Bloom 201o. The theme for Wrexham in Bloom this year is Battery Bees.

The recycling aspect of the councils plan for Wrexham in Bloom, is to encourage the people of Wrexham to recycle their batteries. Batteries are a dangerous waste issue, because of the acid inside them.

Why bother recycling batteries? Reference; Waste online 2005.

The other idea Wrexham Council had for the 'In Bloom' competition this year was to attract bees back to Wrexham and along the Heritage walk around the town. Their plan is to produce plant pots, filled with flowers which bees are highly attracted to and place them around the heritage site.

The problem with bees. Reference; BBC News online 2008.

The part of the brief which really sparked my interest was the 'bees' section. I am very interested in environmental issues, and do try to be a 'greener' person. I am a member of Green Peace, and read many other blogs by environmental activist groups/individuals.

So the idea of having the opportunity to finally, take a more active part in a serious environmental issue meant a lot to me.

How art can help the environment. Reference; The Green Museum 2010.