Youth Artist in Residency at The Dock, Jackie Maguire has created a unique collaboration between soil scientist Dr Agnieszka Piwowarczyk, Forest School educator Trisha MacLaughlin and herself.
Together they will lead a series of workshops entitled The Soil Universe focused on young children under six years. Their work will involve researching and exploring soil as a living system as part of a future theatre production. This residency is a great opportunity for the trio to raise awareness of important environmental issues facing the soil ecosystem and to engage young children in these topics through the arts. It will also provide a space for children to develop their creative voice in art, decision-making, and creativity.
The series of workshops will explore the soil universe in three parts. Firstly, by inviting young children to experiment with soil in a sensorial way and discover the different soil textures through touch. Secondly, in the Living soil workshop we will examine soil and discover the amazing life within using microscopes and projectors. Finally, in the third workshop Talking soil, we will consider the symbiotic relationship that exists between plants and mycorrhizal fungi. Questions such as; how do plants and fungi communicate and talk to each other? What messages do they send and what sounds do they make, will be explored?
During her residency at The Dock, Jackie wishes to return to her educational roots in Theatre Studies and Environmental Science (BA Hons) and explore these two worlds with young children, while seeding new ideas for a future early year’s theatre production.
While journeying and exploring the soil universe, the trio hope to introduce their initial ideas and observe how children respond, create, move, act and what sounds they make in response to the soil workshops. In particular, the trio are interested to see how the children influence them and consequently what direction they might take future artistic work in.
In recent years Jackie has worked with The Ark, the National Gallery of Ireland, Fingal Arts Office, Trinity College Dublin’s Arts Education Research Group and Grasshoppers Festival on a number of early year’s arts projects.
