Looking through the Eyes of a Child

A child sees and experiences the world from a different perspective. Although this idea is not new to us, comprehending it remains a challenge - and also an opportunity - in the world of art. Beginning with an exhibition by Graham Crowley in 2008, West Cork Art Centre have produced many- what they have titled as - Discovery Boxes created to accompany various exhibitions, offering children and their adult carers a playful approach to the presented artwork. (for more background information on Discovery Box, visit our website) 

One creator of several Discovery Boxes since the very beginning of the programme, is artist Sarah Ruttle, who has also been commissioned to create the latest box to go with Gabhann Dunne’s exhibition Committed to Falling. Over the years, Sarah has gained a lot of experience on what a child requires in order to engage with art. During the development of the concept of Discovery Box, a child psychologist was consulted in order to learn more about how young children aged between 18 months and 3 years engage in meaningful experiences. With this background knowledge, there’s still the challenge of every exhibition being completely different. Sarah Ruttle’s approach in creating the Discovery Box is to first of all get an impression on where the exhibiting artist is coming from. What are their ideas? What is their message? and how are they conveying this? 

Gabhann Dunne’s latest exhibition at West Cork Arts Centre dealt with extinct plants and birds or those which are non-native and yet naturalised here in West Cork. The paintings raise questions about how nature and all its inhabitants, humans included, face difficult times like the current climate crisis. This beautiful and complex narrative about nature and identity might be challenging for an adult to grasp on first viewing, “but how does this look through the eyes of a child?” is the question Sarah asks herself when creating the Discovery Box. Very young children do not yet comprehend the concept of identity and link it to the presented artwork, rather “they will see the colour, this impressive blue which is so striking within the exhibition. They will see all the different plants and birds in all their shapes, texture and scale,” she says. Working through these aspects of the artist's work, Sarah created a series of tactile and explorative tools for smaller children to engage with this powerful exhibition. Especially for younger children, a sensory experience is of the essence. And we all know the feeling of being in an exhibition, desperately wanting to touch the work presented. Here, Sarah came up with the idea of providing small pieces of oil painted cardboard, for all of Gabhann’s works are painted in oil. Children and their families now have the chance to literally get in touch with the medium and playfully arrange the colourful cardboard pieces, emulating or re-inventing the placement of the artwork, another key feature of this exhibition. 

Small sound boxes with pre-recorded bird songs stimulate the sense of hearing and bring wildlife into the gallery space. Bird’s masks and feathered wings encourage children to become migratory birds themselves. The wings in the box bring the artwork off the static walls, igniting the imagination and enabling children to fly around the exhibition with them, just like the bird on its own journey. 

The colour blue is repeated in a light fabric with bird-shaped holes in it. Families are encouraged to play together, floating the fabric and observing how the light forms moving shadows through the bird silhouettes. This activity connects to the theme of movement of Gabhann Dunne’s painted birds, which give the impression of being photographed in midair. 

For the smaller ones, Sarah found yet another way to engage with the exhibition, drawing attention to the colour co-ordination in a jigsaw. On a blue background colourful birds have to find their place, which gives young children and their families a chance to think about the blocks of colour in the exhibition. All these items and activities create a memorable connection to the artworks shown and the playful engagement  initiates a positive attitude towards art institutions in general.

Like other Discovery Boxes previously, this one was used outside Uillinn as part of a Curiosity Project with Playgroups all around West Cork. Taking items from the Box with them, artists Tess Leak and Sarah Ruttle visited playgroups encouraging the children to engage creatively with birds and nature and thereby get in touch with Gabhann Dunne’s artwork. ‘This part of the work is only made possible with trusted partnerships we have built over time with Cork County Childcare, ETB and HSE,’ explains Programme Manager: Education & Community, Justine Foster. ‘The partnership allows us to deliver a free to access programme that combats the recognised barriers for our rural community in accessing real life artworks and provides a valuable formative experience that reflects positively on the young children's engagement with museums and galleries for life.’

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the current closure of the art centre, the Discovery Box could not be used as long as it would normally have been. During the short period of time the box has been in action, it was a great success nevertheless.

Images by Sarah Ruttle