‘When the Tide Comes in,’ is our exciting new project working with young people in Sefton to create an animation exploring our local marine environment. We have partnered with the ‘Buddy Up’ mentoring service in Sefton to recruit our group of participants. The ‘Buddy up’ service helps to promote social skills, increase confidence and improve employment. For more information please visit their website, click here.
The project is funded by the Postcode Lottery. We would like to create an animation that will show visitors what is happening under the sea, to imagine what the Antony Gormley statues can see when the tide comes in and alert visitors to our coast to the fragility of the marine environment and what they can do to help protect it. We are working with the award-winning animation and film company, Fuzzy Duck, to create the animation and the finished piece will be displayed as a panoramic projection on our museum corridor on the 2nd floor. Encounter the Unexpected is our new project space outside the museum which will be changing constantly as we present new community art events and projects inspired by Sefton’s beautiful coast.
The group met for the first time at Ainsdale Discovery Centre. They began by photographing the beach and the material the tide and the wind bring in to the shore. John Dempsey, Project Officer for Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership, then gave a talk about the marine environment and provided the group with booklets called ‘Beachcombing for the weird and wonderful’. He then led a tour on the beach where everyone had a go at beachcombing and identified the objects collected using the booklets. Star objects found were egg cases or mermaid’s purses. Empty egg cases are a good indicator of the whereabouts of dogfish and other shark nursery grounds.The weirdest by far was a Dead Man’s Finger, which is soft coral usually hidden offshore.
The next session was held at Fuzzy Duck’s design studios in Media City Salford. In this session Matt, Head of Animation, and Natalie, Illustrator and Animator, introduced us to the different types of animation and the variety of work they produce. The group were able to have a go at stop motion animation, using an Ipad app and the material we collected at Ainsdale beach. We looked at title sequences, The Iron Men, what people may do on the beach and how the tide affects these. Here is a clip from that session- you may see some of it in our final animation!
Written by Pippa Courtley, Programme Support Assistant
