Community Project - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 Its been 50 years since the first publication of the Very Hungry Caterpillar story by Eric Carle. First published in 1969. The story has been translated into more than 65 languages and sold more than 46 million copies world wide. This little robust picture book that has been read by generations of people over the years and has proved itself as a beautifully simple, educational and totally relatable book for many cultures. Its about nature and transformation, a subject most human being can relate too. Carle used to walk every Sunday with his father in the park as a child. His father used to talk about nature and this has a profound effect on Carles picture books.

Eric Carle worked in publishing office and as he worked he noticed the little holes made by the hole punch. He had an idea and started work on a story about a wood worm eating through things. When he showed the story to his publisher she said the idea wasn’t working and re think the concept. He did and came up with the idea of a Caterpillar who eats through lots of food and then turns into a butterfly. His publisher loved it and the rest is history!  

For the past few years in my local community we have had a Garforth Feastival. This is a festival of food and local suppliers and this year was a very busy one. I was very fortunate to be able to work with all the local primary schools to celebrate Eric Carles 50th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar book and work with the schools and make some art to promote the Garforth Feastival as well. We were able to explore Carles techniques and learn about his inspirations.

 This was a community project and it required help from different people. The Headteachers were all very supportive of the idea and we even got the wood donated by Peases of Garforth, our local hardware shop. Firstly I had to think about how Carle made his images. He used collage and painted tissue paper, basically using translucent and opaque layers to make his images. I really wanted the kids to experience this, so we worked in tissue paper and paint on wood. I cut holes in the fruit and I hung them with cable ties on the school railings of each school. I did have to create a water resistant layer on the top of the collage or it would have turned to pulp in the rain.

The children all loved learning this technique because it was simple. In fact everything about Eric Carle’s work is beautifully simple. The only thing making it complicated was the waterproofing and my crash course in using a jigsaw but in the end they looked great! The kids did so well and the results worked! The colours were bright and the effect had a great sense of depth which is definitely what I wanted to achieve.

I also used my Thursday Art group to help me make the caterpillar. I use a recycling shop called Scrap Creative, this is a social enterprise based in Leeds, focussed on helping the environment by resting waste materials from businesses as resources for art and play. This was all sponsored by St Roberts for the Feastival event.

This was actually the easy bit of the Caterpillar and making the armature and controlling the undulating shape of the form was not easy at all. In fact I lost the shape in the next phase but it was the first time I made a Caterpillar so I wasn’t going to get too pedantic. I used thick card shapes to make the curved form and then covered it in thin foam. I learnt a lot about adhesives which was good to know for the future. To strengthen his structure I covered him in a netting from Scrap Creative and then painted it. His head was made with a huge foam block and the kids in my Thursday group had a go at figuring out how to stick it together. At one point it looked like a pork joint but it worked!

I did actually have to provide a risk assessment for the caterpillar to the land owner. I was sensible but was very tempted to list ‘large flock of birds swooping to eat caterpillar’ as a high risk on the assessment.

The Feastival day was a busy one. But the Rocket Studio was decorated with a large butterfly with the wings decorated by the schools. I also organised food printing and Eric Carle butterfly and caterpillar workshops. Community members could come and learn his techniques and make lovely prints with food. 

On reflection it was a wonderful experience for me, I felt a great sense of connection. I felt connected to people, to Eric Carle’s work and materials and more importantly to the reason for creation. I make things because I want to and because I can, but the reasons for making things can be supportive in understanding each other. Eric Carle shared what his father gave him as he walked through the parks as a child. His love for nature and his observation of the world he lived in drove him to make a picture book that has had a profound affect of culture. We can see an image of fruit with a crisp round hole in it and we automatically think ‘Ive seen a book like that’. Thats exactly what happened one morning as I was fixing the fruit to a school fence. A mother was walking past with her child and said ‘Look, its the very Hungry Caterpillar’.

I also learned about that the ideas we have, and the enthusiasm for what they mean can push us to places we haven’t been. Artistic processes teach us so much about how we view things. Artistic practice teaches us new methods of working and materials to help us communicate ideas into objects that people can related too.

Everyone needs this in their lives… art is life.

Ninelands Lane Fruit