Warning - space machine building site! Photo courtesy City Art Gallery, Leicester

Phillipa Davies learns how to make a space machine at a Museums and Galleries Month 2008 event.

Leicester’s City Art Gallery became a hive of activity when a group of youngsters arrived to be transported into a distant galaxy on Wednesday May 28 2008. Space Machines was a workshop that gave children aged between eight and 13 years the chance to build a rocket using recycled materials.

“It’s part of the Spark children’s art festival; our current exhibition, Guy Allot’s Falling Forwards (on now until June 28), as well as Museums and Galleries Month. They all tie in together quite well,” said Lisa Jacques, learning officer at City Gallery.

“The learning space will be open throughout the exhibition. It’s a free opportunity to use the materials and create art as a family,” said Lisa.

The morning began at 10.30am as the children were sat down for an introduction to the gallery and a slideshow of both existing and imaginary rockets. This was intended to get their creative juices flowing.

Making the rocket's casing. Photo courtesy City Art Gallery, Leicester

By 11.15am they were all in their white ‘spacesuits’ before they were allowed into the ‘building site’. Once there, the group was divided into four teams of four to start putting their ideas on paper, which was rolled out in strips across the floor.

Drawings took shape using black and grey pens along with descriptions of what materials should be used and how big their space ship was intended to be.

“The aim of the workshop was to get to new people who haven’t been to the gallery before. It worked since about half of those who attended hadn’t been before,” said Lisa from the gallery.

After lunch, things really started to get going. It was all hands on deck as two rockets began to take shape.

Inside the Learning Space at City Gallery. Photo courtesy City Art Gallery, Leicester

Elodie Rosello was one of those making sure that it all ran smoothly and she was happy to report there were no tears or injuries apart from a splinter.

“The kids worked really hard at it. These workshops are good because it teaches them to negotiate and work as a team; there were no arguments when we chose the two designs. It’s things that you don’t really learn at school,” said Elodie, one of the workshop leaders.

To infinity and beyond - possibly even as far as Market Harborough! Photo courtesy City Art Gallery, Leicester

By the time the hammering, stapling and chatting had subsided at 3pm, two rockets were almost complete with one standing just 75mm shy of the ceiling. Once completed, the larger rocket will stay in the learning area and the smaller one will be screwed to the wall to take pride of place until the exhibition finishes on 28 June.

“It went really well - everyone had something to do. The younger ones were painting while the couple of older ones were building using hammers and screwdrivers,” said Ed Orton, the creative force behind the project.

The workshop was funded by Renaissance East Midlands as part of Museums and Galleries Month 2008.

Phillipa Davies is one of our three Renaissance East Midlands arts writers, reporting on MGM 2008 events all over the region for the whole month of May. Renaissance is the groundbreaking initiative to transform England's regional museums, led by MLA, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council