In March this year participants from all over the world gathered in Xianyou in Fujian province, China to participate in World Wood Day 2014. WWD is organised by the International Wood Culture Society (IWCS), a US not-for-profit organisation.
Terry Martin was a project coordinator for WWD and wrote about this event in AWR#83, describing the international symposium, demonstrations, collaborative and musical events which took place.
‘Together We Can’ is a video which features a cultural exchange tour which WWD participants took part in after the main event.
Terry Martin explains in the video how 80 participants from over 30 countries visited Wenzhou Special School. Students of this school excel in crafts and art across the nation, and yet all 900 attend by virtue of their learning, hearing and visual disabilities.
The students observed and participated in woodturning and carving exercises, but it wasn’t so much about the teaching and learning of skills, said Terry Martin, ‘The main thing that was happening here was an exchange of feelings.’
By the end of this half hour video, it’s hard to tell who got more out of the experience, the kids or the facilitators.
Learn more about the International Wood Culture Society here