Visual Arts & Crafts – B2 English Listening Exercise

9 sculpture workshop 10 theatre designer 11 sketchbook 12 local nature

13 thick cardboard 14 oak tree 15 public park

16 wild flowers 17 bird feathers 18 time-lapse video

Liam: Hi everyone. My name’s Liam, and I’m here today to talk about an amazing weekend activity I recently participated in. I usually spend my free time at home playing video games, so my parents encouraged me to get out and try something creative. I initially thought I was signing up for a traditional painting class, as that’s what the community centre usually offers. But actually, it turned out to be a collaborative sculpture workshop, which ended up being incredibly engaging.

I assumed the session would be led by a strict school teacher, or maybe a local gallery curator. However, our facilitator, Sarah, is actually a professional theatre designer. She brought so much energy to the room and really knew how to manage a large group of energetic teenagers.

Before building anything, we needed to brainstorm our collective vision. I was hoping we’d get to use fancy digital tablets to map out our ideas, as I love technology, but instead, Sarah handed each of us a plain sketchbook to roughly outline our concepts. It forced us to rely on our basic drawing skills and really think about the physical shapes.

We had to agree on a central theme for the piece. A few kids strongly campaigned for an ocean theme, wanting to make a giant octopus, and someone else suggested outer space. In the end, though, we collectively voted to focus on local nature, as we wanted something deeply connected to our everyday surroundings in the town.

Once that was settled, we looked at our materials. For the main structure, I was fully expecting to get my hands dirty with heavy clay. But since we were building something colossal that needed to stand up on its own, we utilized thick cardboard instead, reinforcing the fragile joints with plenty of flexible wire.

We started assembling the pieces in the middle of the room. We had briefly discussed constructing a mountain shape, or even a giant flower. But we ultimately decided to build an enormous oak tree, with its branches stretching right up to the ceiling of the studio. It took hours of taping and tying to get it completely stable.

Once the base was done, we needed materials to adorn it. Rather than just opening packets of glitter or plastic beads from the craft store, Sarah took us on a scavenging walk to a nearby public park to see what interesting organic items we could find.

While we were wandering around the green spaces, I initially wanted to gather handfuls of wild flowers to glue onto the branches to make it colourful. However, Sarah strictly warned us that picking those was prohibited by the council, so we had to look for other items that had already fallen to the ground.

Some people started piling up dry twigs, and I noticed some beautiful autumn leaves. But what really brought our artwork to life were the naturally shed bird feathers we discovered scattered near the duck pond. We gathered dozens of them, and they looked absolutely stunning attached to the cardboard branches, giving the whole sculpture a brilliant texture.

By the end of the day, we were incredibly proud of our collaborative giant tree. I thought we’d just get a framed photograph of the group standing next to it to take home as a memory. But amazingly, Sarah had set up a camera in the corner all day and emailed us all a brilliant time-lapse video of the entire construction process! It was a fantastic record of our hard work.

9 mechanic 10 conference 11 sister 12 lamps 13 equipment 14 sportsman 15 magazine 16 landscapes 17 truck 18 cycling

Lukas Royle: Hello, my name’s Lukas Royle, and I’m a glass artist. Essentially, I make pictures in glass, often very large ones. I must say that it wasn’t the career my parents had hoped I’d follow. According to them, a much more suitable thing to do was to work as a mechanic. My father was a farmer, and he thought I should do something conventional, even if I didn’t follow in his footsteps.

I’ve always been artistic, though, and loved drawing in particular. I’d never thought of working with glass until one day I saw a beautiful glass window and knew that I wanted to make that sort of thing too. We were driving to a new shopping centre in town, and the window was in a conference centre we passed. I’ll never forget that moment.

I wouldn’t have gone to art school, though, unless I’d been encouraged to do so. My older brother and cousin used to tease me a bit when I preferred painting to climbing trees, but my sister was kinder. She said I was so good at art that I should definitely study it, and that gave me the confidence to apply.

I was lucky enough to find a job while I was still at art school. There was a furniture shop nearby, and I went in and told them I was specialising as a glass artist. I offered to produce some lamps for them, because they sold designer furniture like tables and sofas. What I made sold well, and the shop’s owner was delighted, so that turned out to be very successful.

By the time I graduated from art school, I’d managed to save up a bit of money, so I could get all of the equipment I needed. I rented a small studio and started my life as an independent artist. It was a bit scary, because it can be hard work to make a living as an artist, but it was also a very exciting time!

I took part in various exhibitions with other artists, and one day, at an exhibition in a small gallery, a few pieces of mine were sold to a well-known sportsman. He showed them to some of his famous friends – a dancer, for example, and a designer. They then started dropping in to my studio to see how I worked, which I thought was amazing.

Reviews are very important for an artist, I think, and another boost to my career came when an arts reviewer said a lot of complimentary things about my work in the magazine he wrote for. After that, loads more people visited my website, and I was even interviewed for a national newspaper.

I began to concentrate on one particular thing, though for the first few years my subject matter had been broad: people, animals, still lives – you name it. I decided that landscapes were really my thing, and I’ve mostly stuck to those ever since.

I’ve designed windows for hotels and restaurants over the years, and recently I’ve been designing windows for factories. I’ve done one for a tractor factory – this time the one I’m working on is for one belonging to a truck manufacturer. I like the idea that people can look at my art while they’re at work.

I do work a lot, especially when I’m trying to complete a commission, but of course I have time off too. A lot of my friends are into hill walking. I’m not so keen on that and prefer cycling, which a bunch of us often do at the weekend. I used to go jogging with a couple of neighbours, but I’ve given that up because I don’t have that much time, unfortunately. I wouldn’t change anything about my life, though, I love what I do!