Merry Christmas!

My room looks like a fairy grotto with beautiful paper snowflakes made by the students hanging everywhere.  Thanks to everyone who made them...they won't be wasted as after Christmas we'll use them to screen print through so a little bit of the Christmas magic will be in the final hangings we produce.  Merry Christmas!

'Evil' Evaluations!

Many of the groups I've been working with have finished their mini projects & I've asked the students to carry out an evaluation of the work they have produced.  I haven't yet met a student who likes to do evaluations!  Most see the process as a chore so to help them along I put on some Christmas music and enticed them with the promise of making Christmas decorations. 

For me, the evaluation process is critical...it's a time to reflect on everything we've achieved & to sort out which designs will be taken forward for further development.  For the students, it's a chance to reflect upon what new skills they have learned and to feedback to me what they enjoyed the most and what they think has been the value of the process.

Here's a sample of the Evaluation questions answered by a Year 8 group:

What has been the outcome of this term?

We have made a large canvas picture of our school Tree of Life made out of prints taken from objects found around the school.

What new techniques have you tried this term?

Using acrylic paints, printing with leaves & found objects, mono printing, block printing, spray painting, collage.

Which technique did you enjoy the most?

I enjoyed layering different print technques with the leaves.

How does the work produced meet the design brief?

It reflects the identity of the school since we used all things found around the school.  It also has on the leaves all the subjects we study.  It is linked to science as it is a Tree of Life like Darwin made and it is about nature.

A Different View

Hanging sculpture produced by a group of Year 9 students, inspired by their photographic research and cell structures. 

I've been encouraging the Year 9 students to be more experimental with their artwork and to take 'a different view' of what art should look like.  This has linked well with the photography the students did right at the start of term when we captured 'different views' of the school. I think the sculpture has great potential and after Christmas I'll be developing this prototype into a larger finished piece. 

Racing Towards Christmas!

We're probably all racing towards Christmas now, aren't we?  Many of the mini projects I've been working on with students are now coming to an end and my small room is now as busy as Santa's workroom as we try and get all the wonderful drawings, photographs and collages into semblances of finished pieces of art.  Most students are not used to working collaboratively (this is not unusual), so it's exciting for them to see their individual contributions coming together to produce something far more accomplished than they could have achieved on their own.  This is one of the many great experiences that the students gain from the Residency.  I'm particularly proud of a small group of four Year 8 students who have worked towards their own Tree of Life using prints from found objects and foliage from around the school.

Not quite finished but already looking fantastic. 

Creativity in the Classroom

I'm a great advocate of creativity in the classroom ( I suppose I would be though!), believing that a creative approach not only makes for an exciting learning environment but it can also be a valuable tool to aid learning.  I've seen this in practice recently whilst working with a geography class, helping them produce models of volcanos.  There's no better way to understand a structure than to build it yourself and I'm hoping that the very sensory experience of creating paper mache volcanos will reinforce the learning that took place.  It would be interesting to ask the class in a year's time what they remember about the lessons.

The Smart Tap

Year 9 students have been rearranging their photographs of the site to produce photomontages which reflect their views & opinions of the school.  Interesting results!  I'm in the process of putting the montages together as some kind of wall hanging but here's one I'm using as a motivational poster....

DNA 'Sampling'

This term the visual research I'm carrying out with students is based upon physical aspects of the school: the buildings, gardens, local environment.  Each year group has used a different method of collecting evidence; some have taken photographs, some have foraged for items which have then been drawn or printed with, some have taken rubbings from various surfaces around the school.  I love the research stage of a project because it makes students really look closely at things that perhaps they've walked past a hundred times and never noticed.  We've remarked on how clean and tidy the school grounds are, we've noted the use of symbols & signs (in particular we love the little stick man who shows us where to walk!) and we've acknowledged how lucky we are to have a garden, Nature Reserve and such a beautiful green site in general. 

All of this 'evidence' we see as part of our school 'DNA' - it's what makes Oldbury Wells unique - and we'll be using our visual research to produce art work which reflects and celebrates the school.

POP!

I've been working with a lovely group of Year 7 students who, although I've only seen them four times, have produced a great piece of work using their vibrant paintings.  We began by creating simple line drawings of science equipment, added vibrant colour and then collaged in the style of Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein.  The group have worked with diligence and great enthusiasm and this shows in their final canvas - I'm just adding a little taster of it so as not to spoil the surprise when you see the final piece.

Endless Forms

A few weeks ago Yr 8 completed some beautiful observational drawings of botanical specimens found around the school. I'm now asking them to be designers and have shown them a simple way of generating repeat patterns using an abstracted part of their drawing as a template. The designs are fantastic and really show that in design as well as nature there are 'Endless Forms' as Darwin said.

We'll be working into these designs with collage and then developing them into our own hand printed fabrics which I'll put together into a large patchwork piece.  I think it will look stunning when finished.

D.N.A.

The words 'DeoxyriboNucleic Acid' (DNA) have been imprinted on my brain since Secondary School, along with my Times Tables and the verb endings for the future tense in French! When I was asked to propose a theme for the Residency, I knew I wanted to do something linked to identity but didn't immediately see how I would link this to Science and then out popped that word, DeoxyriboNucleic Acid! Amazing how random bits of knowledge jump to your aid when needed.

There are so many issues surrounding the subject of DNA and the Human Genome that I can tap into visually - the idea of a genetic code, cloning, DNA fingerprinting, Genetic Modification etc. I shall also use DNA as a platform to explore the wider concept of identity in terms of both individual and whole school identity. So to get us started, here's a few fascinating facts about DNA.

If you unwrap all the DNA you have in all your cells, you could reach the moon 6000 times!

Over 99% of our DNA sequence is the same as other humans’.

DNA testing is used to authenticate food like caviar and fine wine.

A DNA fingerprint is a set of DNA markers that is unique for each individual except identical twins.

The website http://www.jeansforgenes.com/ has some good visual resources about DNA which are suitable for students of all ages.

"Science is about finding the answer"

I've been having some really interesting conversations with students this week about how they perceive Science and Art. A Year 9 student suggested that "Science is about finding the answer" which I think is a beautiful summary of what we are all trying to do. I've been showing students various pictures and debating with them whether they were produced as art or science - what do you think of this one?

Year 8's this week have travelled back in time nearly 180 years! We put ourselves in the shoes of Charles Darwin, setting sail on his epic voyage on The Beagle to discover new species of plant and animal life. We imagined that he first came up the River Severn and landed right here at the site of Oldbury Wells (you have to allow me a little artistic licence!). We looked at the types of plant life found around the school and tried to record them in the way that Darwin would have - with botanical drawings. I'll upload some of their drawings soon.

It's interesting that nowadays drawing is often seen as a leisure activity but of course in Darwin's time it would have been the only way to record images - no cameras yet, no mobile phones, no internet to share the images with others. It must have been so exciting when the ship came back to England and people saw all the wonderful 'Endless Forms' which Darwin had found.

Unfortunately the 'Endless Forms' exhibition has now closed but there are still lots of interesting resources and activities on the site - I've put a link to it on the blog. The exhibition looked at how visual artists were inspired by Darwin's findings and I have the book in school if anyone would like to take a look at it.

Art V Science

Today I've been discussing with a group of Year 9 students the big question of whether Art and Science can work together in any way. My brief for this Residency is to produce artwork which relates to the Science College status of the school so I've been thinking alot about the relationship between the Arts and Science. In our discussion the students used words such as 'theory', 'factual', 'research', 'experiments' and 'testing' when thinking about science and they felt that art was more 'random', dealing with 'ideas', 'feelings' and 'concepts'.

One of the questions we will be seeking to answer this year is whether Art can illuminate/aid understanding of science and whether a more scientific approach to the art processes we use would give a different outcome. So there will be less 'random' splashing about of paint and more testing, experimentation and careful recording of results!

What is an Artist in Residence?

It sounds like a really posh title doesn't it? An 'Artist in Residence' (AiR for short!) is an artist who spends some time at a school and produces work in collaboration with the students. I'm really excited about being AiR at Oldbury Wells School: it's a great opportunity to share my passion about the Arts and a chance for students to follow the professional practice of an artist. I've set up this blog as a record of the journey and hopefully some of the students I work with will be able to add their comments along the way.