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.