Sunday 27 May 2012

Residency and Rent - Some Recent Work in Schools

 

During the winter term I worked with Year 3 at Priory Lower School in Bedford, our theme was outer space . The children imagined their own universe and each child created an A4 wet felted panel depicting planets and stars.



The following week we read Ted Hughes The Iron Giant and tried to imagine the planet the giant might have come from. We also used this as a means of exploring ink and wax resists and wax crayons on a heavy weight paper.


In the Spring Term we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and each child made a paper collage of the caterpillar and one of the things he might have eaten. The following week the children made a picture of the butterfly that the caterpillar later became. Very few of the children adopted the principle of symmetry when creating their butterflies!



During the Winter Term I also worked with Year 2 who were studying Patchwork and this gave us the opportunity to explore, pattern, design and repetition. As the children would be working on actual fabric with another facilitator we decided to work with paper. Each child was given a paper master of a traditional patchwork block and then had to follow the pattern and apply papers of different colours. 

  

Each child made a second paper patch using decoupage papers and paper punches, they also added 'stitches' using marker pens.


Year 2 also made woven paper patchwork blocks, using two different patterned wallpapers. After the individual squares were woven the children helped me to add a machine stitched pattern on top.


As part of the agreement I have with Beanfield Primary School, Corby (where I currently have a studio) I worked with children in different year groups on art projects that complimented their Science Week activities. Children from several years experimented with moving images, making thaumatropes, zoetropes and flip books.


Year 1 explored oil and water resists whilst marbling paper plates and cut out birds which were later used by older children to create wind sculptures.


The image above shows the plan for a mosaic at Oakley Vale Primary School in Corby. The design was a distillation of images and ideas from drawings made by children in each class.


I was artist in residence for six days and during that time every child in every class came and helped to apply the tiles. The image above gives an idea of the stages the work went through to reach the finished piece.



 The work has now been installed on the front of the building.


Here is the completed mosaic in more detail.


This mosiac designed and made by children at the Arran Way Community Centre

No comments:

Post a Comment