Artist in Residence - Priory Lower School - Picasso Yr 4

We looked at Picasso's harlequins 

and cubist musicians and then made 

a felt portrait head inspired by the 

paintings we had explored. We sewed 

them on the sewing machine, I

 steered, the children drove!

Whilst the sewing was taking place the children made

A3 paper collages of their own Picasso inspired musicians

Inspired by Patrick Caulfield

As a special project with Year 4 at Priory Lower School we decided that it would be good to focus on observational drawing. I raided my store of vintage crockery and we constructed low towers of cups and side plates on each table. We were so busy drawing that I have no pictures of the drawings! The class made preliminary sketches on their white boards and were then asked to redraw their compositions on paper with pencil. It probably seemed like a very dry session, drawing from life is complex, so we spent a lot of time looking, discussing, adjusting and re-scaling. Trying to draw everyday objects with regular yet different shapes in stacks was also a challenge. Sometimes it is essential to slow things down, to take time to draw what you see rather than what you think you see. Later I was delighted when one of the class told me how much he loved drawing an would I like to see his sketch book.

As a counterpoint to the observational drawing the pupils were then given brightly coloured card and asked to draw one piece of crockery on each piece of card. This approach lead us to look at the work of  Patrick Caulfield 

We were particularly struck by Coloured Still Life, 1967 a bold abstract and graphic still life featuring bowl, jug and glasses on a blue background and Pottery, 1969 Original: Oil on canvas 213.4 x 152.4 cm.

We cut out our card templates and then the children were able to make a Caulfield inspired composition, moving the templates round until they were happy with the design. 

We used a thin, quick drying paint which needed two coats and still showed the brush marks unlike the Caulfields which would have had a completely flat finish. Not everyone found the flatness an easy concept, some children took a painterly approach, others precision flatness the finish required. The characteristic black lines were applied with marker to give a firmer, steadier outline.

I have just noticed that the Tate Gallery shop has a new range of items in their Homewares range - The Patrick Caulfield Collection, oh dear, I might just need to add the milk jug to my collection!

Priory Residency - Woodland Creatures - Autumn 2014

I have been Priory Lower School's Artist in Residence for about eight years, visiting the school on Friday mornings for a wide variety of art projects. My Autumn project with Year 2 was to create woodland creatures and a woodland frieze from found or recycled materials. Luckily the trees outside the school had been shedding gorgeous, large leaves and I came armed with cardboard boxes and twigs from my garden. 

The children made drawings of insects they thought they might find in a wood then cut and glued them out of felt. They also made drawing of leaves on green paper which were cut out used and printed with some handy insect stamps. Pupils painted the twigs a base colour and then later added stripes and spots.

Everyone printed a pair of colourful birds each using 

my portable printing press and water based inks.

When dry they were laminated and added to our frieze.

The wonderful display was put together 

by Mrs Youngman and her team

During my second morning on the project

the children created birds and beasts

from boxes, wool cones and leaves.

Inspired by Inuit Printmakers

My demonstration prints

I was invited to work with Year 2, Italy Class at Queens Park Academy in Bedford. Our theme for the day was Inuit art and we were inspired by the Cape Dorset Prints at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation. Before 1957, graphic art on paper was rare in the Canadian Eastern Arctic, despite the lack of paper, a strong Inuit graphic tradition has existed for many centuries. Printmaking was introduced in Cape Dorset in late 1957 by James Houston (1921–2005), an artist, writer and the Area Administrator for South Baffin Island.

"Prints also cover a great variety of themes. Some illustrate scenes from myth and memories of the old ways of life, while others depict the transforming life in the Arctic and the influence of outsiders. The land, ocean and Arctic animals are frequent subject matter, and evidence the deeply felt bonds between Inuit artists and their natural world. The artworks make eloquent statements about Inuit identity — past and present — and offer a unique window into Canada’s history." from the Online Exhibition of Inuit prints from Cape Dorset.

Italy Class had already spent some time this term exploring the art and environment of the Antarctic and the classroom had paintings, snowflakes, an arctic base camp with tent and the remains of an igloo created from empty milk bottles. In such a creative environment we were all ready to explore and enjoy the magic of print!

The children cut out patterns to incorporate in their prints and had chosen an animal to represent. We spent the first session drawing our animals up to A3 scale whilst referring to original Inuit prints. 

Mrs Mortimer was inspired by the Cape Dorset print above

The technique we used employed stencils, as in the Cape Dorset prints and our plates were made from 

thin card which we rolled with water based inks in a limited colour palette. We made just over 60 prints during the day! Here are just a sample.

Owls

Prints hung out to dry

Penguin

Polar Bear with a fish inside

Installation Day - Priory Lower School

A day of wonderful weather made the installation of the Illuminate mural at Priory Lower School a delight and a pleasure. We said a fond farewell to the old, tired Thomas mural and began lining the boards up in order along the perimeter fence.

Ivor Hind, Michael Miles and Andrew Rushton formed the hanging team whilst Paula Wakeling, Sheila Hind and I nailed and painted quadrant beading and gave the mural another coat of anti vandal varnish.

We finished just as parents were coming to collect their children and were delighted to see their smiles and waves of approval. This group pointed out their portraits to me as I took their photo.

You can read about how the mural was made here

Illuminate - The Community Mural

As part of Priory Lower School's Arts Council Funded Illuminate project we held a community day where parents and children could come and add their portrait to the mural for the Reception play area. Initially the plan was to paint straight onto the fence but the arrival of more snow on the Monday morning meant it would be impossible for the primer to dry. Illuminate's amazing Project Coordinator, Paula Wakeling managed to source and have delivered, 14 marine ply boards and the afternoon was spent cutting and priming them ready for the following morning.

Michael Miles cutting the boards to size

Ivor and Sheila Hind priming

The day started quite quietly, mid-morning MP Richard Fuller came and joined the children for a spot of painting. By the afternoon we were almost overwhelmed with the amount of visitors and after school all the members of staff came to add their portraits instead of having a staff meeting. There were many intense conversations about hair colour and lip shape, plus the complexity of getting the nose looking nose-like and many wails of "Carole, can you just....."! 

Having worked on community projects for many years now drop-in sessions are not my favourite, it's hard to meet, greet and inform all the waves of new arrivals and chaos can ensue, 

by the end of the day parts of the mural were looking a bit disorderly and it was clear we would need more than a day to get the project finished.

Thankfully we were given more time to bring all the panels together

by mid-morning the next day Mrs Youngman was overheard saying 

" I see Carole's been working her magic!"

By Thursday all the panels had been painted and many people had been involved, there was a lovely energy coming from staff, pupils and parents, the children were so proud of their work and the Reception teacher kept coming back to check on our progress "I love! I just love it!"

Can you spot me with my wonderful mural painting Ninja's aka Mr and Mrs Hind who most definitely earned their paint brush wings. So many people gave so much help and their spirit illuminated a very cold, grey week! We will be installing the panels, weather permitting, soon and there will be a celebration of the whole Illuminate project in May.