After finishing my degree in 2010, I felt I wanted to reassess the direction I was to take, if I was to remain connected to the art world in some way. At that moment I knew the career path of straight up artist wasn't for me. I hunted down some education based opportunities and was lucky to find a variety of projects where I worked with talented arts educators between 2010 - 2012. These opportunities were inspirational and fired up my appetite to collaborate on and lead projects, especially with children who in my opinion make the best art ever!
In no particular order here are some snippets of the fun projects I got to muscle in on....
Whitechapel Gallery Internship
Family Programme Intern 2011
Working with Whitechapel Gallery, May - September 2011 was a very insightful opportunity. Not only from the perspective of discovering the inner workings of a prominent London gallery, but also seeing first hand the impact of arts education from both the families' and the gallery's point of view.
The Family Programme Internship runs every year and involves working with the Curator, Children and Families, on the Children's Art commission, (galleries 5 and 6). The yearly project and exhibition has workshops running alongside for schools and families over the summer months. The internship was jam packed with new experiences for me, from collecting the pottery from its home in Norwich to assisting with the show's installation. I designed and oversaw workshops in-keeping with the exhibition, delivered by a range of talented artists and craftspeople who were carefully sourced. I also learnt a little about updating the gallery website with developments and blogging on the REcreative site where 'Pot of the Week' was held,(see below).
'British artist Alan Kane presents a floor-to-ceiling display of a forgotten moment of popular craft revival. The 1960s and ‘70s saw a resurgence in traditional wheel-thrown, glazed stone and slipware pottery in the typical rustic earthy tones of that era. Patted, squeezed, pinched, and pressed, these frank ceramics became a fashionable alternative to modernist design.'whitechapel Gallery
Alan filled one half of the gallery space with pottery from a private collection, and left the other half empty for the public to fill. The exhibition created such a buzz, with all sorts of pottery being dropped off everyday!- literally anything was welcome. Each piece was labelled and installed (by me), to be safely returned if required at the end of the show. With the remaining donated pieces, Alan has created a permanent collection in gallery 3 with his favorite items. One of the most exciting things for the public was that their donated item, was exhibited in the gallery for all to see, and really gave them a feeling of collaboration with the project.
Alan's half of the exhibition installed...
Alan chose slim floor to ceiling shelving and crisp white walls. He displayed the pottery in such a way that the space between each piece brought out the beauty and individuality often over looked in this pottery of a bygone era.
The pots at 'home'. The collector has thousands of pieces in her home, picked up mostly from carboot sales.
The donated pottery during the earlier stages of the show.
Donated pottery:
Pineapple bowl
Olive pot. Once completely broken and painstakingly glued back together!
Tortoise...?
Known as 'black blob'. Its identity or origin was never established.
Literally, anything was welcome..
I couldn't resist donating something of my own. A bath I had made as a teenager.
We set up a 'Pot of the Week' feature on the REcreative website where the unusual donations were showcased. REcreative is an online community and resource that explores contemporary art. It was set up by a group of young people in 2010 and is well worth a look. www.recreativeuk.com
details of the workshops to follow..!
Artburst
London based charity Artburst, run amazing workshops integrating art and and drama. Their facilitators are incredibly skilled and bring out the performer in even the shyest of children (and volunteers!). This particular project was run over a half term with a group of children aged 7-12.
Using the well known children's story, Ship Ahoy, by Peter Sis, the group simultaneously wrote a script, made props and backdrops (with the most humble of materials), and squeezed in numerous rehearsals, ending the week with a brilliantly comical performance for friends and family.
stage set
cardboard palm tree
consequences never fails to amuse!
treasure chest full of swords..and a QE2 Captain's Hat
Working with Artburst was so much fun. In terms of experience it was a no-brainer for me. Artburst work with children from as young as three years old up to twelve, from all walks of life. They run hour long, after school, week long projects, they work with speech therapists, musicians, actors, artists...! The addition of working with drama facilitators in their workshops brings life to the calming art activities on offer, a dynamic I've not come across very often in this field.
Viyki Turnbull Artist - Drawing on Film Workshop, Whitechapel Gallery.
I Had the pleasure of supporting Viyki to deliver a two day drawing and painting course through Whitechapel Gallery, London, with a small group of children aged eight to eleven. Viyki is exceptional to work with, she's engaging, energetic and bursting with exciting ideas to inspire children (though she works with all ages). Through drawing and painting the children explored the current exhibition by the artist, Wilhelm Sasnal (featuring painting and film) in the gallery space before creating their final piece.
The children worked in pairs to design and produce short painterly animations of their own ideas created in oil paint, on perspex, using only a digital camera and a basic software program, which they edited to music. (They're quite short so it's worth watching them a few times!)
Sun Absorb
Unusual Skies
Pepperoni
Sundown
Year Three Printmaking Workshop 2012
I designed this two hour workshop for a class of year three pupils at a primary school in East Sussex, linking with their learning journey project for the term which was the Ancient Egyptians. In the two hours the children learned about the Egyptian symbols, the Eye of Horus, Ankh and Scarab Beetle, which they sketched and explored repeat patterns. They then took their chosen image and drew it into a piece of polystyrene to use as a printing block. To finish the work, their printing block was mounted in the center of their print.
Black sugar paper, polystyrene, acrylic paint.
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