the working process and studio practice: new art from past art
About the School Art Workshops
The project presents an excellent opportunity for school groups and community groups to engage with the creative visual process during the year of production. Three two day workshops are planned with Gwynedd, Ynys Môn and Conwy primary schools. The workshops will be designed around the process of making new art forms from old and are specifically designed to interact with the ongoing process of thinking and making though engagement with studio practice as opposed to reviewing a finished artwork or artefact in a gallery or museum. Following a meeting with Swyddog Datblygu Celfyddydau Cymunedol, primary education was prioritised as having need for workshops and in planning it was decided that three workshops over two days would be more effective than short one day workshops. Therefore, a good level of engagement with process can be expected and it is planned that the student’s work will be shown at the same time as the main exhibitions as facilities allow. The three schools participating are Ysgol Pen y Bryn, Colwyn Bae; Ysgol Y Graig, Llangefni; Ysgol yr Hendre, Caernarfon. The artist facilitator for all these three main workshops is Rebecca Hardy Griffith.
Worshop and Report by Rebecca Hardy Griffith
Ysgol Pen Y Bryn, Colwyn Bay
Chosen Artist: Steffan Jones-Hughes
Pupils: Key Stage 2/Year 5
Quantity: 56 (Day 1: split into 2 groups, Day 2: split into 5 groups)
Accompanied: Day 1: One teacher per class and one student support for one pupil with learning difficulties. Day 2: Student support for one pupil with learning difficulties in one group session.
Initially while researching and preparing for the art workshops I had hoped to choose an artist from the participating list that came from each county. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for the county of Conwy. My main reasoning for this was for the pupils to associate to the artist from the beginning and to feel a connection however I don’t believe it deterred them at all that I chose an artist from the next county over.
I chose the artist Steffan Jones-Hughes as I am familiar with his art practice, it is his versatility and the variety of mediums that Steffan uses would in my opinion create an engaging and interesting workshop for the pupils to respond and react to. It was not only his process of materials but also his subject matter within his work that would make a great open topic for the pupils to discuss. Therefore, it made the workshops an active but also verbal exercise for the pupils to stretch their creative minds physically and mentally. The two day workshop was split into two sections, day one to focus on the chosen artist from the project, day two to focus on the project and the artist’s chosen artwork.
DAY ONE:
Due to the volume of pupils the workshop was split into two sessions for each class and the length of the session was roughly two and a half hours. The structure of the sessions on day one was to introduce the project, the artist and the artists practice using drawing games, handouts, open class discussion, group activity, independent work and evaluation. After introducing the pupils to the project and announcing the artist name I decided to ease the pupils into the session with quick fun drawing games to remind them of the joy of free expression and not to be too precious about the finished drawing. It is also a great way to get their hand eye coordination into practice and to get them thinking quickly. From the excitement and buzz of the first game I introduce another activity of mark making, a simplified activity of word and action. We also discussed mark making and how it can be used in their artwork. It was great to see how quickly the pupils absorbed the information and with the engagement of the teacher an image of Rembrandts etched self-portrait was displayed on the smart board which then led to an open discussion on the variety of marks Rembrandt used.
Next large sheets of paper were rolled across the tables, where pupils had to share the space on the paper being considerate and aware of each other’s drawings. The activities that were asked of the pupils were to draw something from the first game (act of memory), draw it again using your other hand (challenge), draw it again with your eyes closed (extra challenge) and finally the pupils were paired up. One pupil becomes the pencil holder while the other moved their partners hand around the paper to draw and then they exchanged roles. To close the drawing games I asked closed and open questions to the pupils about the activities, which game did they enjoy? And which activity challenged them? The class were more than happy to share their opinions, pairing up seemed a popular choice and using the other hand or eyes closed seemed their most challenging activity I found this answer was given in both classes.
I followed the discussion with a recall question regarding the project. Asking them where did the North Wales artist travel to and which gallery did they visit? What was the name of the artist they were going to look at? With the correct answer the pupils were given various images of Steffan’s artwork from his Bird series and his Financial Times series and were asked to look at the artwork on the handouts for a few minutes. We then discussed as a class what materials Steffan used and what they thought Steffan’s artwork was about. The words being mentioned were storytelling, mythology and fairy-tale. I then asked the pupils in groups to discuss what they liked and /or disliked about his artwork and why? And if they wanted to share their opinions openly with the class. The findings from this was fantastic both classes were very confident and at times brutal with their opinions regarding Steffan’s artwork I was pleasantly surprise at their honesty but also their ability to reflect and give reasoning to their opinion. One of the teachers got involved and questioned the pupils regarding one of the artworks from the Financial Times series, probing the pupils to consider the message Steffan might be delivering. In hindsight it would have been an excellent opportunity to video these talks.
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Succeeding the discussion was a practical, we discussed the artist process and how many artists begin working through sketches and drawings. I ask the pupils to create a sketch inspired by Steffan’s artwork using drawing pencils.
The next process and the last activity of the session the pupils were separated into small groups of 5/6 and were given various materials from label tags, newspaper to brown paper etc. Some had to work individually on a small scale while others had to work together on one large piece of paper. The only similarities and restrictions were they had to create something influenced by Steffan’s artwork through only using black and white paint. What they chose to paint and how was entirely up to them, it was their imagination; they were in charge of the creation. Some created copies of the originals, while others struggled at the idea of having the freedom to choose and some ran with it and got stuck in creating all sorts of patterns and creatures. Not surprisingly one teacher found the process chaotic without firm structure and I explained my reasoning, I did not want 56 copies of Steffan’s work re-created I wanted their artwork influenced by Steffan. It has been expressed in some articles that school curriculum can oppress children’s creativity through constantly making them aim and strife for a perfect piece of work and if it doesn’t reach the teacher’s standards or isn’t exactly how it should be presented its deemed not good enough.
DAY TWO:
Due to space, facilities and time the second day of the workshops with the 56 pupils were split into 5 groups each having a 50 minute session, which broke the groups down to 4 groups of 12 and one group of 8. These bitesize sessions where active, fun and informative. We began the session recalling from day one, asking the students about the project and if they recalled the name of the artist? What they liked about the artist’s artwork? I then introduced the aims of today’s session and the Steffan’s chosen artwork from the gallery collection, before showcasing an image of the work I asked the student’s what kind of style/theme do you think the artist would choose? Some great responses from this and shock when I reveal the chosen piece of work. I allow the pupils to observe the image for a moment before asking them what they thought of the painting. They were well-spoken and opinionated pupils with a mixed response but fantastic to see them pick out elements of the image from foreground to background.
Their first activity was to create a drawing inspired by the painting, to help I displayed via handouts Steffan’s drawings inspired by the paintings in which he used charcoal, print and tablet drawings. We discussed within the group which materials he had used to create the drawings and if they could figure out which section of the painting he found inspiring for example the pattern of the girls dress, the ribbon from the bird to the girl’s hand, the colours of the painting. They began the first practical activity. As the pupils work in various speeds some created more than one drawing, others began shading in and using mark making skills learnt from the previous session. Gathering the group around me I demonstrated the next activity of quick printing. Using their drawings or a section of their drawing as a starting point to mark the quick print foam sheets for printing. These two activities give the pupils the knowledge of the artist process, from inspiration to idea to finished artwork, evaluate and repeat much to the theory of Kolb’s cycle.
Once the pupils were ready we then moved on to the printing station. I had selected colours from the painting for the printing inks and a variety of papers for each group to use from rolled blue paper for group piece to large A3/A2 sheets for paired work. This allowed for team work, compassion and compromise with fellow pupils, learning about composition and space. It also allowed to a mix of artworks on a variety of paper for Andrew to choose from for the exhibition. These short sessions with small number of pupils were very effective, able to provide one to one ideas and comments to pupils. Many students wanted to remain with me and create all day but sadly due to lack of space/facilities at the school, large number of students and time it wasn’t possible.
