Great Art Quest at Wavendon Gate

 



The Great Art Quest moved to Wavendon Gate primary school next and what a delightful school they were. They were given the 'Sea' theme and fully embraced the task in hand. In the morning we made small individual collages and in the afternoon we moved onto one large collaborative collage. The students worked so well in their small teams, supporting and encouraging each other to get the best results possible. I was particularly impressed with those who made the boat, who put such thought and care into their part of the collage, even making a couple of little men to go on the boat! I also received the prestigious 'Star of the Day' award at the end of the day, which made me smile a lot :-).

Great Art Quest at Jubilee Wood

 

So the Great Art Quest workshops have begun and I think the first one at Jubilee Wood primary school in MK was a resounding success. The students and the teachers were an absolute joy to work with and they produced results that far surpassed my expectations. The students individual collages were thoughtful and carefully constructed, and they particularly liked the drawing over acetate part of the process. The large group collage was somewhat of an experiment for me, as I had not done a collage on that scale before and certainly not with 25 students! However, they embraced the task and worked really well as a team to produce a Desert scene that is full of colour, texture and their own ideas. I really can't wait to see what the other three schools do in the coming weeks.

A beautiful weekend in Hastings

 

Spent this weekend in Hastings with my best friend Kirsty and was overwhelmed by the history that the town has managed to maintain. Streets filled with old fashioned shops that have been restored to their original glory, filled to the brims with vintage clothes, second-hand furniture and knickknacks. Oh the hours we spent browsing and getting lost amongst all the piles of stuff that might be junk to others but like gold dust to us. I felt so inspired by the quirkiness of the place and the people, and that combined with the sea air made for a trip which was most inspirational. 

Great Art Quest - Teacher's CPD day (the beginning!)

Today saw the start of The Great Art Quest - a project I am doing with The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, and MK Gallery. It involves working collaboratively with another artist and four primary schools in Milton Keynes. We started the project today by having a CPD day with teachers from each of the schools, talking through our plans with them for our work with the children, doing a gallery tour and a mini-workshop. My role as a workshop facilitator will be to create some visual responses to the current exhibition at the Gallery, by An-My Le, with the children from each of the schools. We are focusing on the themes of landscapes, people and adventure. Using collage, photography and drawings, the teachers created these lovely samples, building imaginary scenes with bits of paper and magazines, then inserting a photograph of themselves into the scene and finally overlaying a layer of acetate which could be drawn onto. The teachers really responded well to the idea and especially loved the acetate - simple things! Really looking forward to seeing what the children produce.

Mini Makers at MK Gallery - Gravity painting

Beautiful Octopus Club

Last weekend in worked for the fantastic London based arts charity Heart 'n' Soul at the Beautiful Octopus Club, hosted at the Royal Festival Hall. It is always an exciting and unique event, full of interactive activities and installations, as well as the main disco dance floor. My favourite thing about it is that even though it is a club night for people with learning disabilities, people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds come along, because it is on the southbank of London. This makes it such an inclusive event and a rare occassion when anyone can see and experience the great work that Heart 'n' Soul do. As usual I was helping in the Art Zone, which this time was planned and set-up by a very good artist and illustrator Ben Connors. He had a range of creative activities ready for anyone who wanted to join in; bracelet making, painting, badge-making and colouring, all inspired by the African / East London heritage of one of Heart 'n' Soul's regular attendees. I will look forward to the event again next summer.

Some inspiration from London and Bedford

Wherever I am, I always have my eyes open for interesting textures, architecture and street art - anything that can inspire me to create my own artwork. I am especially drawn to peeling paint, abandoned buildings and forgotten places. The old 'General Contractors' sign reminds me of times gone by and I like to imagine what it would have been like when it was a busy working business, same with the Lord Cecil pub. Inevitably with these sorts of places, they will soon enough be knocked down or renovated into modern builds, so I always feel it's important to catch them at this intermittent stage when they are nothing, but full of potential. The garfitti I captured just outside the Royal Festival Hall in London. It was so high up I wondered how the artist had managed it. I love the fact that it had clearly been commissioned as a piece of art, next to the Hayward gallery, so it was alongside contemporary 'gallery' or 'exhibiting' artists. It shows an acceptance of different types of art.