Great Art Quest Exhibition

 

 

Several months of hard work finally paid off last night with the opening of The Great Art Quest exhibition at MK Gallery's project space. It was so brilliant to see the fruits of the children's artwork on display and even more wonderful to see so many of the children and teachers at the event. 

Creative Futures Exhibition at Bedford Borough Hall

 



Six months of hard work and the two current Creative Futures art courses have finally come to an end, culminating in a beautiful exhibition of the student's artwork at Bedford Borough Hall. I was really proud of everyone's efforts in helping to get it all set up and looking as professional as it did and we received lots of positive feedback from people who came to the preview evening. The students themselves were so pleased with themselves and it was really nice for them to have the opportunity to have their work on public display.

Great Art Quest at Stanton school

 

Onto the third school in the Great Art Quest, Stanton, and what a lovely bunch they were. The students were so welcoming and enthusiastic about the collage activity I gave them. They all produced such individual pieces of artwork and I am really excited about my next workshop with them in a couple of weeks where we are going to make a giant 'Jungle' collage!

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.