projects

2009 - 'Playful art' - workshop sessions at Learning Through Landscapes National Conference, Birmingham

2007 - REIGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2007
'observation from life' tuition with 5th and lower Sixth pupils; balancing increasingly conceptual work in the curriculum  

2007 - CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS PROJECT; Ashfield Park Primary School, Ross-on-Wye
Creativity cries out for experience - and young people may not have the diversity of primary experiences - touching, feeling, smelling and sensing the raw world around them. It is put forward that through experiencing new situations with the company of a practicing artist, eyes will see more; hands will feel more; ears will hear more and noses will smell more! And this should have more than a small role in encouraging creativity to flower in writing through new found inspiration. The three stages will show the similarities between form/shapes, poetry/music and dance… all where rhythm joins the shapes, notes, syllables or movements to create (somehow) pleasing effects which we tend to cluster under the term “art”. 

Looking at two distinct routes:
1. The use of the creative mind as a catalyst to widening experience of the natural and physical world around us
2. The more traditional use of the creative in stimulating arts activity (in school)
A first stage (of three) is proposed with a visual artist to trial the combination of these routes through three initial days creative activity. Follow up with all the artists would occur after the initial creative activity.

Stage 1 work with sculptor/visual artist
“Sculptors should be thankful that each day, they have a more innate power to sense forms and shapes around us – with the same eyes, they can achieve so much more”
Forms and the landscape (Day 1) #

Small coach or minibuses from Ross-Midsummer Hill, Malverns
Walk is about one hour max to the spectacular summit; maximum 2 miles round trip
Topics:
Shapes and forms of the mountains – think of enormous animal shapes in the land
Sky – clouds – as inspirational shapes
Woods
Colours of moorland and rock
Tracing 360 degree lines through the surroundings from the top of the mountain… describe your trip and who you meet (each child does a few minutes description and then passes on)
Gathering three special items – and remember why they special
Force and sounds of the wind
How far can one see/how long would it take to fly there/walk there/drive there
And so on…
Possible – sketch books for mountain?

Junk sculpture; sculpture from found/recycled materials –in school (day 2)
A link to recycling and sustainability through collection of found objects either by litter pick, or through parents having selected safe usable items from waste (cardboard, plastic bottles, boxes and so on) over the previous weeks. Some schools might like to restrict activity to natural things like wood, straw, bark and so on or to working with material from a distinct area, like woodland (dead wood, hazel wands, twigs, leaves, honeysuckle 'rope' and so on).

Participants will look to developing three dimensional forms by aggregation, using twine, wire, rope or natural vines to produce fun sculpture whilst learning intuitively about balance and form. Younger ones may work in ('extended') two dimensions... collecting and aggregating shapes on the ground.

Parental/volunteer support advisable for cutting material and helping children with wire snips/scissors etc.

Works will have the advantage of being present in the grounds for a period of a day to a year or more, such as the natural sculptures merging into the landscape of Grizedale Forest Park.

Good photographic opportunities throughout the day, for press/publicity. Could be tied in with other workshops such as creative writing or drawing, or with a group exploring a number of ideas.

3. portraiture – observing from life – in school (Day 3)

Groups working as sculptors, working together in partnership building the portrait head with the sculptor (perhaps using a teacher as model)
Modelling from sketchbooks and memory – animals and birds – cutting and pasting three dimensions to create fantasy creatures and so on
Stage 2 and 3
It is suggested that if the first stage is deemed successful by both artist and school, the second and third stages might seek a poet/musician and a dancer (or group) to provide their interpretation of where and how they find inspiration… as entrees into creativity around two others rhythms which will have direct parallels with the written word.

The underlying messages are the same be this activity with special school pupils or postgraduate:

1. inspiration sometimes needs ‘helping out’
2. we grow up too fast - trust and value surreal enthusiasm
3. be truthful about your thoughts/experiences – there’s no right and no wrong
4.  music, sculpture, poetry and dance are all linked -  the notes, shapes, sounds or movements linked with some sort of rhythm that is pleasing to YOU!

2006 - HEREFORDSHIRE JIGSAW SCULPTURE PROJECT  (see video)

Funder - The Eveson Trust 2006
Dance works with placing movements to a rhythm; music and poetry with sounds to a rhythm; literature with stories to a rhythm and sculpture with shapes to a rhythm. All can be seen in a basic, descriptive way… but successful work results from how they make you feel.
Elements  -  Earth    Air     Fire     Water
Three schools will work with sculptor Jon Edgar to explore producing work which links to “the elements”; this activity will run in tandem with other schools exploring the same themes using dance, working towards the Jigsaw performance. The sculptors will work with terra cotta - fired earth - a combination of the four elements using prompts from school creative writing, visual and sound sources. The material will be introduced using an unusual working process using ‘elements’ -  random , three dimensional sections which will be built up randomly allowing the less-conscious mind to override our descriptive thoughts. This is a good technique for freeing up inspiration. Sculptors will be encouraged to build what they feel rather than what they think, linking to earth, air, fire and water stimulii. Sculptors and dancers will also be able to see how each others workshops progress. The sculptors’ works will be displayed at the opening of the Jigsaw performance at Hereford Courtyard in November, with Jon Edgar taking some of the ideas from the workshops to work on a larger sculpture to be unveiled!

2004 - project funding attracted from EU and MAFF for capital items in Herefordshire. 

2003 project funding from Arts Council

Press release: ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND AGREE GRANT FUNDING FOR OUTREACH SCULPTURE PROJECT!

Arts Council England confirmed support for the new project on July 16^th 2003.

"We are seeking 8 partner organisations based in Northampton and county who will benefit from free artist day-sessions for the project, which aims to enrich peoples’ lives through the opportunity to take part in quality arts activity. It seeks organisations helping hard-to-reach groups, with a view to running trial workshops that may benefit their clients, without the immediate pressure of finding funding for new ideas. The human figure has been at the forefront of visual art for thousands of years. Portrait sculpture is an excellent starter with new groups, as it has a common recognisable subject, namely a known person from the group - and the opportunity to consider shapes and forms, the feelings conveyed by both artist/sitter and the incredulity brought about by the asymmetry of the head. Activity transcends all boundaries and language and is a common universal link for us all.

Sessions will revolve around belief in truthful observation (documenting what is real rather than what is perceived) and ‘observing the observed’…others watching and helping the sculptor document his own patterns of recognition. This theme has a relevance to peoples’ general lives and can act as the lead for other topic work. Above all, sessions will be experimental and fun, with both organisation, individuals and artist being able to explore new ideas.

If you wish to be considered for the project sessions during Autumn 2003 and can offer to contribute to travel and materials expenses for the session(s) as your small part of the partnership, please contact us to discuss further." 

Other projects have involved liaison with garden designers, historic landscape specialists and providing artistic input to site furniture in areas of public access.