THURSDAY 11TH MARCH
Today was the first workshop day. I ran four workshops; two with each class; Primary 1-4 and Primary 5-7. I prepared the workshops so that they could be repeated with both class groups and would work with such a range of ages.
The first sessions began with a presentation of my past projects to the children. I do this so that they gain an understanding of what public art is; what I have created in similar situations in the past, why I am there and what they can expect from my presence in the school. As my work is so colourful and tactile and is often likened to edibles such as sweets (just on Tuesday at the welcome evening a parent cried out, in response to a particular piece, “That makes me think of puddings!”) it is always a winner with children!
We then went outside and gathered in the space I have chosen for the project. We talked about the space and what could happen in it. I asked each child to come up with some ideas for what they would like to see in the space with the instructions that it had to be interactive and for play. Each group, after struggling initially with the concept (it’s an added challenge in rural schools to set tasks where the age range is so huge within classes), successfully came up with some fantastic ideas expressed through lovely colourful drawings.
In the second workshop I prepared a display of fabulous Fair Isle knit samples and photographs of patterns and motifs. Each participant selected a few images and created drawings of details within the patterns. They then progressed on to creating their own designs inspired by the photographs and eventually chose one design, which they rendered in a large colour format. In an evaluation -described as “our very own art gallery” by one of the teachers – of all the designs laid out for all to survey, it was clear that they had produced some beautiful work.
