Alexis Rago Making the Complex Simple - Teacher Training event

You may remember our Education Officer hounding teachers and schools to attend a truly unique teacher training session with one of our exhibiting artists, Alexis Rago. Well, here are some fabulous photos and descriptions of how the day panned out.

We began with an artist led tour around his exhibition, to gain a better understanding of how Alexis' creative output communicates with his audience.

Alexis' exhibition Chaos Contained uses clay and repeated shapes patterns and symmetry, to introduce us to chaos theory.  The work is exquisite and looks beautiful in the Chancel Gallery, with all the original church windows and features.

 

Back in the Education Room, Alexis spoke of his journey through the arts, as a student, as a practising artist and as an artist who teaches.  It was a very interesting introduction to how an artist would start their life and career path.

An example of fired clay, which we were to all recreate using well practised techniques and clay rolling skills.

At each stage, Alexis pointed out ways in which these skills can be embedded in the classroom, continually reminding us of how a child's brain may work a lot simply than we remember as adults.
Once a shape is simplified, we notice that all 3D shapes derive from a sphere, even large pointy cones.  

Combining the shapes we'd made, teachers were then given the chance to decorate their creations. It was important for teachers to notice the marks made by various tools.

Once delegates had completed their star fish, we moved on to use a different clay; one we used to make ourselves a pinch pot.

The careful hand movements were difficult to master and reminded us how it felt to have to learn new muscle movements with having no experience. It was reassuring to know that each of us felt the need to concentrate, as the skill didn't come naturally.

Some of the final outcomes were really interesting, as each individual had a different take and understanding of the material. This is a quality we often forget as teachers, that children have their own individual vision and interpretation of a materials and their chosen outcome. This is something that we should perhaps celebrate and nurture more in our pupils, which was something discussed around the table.

"[The delivery of the session was] very information and practical. Good teaching of skills that can be used to teach the children." - KS1 teacher

"Clear step-by-step instructions. It was friendly, relaxed, clear and interesting. It was a great session with good transferable skills." - KS3 teacher

"I will be sharing this with staff in school!" - KS2 teacher

Overall, the afternoon gave the teachers a chance to work directly with an artist to better understand a material used year in year out in every classroom.

Alexis' exhibition Chaos Contained will be on display in the gallery until the end of Summer Term, meaning there is ample opportunity to take advantage of Self Guided Tours, Guided Tours or booking a related workshop, so your pupils can learn from the skills passed on by Alexis.

To book any of the above mentioned, please contact our Education Officer on 01724 297070 or email education.2021@northlincs.gov.uk

Newsletter Issue Seven Has Landed

The Education Officer at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre tries to design and deliver two Newsletters each term. These usually include opportunities on the horizon and a brief round up of some key workshops from that term.

Issue Seven has just landed and should be in email inboxes in the next few days. This issue includes:

Crowle Primary's Arty Aztec project with years three to six

Oasis Academy Henderson Avenue Primary's whole year one project with artist Dominic Heffer

The Art Superheroes of Grange Lane Infants

A rare artist lead Teacher Training session including the chance to WIN a FREE workshop at 20-21.

Upcoming Opportunities for schools to engage with exhibiting artists

If you're yet to recieve a copy of Issue Seven or would like to be included on our mailing list, please get in touch with us on 01724 297070 or email education.2021@northlincs.gov.uk

Crowle Primary Pupils Become Aztec Warriors!

Crowle Primary are studying the intriguing and beguiling world of the Aztecs! This week Years three and four came to visit the centre to be inspired by architecture and unusual printing techniques.

 

We started the day with drawing challenges to draw something to do with Aztecs in 20 seconds! This got everyone's creative juices flowing and made us think quickly as little artists for the rest of the day.

 

We took a trip around the gallery spaces to find architectural features that looked to be inspired by Aztec patterns. We thought about geometric shapes and repetition and drew our findings on research sheets.

 

 

Inspired by the drawings, we drew repeated shapes onto a piece of faom that became a relief pad for printing a repeated pattern over and over onto a template of a head dress.

 

We had to draw as many large feathers onto one piece of paper as possible and used these feathers as a stencil for something called screen printing. The screens are made of wood and silk which is pulled tight over the wooden frame. The silk allows ink to be pushed through its tiny tiny holes. Our stencils would make sure that only the feather shapes would be printed, meaning we could make lots of them from one sheet of paper. The feathers were dried, cut and folded to make them more 3D.

Using the foam relief pads, we printed onto the main body of our head dress, using block printing ink which is really bold and colourful. The feathers were attached along with the head of a bird (even though some people thought it was a frog). Aztecs were greatly inspired by nature and things around them. Birds were seen as gods and bird imagery was often used for warrior head dresses, which is why we used them to inspire our work today.

Once all the inks and glue were dry, the head resses could be assembled for us to wear on the bus home. We looked really colourful and bright walking across Church Square.


If you or your school are interested in the team at 20-21 building a bespoke workshop around your class topic, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us: 01724 297070 or email education.2021@northlincs.gov.uk

Last Newsletter of 2013!

We have just sent out our latest and last newsletter of the year! Our first ever four pager is jam packed with information on some of the things we've been up to and what opportunities are available for the new year.

 

 
This issue features all the successes of this year, including details of our now award winning services, our new Teacher Training offer Finding the Rs in Arts and opportunities to work with some exciting artists!
 

First  opportunity up, available until April  2014 only:

The Baked Bean Making Machine, with artist Dominic Heffer

 

 

Winner of our Open competition, international artist and maker extraordinaire, Dominic Heffer is offering an outrageously exciting opportunity for school engagement.

 

Dominic's bold images and sculptures currently adorn the halls of our galleries, and we're working with him to get as many schools and children involved in his new project the Baked Bean Making Machine, as we can.

 

Work with Dominic to create a machine that uses skills in design and technology, and creative and critical thinking.

 

 

 

Our second very exciting opportunity comes in the shape of lots of electrical wires, light switches and technological thinking:

 

 

Virtual World Workshop and Volatile Light

Highly esteemed theatre company IOU are bringing one of their most exciting exhibitions to 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in May 2014.

 

 

 

“Volatile Light is a mesmerising sound and light installation. Featuring an array of     specially made machines, LED lights will be attached to rotating arms, levers and cranks to weave a series of eccentric curves, sweeping arcs and hectic scribbles in the darkened gallery space.

 

“The IOU Virtual World workshop allows   participants to learn about 3D design and architecture, physics and mathematics, along with the ability to gain an understanding of computer programming, virtual reality and the gamification of theatrical mechanics.”

 

Please contact our Education Officer (details below) to book this truly fantastic experience, or to find out more about how our award winning services can support art in your school.

 

 

If you or your school haven't received a copy of the end-of-year newsletter and would like to know the latest news and arts education opportunities, please don't hesitate to get in touch with a relevant email address for us to forward on a copy: education.2021@northlincs.gov.uk or 01724 297070

Summer break Newsletter

We are fast approaching the end of the school year. Winding down and wrapping up is always a good way of reflecting on the educational impact we've been making throughout the year.

20-21 Visual Arts Centre has been thriving with school visits including an Andy Warhol workshop with Burton Primary and on going creative curriculum support with Brumby Juniors among many others. We've run major projects with Willoughby Road Primary and Eastfield Primary that have tackled embedding arts throughout the curriculum, training a whole staff team and tackling issues facing potential NEET primary children. Have a look at this newsletter for further information of what we've been up to, or scroll through the blog to discover what other schools we've been working with this term.

 

 

As a result of such a successful school year, 20-21 have been looking at our education offer. From September we will have new loan packs, new workshops and exciting exhibitions on the horizon for next year! More details can be found on the "Education Offer" page on this blog, which is now unlocked from the school's firewall, meaning all pupils and staff can access the blog on school computers throughout North Lincolnshire!

 

We'll be around until the end of July, if you have an queries regards any of the above information.

We hope you have a great summer break. See you next year!

Brumby Junior School's "Starting Point"

Brumby Junior School are highly innovative when it comes to creativity. Each summer term on a Friday afternoon every single teacher becomes an inspirational artist, guiding groups of children through an exciting journey of a creative project.

Children vote for which project they'd like to take part in and study it for the whole term, until the showcase event end the end of the school year.

The ignite interest and enthusiasm, Mrs Pitois brought her children in to 20-21 to take part in a shadow puppet workshop and witness the possibilities of lights and darks telling a narrative.

We visited the highly acclaimed Sharmanka exhibition "Gothic Kinetic", we discussed what the show was about and what the words "Gothic Kinetic" meant.

 

Back in the education room, we explored the aims of the artist and what materials Sharmanka used to create their work. Children filled in a worksheet that asked them questions about the artwork:

 

 

After being given some story elements, children worked in groups to write short stories about ghastly dragons or brave and bold explorers in ancient Egypt.

 

 

 

The group had excellent imaginations that were used very creatively for prop making and set designing of their shadow performances.

 

 

Mrs Pitois will be using ideas started at the workshop throughout her summer term's creative curriculum delivery. If you or your school need an inspirational starting point for any topic, get in touch for a chat about how Education at 20-21 can help; Hayley McPhun, Education Officer 01724 297074 or hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk 

Eastfield Primary Project

A few months ago Eastfield Primary School contacted Education at 20-21 to request a bespoke project that would up skill teaching staff and inspire them to confidently embed arts throughout the curriculum. In the past Eastfield have worked with local artist Wendy Chan, who was brought in to help develop and deliver the project. 

The whole school are studying Tomb Raiders, looking at Egyptians, ancient artifacts and the histories uncovered by great explorers. An engaging topic to incorporate the arts!

15 members of staff came along to a teacher training day that spilled out into the cafe area, and saw the teacher's make books, print illustrations and take part in shadow puppetry demonstrations.

In the morning the group split into two and were taught different book binds and print techniques and how they could be used in the Tomb Raider topic as well as throughout the curriculum. Once binds and techniques were mastered, the teachers halved once more and taught the other group their book binding technique. This meant that teachers had the chance to remind themselves how the book structures worked, as well as realise how it could be taught to others in the classroom.

Egyptian imagery adorns a flag bound book cover

Flag binds with monoprinted images

Recognising the varying levels of success in mono printing and realising what issues may have occurred.

Lots of cutting, sticking and chatting about how it can be adapted to suit different year groups.

Working with artist, Wendy Chan to create screen printed tote bags to carry their creations home.

Using a basic stencil technique, the screen prints came out really crisp and sharp.

The day was one of inspiration, realisation and creativity; giving teachers a chance to explore their topic through the arts. It was important for teachers to have a thinking space and see how these workshops can be carried on into the classroom. Below are some quotes directly from the teachers about the day's activities:

"I'm looking forward to working with the artists in school."
"I thoroughly enjoyed the day, would like to have more of them!"
"The delivery was very good, very informative and gave lots of inspiration and ideas"
"Fantastic and enthusiastic leaders running the workshops."
"Delivery was fun, entertaining and light hearted. The leaders instilled confidence!"

The Eastfield project is the first time 20-21 have run a school-wide project that up skills teachers to deliver arts confidently in the classroom. Later in the year, Wendy and Hayley will be delivering workshops in the school, to ensure further embedding of arts throughout the curriculum. Follow the project on this blog or for more information on how 20-21 can deliver a similar project in your school/college, please get in touch with our Education Officer, Hayley McPhun, on 01724 297074 or hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk

Teacher Twilight Round-Up

Wednesday 6th March saw the first Teacher Twilight at 20-21, for a few years. The session was delivered in conjunction with Laura Fox, AST and Arts Coordinator for Brumby Junior School, and with Ian Till, former DT teacher and DT assessor.

The morning opened with a quick introduction to 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, just before a presentation on the new proposed Art and Design Curriculum, delivered by Laura.

 

Laura introduced the new curriculum with enthusiasm and spoke about the three basics that were being asked of Primary Schools: Sketchbooks, Artist Research and Making. Currently, a very broad scope to deliver really exciting arts projects and classes. 

Brumby Junior School run a scheme in the Summer Terms, called Creative Workshops. Click here to see for yourself, the superb creativity taking place in the classrooms. Laura spoke about how this scheme is delivered, how excited children become and what a success the project is proving to be. For more information on Creative Workshops, get in touch and we can put you in contact with the school.

Ian spoke breifly about the new Design and Technology proposed curriculum, and how frustrating it can be that DT isn't always at the forefront of agendas, but how crucial critical and design thinking is for children. His talk was inspirational in thinking about how design and technology studies, from such an early age count towards understanding further subjects in the future.

Some of the teachers hadn't been to 20-21 before, so we hosted a quick tour of all the gallery spaces and what exhibitions to expect in the near future. The tour made use of the Self Guided Tour Pack, which has facts on the history of the building, as well as on current exhibitions. It was useful for teachers to envisage the sapce in which workshops and visits happen.

We watched the whole of Sharmanka's Gothic Kinetic exhibition and returned to the Education Room to watch demonstrations of workshops on offer that fit the themes and materials of the Sharmanka show.

Ian's workshop displayed many automata and tabletop strcutures that are workable and suitable for any classroom. It included a piece of our Moving Toys Loan Pack, that we are looking to revive for the Sharmanka show.

Hayley, our Education Officer, gave a 10 minute demonstration on how Shadow Puppetry can be used in any classroom, as a topic starter, using lots of items found around the home, schools and classrooms.

People in the room were all handed a folded piece of paper with a number on, and on request unfolded the paper to read a section of our story.



At this point in our story, a ghost had suddenly appeared at a haunted house.

The ghost was then ate our main character, before going back home to his haunted house.

 

Setting a new scene for a different part of the story: a fairground with a clown.

 

Being innovative with resources isn't hard, when realising the possibilities of recognisable objects. Children would, more than likely see things before we had even noticed them. Shadow Puppetry is an offer from our Education service that can be adapted to suit many curriculum subjects and topics. The Shadow Puppet pack can go out on loan to any school, for up to one half term. The pack can be adapted to suit your school's needs. 

The basic pack includes:

•  A tabletop shadow screen, inclusive of theatrical velvet curtains and sturdy feet.
•  An over head projector.
•  Four acetate sheets.
•  A bucket of de-barked twigs.
•  Scraps of coloured semi - transparent materials.
•  Reflective silver plastic sheet.
• And much more.

Overall, the Teachers Twilight was a great success with astounding feedback results from Infants through to KS4. Links were made, questions were answered and a more solid understanding of what we offer at 20-21, was appreciated:

"Good resources. Open ended outcomes."
"Vaired and explored different avenues for educational development."
"Really clear ideas for how to develop Art/DT through workshops in schools."
"Very good [delivery]. Shared passion."
"Interesting to see the ideas developed from the exhibition."
"Lots of ideas to take back to the classroom... Interesting and engaging... Current issues were identified... It's easy to book places."

For information on any of the topics and opportunities discussed in this blog post, get in touch with our Education Officer Hayley McPhun on 01724 297074 or hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk for an informal chat about what we can offer to suit your school/class.

FREE TEACHER TWILIGHT SESSIONS!

Teacher Twilights are back at 20-21! On Wednesday 6th March, we will be hosting two sessions aimed at Art teachers and DT teachers, to engage with and realise the potential of our upcoming exhibition "Gothic Kinetic" by theatre group Sharmanka.

 

 

 

 

Sharmanka's beautiful kinetic sculptures take us on a magical journey through 20-21's old church building. Victorian household machinery and carved wooden sculptures will play an 18 minute show with incredible choreography "performed" to music and synchronised lighting.

 

Gothic Kinetic offers a wide range of education opportunities, which is why Education at 20-21 have compiled a Teacher Twilight session to inspire and excite creative teachers. This FREE event will include an introduction to the education offer here at 20-21, a tour of the exhibition, some taster activities and the all important refreshments and biscuits to accompany an opportunity to network and ask questions.

 

The two sessions will run from 1.30pm - 3.30pm and again from 4.15pm - 6.15pm. Book your place by Friday 1st March, by contacting our Education Officer, Hayley McPhun, on the details at the bottom of this post.

 

 

This flyer should land in your email inbox over the next few days, if it doesn't, it means you're not on our mailing list to recieve such exciting opportunities and news on our upcoming projects. To be added to our Education mailing list, please email our Education Officer, Hayley on hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk  or call her for a chat about other opportunities on 01724 297074.