PHEW! Mug mission complete!

...almost! Our Education Officer, Hayley, spent all of last week visiting schools throughout North Lincolnshire to present them with a gift from Education at 20-21! Those who haven't recieved their gift, worry not... it'll be with you before half term holiday!

The gift was this lovely bright yellow mug! Enough to brighten even the foggiest of winter term mornings!

Those schools lucky enough to have received their mug already, were all very welcoming. Some even offered a cup of tea and shelter from the wet and blustery autumn weather. (No, the tea wasn't served in their new mug.)

Some schools particularly caught Hayley's eye, for their beautiful artwork on display in the reception areas. Unfortunately, she didn't have a camera to capture the paintings and sculptures, to share with you all. A hearty well done to Goxhill Primary School, whose underwater fishy display was created with a local artist along with the gifted and talented pupils. They certainly were gifted and talented, documenting all the steps taken to make some beautiful textile fish in a mosaic sea.

Kirmington Primary School was so proud of their stunning Victorian building, that Hayley was taken on a tour of the small, very well behaved classes. And what a building to be proud of! There are 34 lucky pupils in the whole school, who get to walk into that lovely building everyday. Thank you for all being so kind and welcoming.

With all the travelling around still left to do, we must dash and leave you enjoying your cuppa (hopefully in our handsome gift to you!)

Thanks for reading! :)

Get IT savvy again!

Following on from the previous post, we have been reading up about the benefits of schools using social media, not only as a method of communication, but also as a teaching tool. The chances are, if you're reading this blog, you'll already be aware of some of the social media sites worth using in the classroom. This is a mere guide for the online spaces inspiring us, and the places we use to communicate with schools and general public. 

This excellent article by Matt Britland encourages schools to not be scared of the fast moving social media sites, but to utilise them: 

"I think it's important to embrace social media as it is the primary way that young people communicate... Much of the time we force students down the route of email. Do we do that because it is easier for us? In my experience of using Facebook groups with students they pick up communications far quicker than email."

"The great thing is that many people know how to use Facebook already, and Twitter is so straightforward it would not take long for people to learn it."

In the article, Britland makes recommendations to "follow", "like" and "pin" various sites. Our favourtie, here at Education at 20-21, is his recommendation to follow the American pinners Teacher Central. There are lots of innovative pins (visual links) to websites useful for the classroom.

"Pinning" is an action used on Pinterest, a virtual pinboard of images/sites to be inspried by or to remember on a later date. Working in 20-21 Visual Arts Centre., it is important for us to be continually inspired by exciting and innovative contemporary art. Pinterest is the perfect way to quickly capture moments of visual stimulation! Because of this, we've set up our very own Pinterest account! Follow 20-21 pins to discover what we are inspired by, the things that are making us think, and the artsits we currently have in our exhibitions!

Pinterest is an excellent way of virtually scrapbooking ideas and eventually building up an online portfolio of research, events and art projects. For help and advice on how to use Pinterest to its best potential, please contact Hayley McPhun, our Education Officer, on 01724 297074 or hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk

Get IT savvy!

You may have noticed, we've set up a links page. On it you'll find lots of lovely links to local and national websites that we find interesting for arts education and IT savvy schools.

One school we've discovered use online communications with their parents and pupils is Bottesford Junior School.

The website has some great newsletters attached and links to their own blogs which children post and upload onto.

Goxhill Primary School seem to take IT very seriously and upload films onto their podcast page. On there they have videos of taiko drumming, circus skills and latest news from the school.

Are your school on Twitter? Many schools nowadays are using twitter as a method of teaching literacy, phonics and numeracy in the classroom. If you're already tweeting, why not follow us? 20-21 have been using twitter for a few years, now, often posting images of exhibitions and curation of shows.

 One very successful classroom twitter project is Orange Class's ClassroomTweets, request to follow the IT savvy class, for their often very cute posts and status updates.

We are looking out for schools who blog about art and workshops in their schools. If you are an IT savvy school, writing posts about creative and visual arts, get in touch with us. We'd be happy to add your website to our Links page.

Exciting post!

Exciting post has arrived on Education at 20-21's desk! A long awaited parcel of gifts for schools has landed! We'll not be revealing what the gift is until we've met you all individually - otherwise it won't be a nice surpise, will it? There is one free gift for every primary, secondary and further education establishment in North Lincolnshire and we can't wait to meet you, in order to give it to you personally.

To get your free gift, just get in touch with our Education Officer, Hayley McPhun on 01724 297074 or hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk Who knows what mystery awaits?

BIG DRAW 2012

It's October! We all know that means it's BIG DRAW month! Big Draw is aimed at getting the nation drawing and realising the potential of expression through creativity. It's a fabulous campaign that 20-21 avidly supports each year and this year is set to be an exciting and interesting event.

On Saturday 6th October, our gallery spaces will be filled with FREE activities and events for all the family, including the 3D caged beauty, face painting, children's life drawing tutored by Paul Evans (curator of our current exhibition All Things Bright and Beautiful) and the intriguing Mutant Zoo activity!

If your school is taking part in Big Draw 2012, let us know and we will do our best to add any images you provide with details of consent!

ENJOY THE BIG DRAW!

Brumby Junior School blog!

It's really encouraging to see schools becoming more active on social media and none moreso than Brumby Junior School using their blogs to communicate with pupils, parents and the worldwide web! It's really inspiring to see streams of updates for what the school are up to including visits, events, awards and specials workshops.

Along the right hand side of the school's main blog is a list of the many many blogs taking place in the school. Our favourite here at 20-21 Education is the Creative Workshops blog:

It's such a bright a beautiful site full of lots of ideas for creative workshops in the classroom, as well as a helpful Links page taking you to some more handy website for arts with children. Some of our favourite pictures are of the very perspective drawings created by children in Year 6! They're so clever!

We are really keen to support any other schools using blogging as a method of documentation, as well as blogging on our behalf after workshops that may have taken place at 20-21.

Berkeley Infants School Roadshow!

Last Wednesday afternoon we visted Berkeley Infants for their annual Roadshow; a welcome evening to introduce new children and families to their school and partnership agencies.

20-21 Visual Arts Centre held an interactive stall, encouraging parents and children to get involved in making peg baskets, an activity in a workshop that coincides with the current Anne Thalheim exhibition in the Chancel Gallery.

Anne's work uses household and industrial objects to create some fantastic structures and she kindly gave the gallery some fabulous materials to play with, in order to create similar sculptures. During our time at Berkeley Infants' Roadshow, we were playing around with symmetry, patterns and repetition, to get our stall visitors to see what things we get up to at 20-21's Education workshops.

Below are some vibrant images of the 2 minute plastic creations made by some of our visitors:

For more information on the Anne Thalheim workshop, or to make a booking, please contact 20-21's Education Officer on: hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk or 01724 297074 or visit our website  for up-to-date information.

Bookerflies!

Last week we had 33 school children visit us from Crosby Primary School. They were the first ever children to complete the Bug Books and Bookerflies workshop that was created to compliment the All Things Bright and Beautiful exhibition, on display in 20-21's Linear and Link Galleries. The exhibition has been curated by Paul Evans and includes work from many artists in response to the theme of creatures.

The Bug Books and Bookerflies workshop took the children on a tour of All Things Bright and Beautiful, and asked them to consider how the various animals and creatures might feel about the habitats they were in. Children completed worksheets and made lists of words that may have inspired the artworks.

Lots of excitable children livened up the gallery spaces with questions about the unsual artworks and fantastic ideas of what they were about.
In the education room, children worked in groups to create poems in response to the exhibition, much like was asked of Chris Jones in All Things Bright and Beautiful. Some of the poetry used very creative rhyming, while others were funny and unusual. Below are some examples of the children's creative writing:

Using basic craft materials, children were asked to make the covers to their Bookerflies, being reminded of symmetry in shape, colour and design. Once completed, the Bookerlfies and poems were bound using a careful stitch that meant children could use the books as mobiles in the classroom.

I think you'll agree, the Bookerflies are themselves, Bright and Beautiful, using some very clever creative writing for the poems.

Lots of fun was had by the children, teachers and Education Officer at 20-21, and we hope the Bookerflies look splendid in their new classroom habitats!

Learning Outcomes

Children will:

Be introduced to 20-21 Visual Arts Centre

• By being taken on a tour of the gallery and it’s exhibitions
• By being introduced to various members of staff and their jobs

Be able to identify various art forms and why they might be used

• By critically analysing the art form and decisions made by an artist

Write a poem

• Using prompt questions and responses, as part of a group creative writing activity

Make a book

• By using bookbinding tools to create a simple pamphlet bound book, in the shape of a creature featuring in the exhibition.

Subjects covered:

Literacy

Numeracy

Symmetry

Art and design

Nature’s creatures

Artists responses

Artists studied:

Chloe Brown

Paul Evans & Humanstudio

Hondartza Fraga

Karl Hurst

Chris Jones

Tony Kemplen

Art forms used:

Basic craft skills

Book binding

Creative writing

Collage

For more information on this workshop, or to make a booking, please contact 20-21's Education Officer on: hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk or 01724 297074 or visit our website  for up-to-date information.