Something I have been been doing an increasing amount of recently is supporting, creating and delivering art based workshops, currently for Norwich University of the Arts but in the future who knows?
I have attended many workshops in the past and obviously at uni many more. I have often wondered what it would be like to be on the other side, actually delivering them rather than receiving them. It's not only the creation and delivering I enjoy but also the mentoring of those taking part and the encouragement you can offer to those who may feel outside of their comfort zone.
I was tasked recently to create a workshop to deliver to a college coming into the uni, this is on behalf of the Student Recruitment and Outreach team. I devised x5 different ideas and workshops that would fit the bill, ie give an idea of the sort of creating you can do at NUA, also the way of thinking and how what was being proposed could be applied to a number of the courses and disciplines on offer. The one that came out on top was a variation of something I had delivered as part of my course last year but changed up to be more relevant for the visiting college. I delivered this with fellow 3rd Year Fine Art Student, Kate.
The brief is below.
‘Contemplation’ Workshop Brief
Stage 1
In 6 containers are a variety of objects, each labelled 1 - 6.
You will be asked to write down x3 numbers on a piece of paper without knowing what is in what container, you can then use anything from the corresponding numbered containers. Other joining materials will be supplied. Ie tape, string, wire, etc.
These items can then be used to make a sculpture, print from and with, use as reference for a still life, as either a drawing painting or a photograph. You might consider making an intervention in this space or another or using them as part of a performance. There are no limits. Being spontaneous is key.
You will be encouraged to write down your thoughts while you are creating. These can be random words, lists or anything that comes to mind. Please use the sheets provided.
Stage 2
Document your work however you wish. Paying attention to think about how any of the work could be used for a future portfolio. We have set up a couple of photo areas for this and supplied models to change the scale of the piece, a random arrangement suddenly becomes a piece of architecture. You will then consider how you could develop this on to further work or ideas.
Stage 3
You could at this stage also make drawings from your creations, considering the shadows and light and looking at the finished piece from as many different angles as possible.
You will be asked to refer back to the list of thoughts you wrote down while you were creating and use these for inspiration in creating further work, possibly connecting the words you recorded as text with images of their creations.
The creation results were varied and extremely creative. I think they even surprised themselves as to what they could create from random items. Below is a selection of their output.
We reminded the students how important it is to document their work, not just at the end of the creation process but also during as things can change and it is best to have a record of what they have created, even if it changes direction. The third part of the brief was to refer back to any of the words they would have written down and look to sketch or draw their creations, not necessarily as a record but as an observation of elements or even the shadows cast by the object. The image below shows how a drawing can take things on a stage and a phrase this student had on their paper was 'horns for ears'. Perfectly executed!
Life Drawing Workshop
I have attended many Life Drawing classes but I've never delivered one, until now... This was in response to a request by the university's Schools and Outreach Officer. The Royal Hospital School in Ipswich were looking for somebody from the NUA to deliver a workshop and it was agreed that a Life Drawing session would be something a lot of the students wouldn't have experienced. The majority of the students were year 12, quite fresh from their GCSE exams and it was also an opportunity to loosen their drawing skills up and the way they approached their work.
One slight issue we had was we couldn't find an available model, something quite crucial to deliver a Life Drawing session. The model was always going to be partially clothed as the location of the studio we were going to used couldn't be closed off from younger students. Fortunately one of my fellow 3rd Year Ambassadors stepped forward, even with no modelling experience to fill the gap and be the subject for the students to draw.
Royal Hospital School, Ipswich - Life Drawing Brief
Introduction
Why study Fine Art?
Lesson Plan (2.5hrs)
(Timings below a guide)
Introduction, setting up. - 10 mins
Warm up poses – series of quick sketches From 5 mins down to 30 secs) - 15 mins
Proportions – no detail, just lines – 15 mins
Fun – not looking at the paper/using a stick to draw/moving model – 30 mins
Drawing on each other’s work – 15 mins
Longer pose – 20 mins
Detailed drawings, hand, face – 20 mins
(Allow for breaks - Review and questions – 10 mins)
Timings - (15.15 – 18.00)
15.00 Arrive and meet
15.15 – 15.30 Introduction and discussion ‘Why Study Fine Art’
15.30 – 18.00 Workshop
Materials (Supplied by NUA):
Pencils,
Charcoal
Rubbers
Graphite
Ink
Ink pots
Brushes
Masking tape
A2 paper
Chalk pastels
I was very keen for the session to be fun as well as informative and a learning experience for the students and as well as the usual warm up sketches with shorter and shorter times to capture a pose I also introduced brushes attached to sticks and dipped in ink to really free their movements up. This produced some really great outcomes as well and some of the students loved this technique so much they carried on using the sticks for the rest of the session. I also got the students to draw without looking at their paper and just trust what their hands could do, again some very interesting results and some surprised students. However, the one they really had to get their heads round was when I asked them to draw a quick 3 minute pose and then to move on to their neighbours drawing and draw over their creation, we repeated this and again they were really engaged and after the initial worry about losing ownership of their piece they thoroughly enjoyed the process and results.
The session was quite intense and involved but the students were so engaged and created some really impressive pieces of work. Tatiana was a great model and also engaged with the students responding to their work. It was also great to get feedback from the teacher of the students - 'Thanks so much for your help getting this sorted, it was great, the students had a great experience and have come away with lots of inspiration and questions. Please do give Carl and Tatiana our thanks - they were both great!'
Very pleasing outcome all round!
Intaglio Print Workshop with NEACO
I was offered the opportunity to assist with a print workshop recently at a school with Emma from NEACO (Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach). I was intrigued to see how the process was delivered having experienced an induction myself back in Year 0. This session was repeated at City College, Norwich. Both sessions the pupils were prepped and had images ready for the session, it was interesting to see the variety of images and how they were looking to develop them for this process.
There is something satisfying about creating prints using this method, they have a quality all of their own. However, you do need to go through several processes to get to the finished item and there are many things that can go wrong along the way. And it can be messy...
Working with the pupils to encourage them to develop their work and to understand the process was very rewarding and to see the results from both the sessions I have assisted at have been really quite fascinating. Hopefully it will encourage some of those involved to re-visit the process and look at how they can develop their skills and output.
Running and assisting in these sessions has been very rewarding, to be able to discuss university life, creating work and encouraging students to think about taking a creative career path has felt very natural and has given me new confidence in the processes I have learnt and understood through my university experience. I have also been asked to deliver the 'Why Creative' a couple of times too, once online and once live. This along with my other Outreach Ambassador duties is something I will really miss when my degree comes to an end.
And another one... Saturday Art Club
I have just finished my first Saturday Art Club, where I was shadowing Emma Jones (Higher Education Champion - Arts, Design & Media) from NEACO (Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach) with the aim of being the host next week and for other select Saturday's through until Easter next year. These sessions are designed to support and encourage school and college students to develop their art and ultimately their qualifications and portfolios. An artist delivers the session and encourages the attendees to create work at the same time, the host (me next week...) manages the online session held on Zoom and works alongside the artist to support the pupils and offer their experience. They also need to keep an attendance and manage the 'Padlet' an online way to post and share their work.
With this first one I was very much observing the session but also interjecting at certain points and offering encouragement to everyone, updating the Padlet and generally being a bit of a sounding board for Emma. It really offers those involved a way to develop their work and try techniques and methods out in an environment with little or no pressure to their coursework, yet it shows their engagement and from a grading point of view it shows how their enthusiasm for the subject out of the classroom.
Slightly nervous about next week when Emma isn't there and I'm the one doing several tasks behind the scenes. I shall update how it goes. The emphasis is definitely on play, experiment and enjoy. Something that still holds true even at my stage, however much pressure you feel there is to submit and meet the learning objectives.
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