CREATIVITY CLUB
ESTHWAITE SCHOOL, HAWKSHEAD
While living near Esthwaite School I helped out at the weekly Creativity Club. The work below represents some of the stuff we did. All the sessions lasted a little under an hour.
On my last visit tio Esthwaite School before moving house I revisited my first session. This time I played Kind Of Blue and asked the children to design CD covers.
To
tie in with the Sawrey Sculpture Trail - my piece for FRED 2007 - I asked
the children to look around the room we were working in and find something
they liked the look of for some reason. After making a closely observed
drawing some words were added to highlight the selection of the object.
Over
a few weeks at Esthwaite School
we came up with a radical new take on the idea of a school. The children
came up with all sorts of ideas for the "ideal" school. Initially
there was an idea to get rid of all teachers and lessons, but eventually
we settled on redesigning the school itself to include a swimming pool
and pods for classrooms. There were also plans for stables and outdoor
classrooms, though not everything made the final model.
Using
some photographs of my lounge and a small - rather cheap - hotel room
I stayed, in the children made joiners to show how the room is arranged.
Read more about joiners here.
Leftover
from some of the work I'd been doing at home I had a load of coloured
shapes. The childen used them to create animals and object, without being
able to cut them too much. Can you spot the shoes?
I asked
the children to imagine that they'd gone to a gallery and couldn't find
a postcard of a picture they liked. They had to describe that picture
to friends over a phone.
After
I explained the proportions of the human face the children drew portraits
of one another and of me. I'm the one with the beard!
The
children drew some patterns (and, inevitably, one drew a picture of Spongebob),
and then I placed mirrors on them to create these mandala like designs.
Using
up the large sheets of painted green paper (see Green Man, below), we
added creepy crawlies and flowers to make an exhibit worthy of putting
on the floor.
During
an afternoon art event involving the whole school, two groups contributed
to making a large Green Man, using coloured card and green paper painted
and printed themselves. We had loads of green paper left over for next
week's work.
Four
children were each given a portion of a photograph. They then drew a large
version of it without knowing what the over all image would be. When all
sixteen pieces were completed the picture was re-assembled to reveal one
of the best looking men of his generation - David Beckham. Click here
to see the original picture.
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Using
tightly rolled up newspaper as a contruction element, two teams of two
children produced these structures.
We
simply went outside and drew trees. I impressed upon the children the
need to look hard at what they're drawing in order to see the differences
in shape that that different trees have.
These
were postcards we designed. Each one represents where the child would
like to go on holiday. On the back each child wrote a message to their
parents. The cards were posted home, in time for the Easter holidays.
Using
coloured card to make portraits of people, either real or imagined.
A visual
record of today. Picking out an event or series of events and showing
them in one picture.
