Ambassador Focus: Susan Warlock, Artist in the Community with Bill Quay Primary School
Susan Warlock, Artist in the Community has been delivering environmental art workshops at Bill Quay Primary School. Here Susan describes the project:
I had been asked to run a series of art workshops with Year 2 based loosely on the environment. For this first session I focused on introducing the children to land art, using two English artists; Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long as inspiration.
The children enjoyed looking at the images I had brought as I explained to them how these two artists used natural materials such as wood, bark, grass, and stone to create often very temporary sculptures only leaving behind photographs of the work as a record.
I provided the children with a selection of natural materials including paper straws, wooden sticks and ceramic beads and they set about creating their own individual patterns. The class took to this task very well and made lots of beautiful and quite complex work. They made and remade their work and didn't mind that it was temporary as I assured them that I would take photographs of it as a permanent record.
Once the children had finished their individual structures I asked them to work together in small groups to create a collaborative piece. Once again it was thrilling to watch them work so harmoniously together with lots of negotiation and compromise and only a few artistic disagreements.
After a short break we moved into the small hall so we had room to progress the idea from table size to floor size. I also added to the mix metre-lengths of bamboo, small pebbles and rocks. I made three examples of structures which only used two types of materials, then asked the children to select two materials to begin with and add more if needed. I had anticipated that the children would all want to work on their own piece, but many of them formed collaborations with each other.
The children's imaginations ran riot and they were totally absorbed in the artistic process of making and remaking their pieces, adding to it until we had a body of work which could have graced any contemporary art gallery. I was so proud of how the children had responded to this workshop and delighted with the end results.
Susan Warlock, Artist in the Community
07920 755 966