Rebel Art School - Day 1
Wednesday, 11th April 2018
At the ‘Rebel Art School’ this Easter, we aimed to examine the nature of rules and how breaking them can help fuel creativity, and lead us to approach art-making from fresh angles.
Artist Kate Squires took us on a creative adventure into materials and processes, inspiring us to make sculptures, performative work and installation.
We began Day 1 with two stations that invited us to collaborate and explore the potential of very simple materials.
Cut, Stick, Fold, Draw was a game which forced us to work together to change the appearance of a piece of coloured card with four simple actions.
The paper was passed round the circle and each participant gave the next an instruction to cut, stick, fold or draw.
The card changed shape, changed function and became more sculptural. The activity was fast paced, making the children think quickly and adapt to each new situation as it was presented to them.
The second station involved paper cups. First the children had to draw on the cup while it was attached to their ear forcing them to look around them whilst drawing; shifting the perception of their surroundings.
They cut along the marks they had made, transforming the cup into something new and more sculptural.
They could use tape to re-join elements and make new forms.
They became wearable items and interesting sculptural pieces.
The next activity asked us to think more deeply about rules. We explored new ways to use a pencil to make drawings: with our forehead, mouth, and many other ways.
We wrote some new rules and then tried to abide by them.
Shoe laces became compasses and elaborate mechanisms were created when we added string into the mix.
The children began to make drawing machines.
These in turn became sculptures of their own!
The lines between function and form became slippery!
We were solving our own problems and developing ingenuity.
We finished the morning with a group crib of our work, which we hung from lines suspended across our working space.
We demonstrated our mechanisms and discussed our ideas.
After lunch we continued our investigation into rules, we worked with new partners and new combinations of materials, setting each other challenges to build according to certain sets of rules.
As we worked, Kate threw a few metaphorical ‘spanners’ into the works. Giving time limits, asking pairs to join things together or work silently with limited communication.
Sculptures shifted continually, changing function and form as they developed and the children adapted to each new restriction. Sometimes they understandably resisted the restrictions, but where they pushed themselves – really interesting work emerged.
Kate gave out rosettes to everyone to reward their efforts!
We look forward to more rebellious rule breaking tomorrow!
