Rebel Art School - Day 2
Thursday, 12th April 2018
In the second day of our ‘Rebel Art School’ children worked with artist Kate Squires to make more sculptural works that extended their creative thinking.
In Day 1 children thought about how to break rules and began to unlearn some of their preconceived ideas about creating.
Over the two days the children constantly re-evaluated what they were doing as Kate changed their materials, instructions, groupings and scenario’s to create new challenges at every turn.
Their first hurdle was to negotiate a silent working environment as Kate refused to speak for the first two hours, communicating only with gestures and a tin whistle! It was quite startling the effect this had on the atmosphere!
Four were stations created, each with an instruction and a selection of materials to work with:
They got going with purpose, experimenting with what they had and the possibilities open to them.
Some serious structural engineering went on to make things balance.
Lots of negotiations took place as they shared materials and began to work together with new friends.
A strict time limit was given for each station as the children moved around the room. They were allowed to dismantle things as they went, build on what others had created and make changes. This allowed a real sense of collaboration and experimentation as the children let go of what they had created, invited new ideas and saw how others built from their starting points. This helped them become less precious about their work and let it go.
It was amazing to see the many different interpretations of a single instruction. In, ‘Sculpture that uses the body’ some made performances, some made costumes and others turned themselves into sculptures.
Other groups joined themselves together into one giant sculpture
Each time the whistle blew we moved round and started again.
Some pieces kept growing and growing, taking over the space.
Others needed slow contemplation and adjustment as they progressed.
It was interesting to see little snippets of previous sculptures emerging in new creations – can you spot any? The spidery straws in the top of the plant pots took on a new life as flags in the next stacked creation.
You had to look hard for intricate details like this little man hanging from a tiny piece of string, who could be hoisted up and down from one piece.
There was an atmosphere of purposeful activity, as everyone worked together, switching between their own ideas, helping each other, creating together, moving from one idea to the next, watching, laughing and quietly chatting.
After lunch Kate showed us some images of her own work and other artists that work in similar ways to how we had been working. We often show children images of artists work to inspire them, but Kate reversed this concept by showing them work similar to their own, after they had made it giving weight to their ideas and pushing them further.
We looked at drawing machines made by Rebecca Horn – very similar to the ones we made yesterday.
Can you spot the similarity here?
We looked at performative works that were remarkably similar to those made in our ‘Sculpture that uses the body’ station.
Finally we experimented with how to make two minute sculptures using our bodies and any items to hand!
Then it was time to start making an exhibition. Some new works were made and the ones we were most happy with were tidied up and perfected.
The space was transforming from studio to gallery.
Rosettes were awarded for best in show – there was a ‘best’ for everyone!
We watched some performances
Had a final tour and group critical discussion.
A few adjustments were made to the star of the show and we were ready to invite our guests in!
The children always love to show their parents around the exhibition and it’s great to be able to show their work off before it’s lost to memories!
