During this year's Classroom of Creativity project, we worked with two incredible artists, Polly Brant and Ashley Jordan (AJ). Polly is an artist-educator from the West Midlands.
Led by curiosity and reforming, she is interested in what art education is, where it can happen, and its meaning. AJ is passionate about extending dance opportunities to young people, particularly in nurturing an interest for dance in boys and young men.
Our collective aim is to embed creativity into the curriculum and develop both the academic, social and personal worlds of young people.
So…what did they get up to?
Well, between them painting beautiful tapestries, designing their own zine’s and creating their own movement pieces, they got up to a lot! Lots of messy and vibrant fun was had, and we are so excited to tell you all about it.
During the sessions at the beginning of the year, all three schools created pieces of artwork that would transform the Making Space in the Mead Gallery. The ACTIVATE / ASSEMBLE / AMPLIFY exhibition was curated by our Youth Leadership Collective, and the Classroom of Creativity artworks were integral to the space.
Polly worked with Southfields Primary School and Templars to create beautiful Zines made fresh from their imaginations. They also pushed boundaries by creating their own tools to draw with.
AJ developed a movement tapestry with Holbrooks Primary, where they splatted, squashed, flicked and swirled paint on the material. They created beautiful and impactful focal pieces in the Gallery (and had lots of fun making it!).
"I really am an artist." – Southfields School Student
Creating In The Making Space
We invited all three schools to come into the Making Space for the day, to see their artwork and to explore how it feels to be creative in their own gallery. When entering the gallery and seeing their works, Southfields said… "Are we famous?" !
Southfields and Templars spent the day with Polly, creating artwork inspired by Francis Offman, who was also showcased in the Mead Gallery this Summer. They began drawing small artwork creations on materials, which would then be sliced into different shapes and sizes. They then placed their creations on a bigger piece of material to create a collective piece of artwork.
"I loved that there was no criteria, the children could explore and had no boundaries. I saw the hesitation at the beginning, but towards the end they were just going for it!" – MaryAnn Galgey, Southfields Primary
Holbrooks spent their day with AJ, exploring the exhibitions and learning a movement piece. They developed their understanding of how movement can change in different ways, especially in an art gallery! They experimented with distance, perspective, framing, repetition, mirroring and performance.
They particularly enjoyed experimenting with framing and interaction, and how this can be explored with people and objects. They all felt confident enough to perform their dance pieces at the end of the day. AJ had a ton of gold stars to give out to his artists!
"It was fabulous for the children to see their work on display in an exhibition. The space of the gallery is brilliant for them to move in." –Anna Swallow, Holbrooks Primary
Holbrooks Family day
A few weeks after the project had finished, we invited Holbrooks families to come and see their children's artwork, create some work in the making space and have fun during our Family Sundays session with Artist Tereza Buskova. We expected a few families would be able to come and see their children’s amazing work, however we were over the moon when nearly 130 people came through our doors!
The gallery was filled with noise and excitement. So many eager parents, guardians and loved ones who were filled with pride to see their little artist's work.
"It was awesome, nice to see where they have been and what they have been doing." – Holbrooks Parent
"It was a fantastic opportunity for the families to spend quality time with each other and it was lovely to have been able to facilitate it and see all their happy faces." – Anna Swallow, Holbrooks Primary
Thank you Artists!
Working with 3 brilliant Coventry primary schools; Holbrooks, Southfields, and Templars has been such a joy for the Arts Centre. Their students are filled with enthusiasm and creative flair. It feels as if their students have always been artists, and Polly, AJ and their teachers just gave them the time and space to realise them.
A huge thank you to their wonderful teachers, Anna Swallow (Holbrooks Primary) MaryAnn Galgey (Southfields Primary) and Kerri Davies (Templars Primary) for their support and encouragement for these young people.
