The Gusserane Art Intervention: Week 10

Part 1 Monday

This week in Gusserane we were back to our two day week routine and it has come to the crucial stages of the practice as we are now up against the clock to get as much work done as possible before preparations for the exhibition begin.

The younger group were up first to do their regular copying exercises except on to the paintings they made last week. The unfortunate thing about this workshop was the fact that their teacher was away on a training day and so, many of the children were absent. It was a little trying as we hadn't been informed of this and about half of the entire group weren't able to continue the work. We pushed on with the plan and those of the group whom were present each collected their paintings, took a marker and a picture to copy and began drawing. Some were confused as to why they had to draw on their paitning however we instructed them to treat it as it were a blank page but to include the shapes and

colours in the painting as part of the composition. We also encouraged them to continue drawing as big as possible rather than creating series of small pictures, as the bigger drawings would be much more striking for the xhibition.

The results turned out remarkably strong and some quite beautiful. The abstract background against the print like images the children were drawing created a contrast that could rival the slides in a unique way. In fact many of the exercises we do with the children inspire me very much so in my own practice as an artist especially when having the opportunity to incorporate the slide techniques into what we are doing with them for the exhibtion. The work we have done in teaching them composition, perspective, clarity and focus in drawing and understanding the dynamics of light as well as many other aspects of art has been quite broad and we can only hope the pupils whom engage well with art take it with them. For the rest of the workshop the children finished their painting/drawings, with some Els and I even had to input when to tell them to stop for fear they might lose concentration and overdo it. Those whom finished carried on with working on regular blank sheets of paper and practised their drawing until the end of the workshop.

Els also informed me that she would not be around for the Thursday workshops and so we had to discuss what I could do for them. The older group would be fine in carrying on with their sculpture work however we had to try and think of a way to continue engaging the younger pupils without repeating the same workshop over again. I knew that those whom were absent today would have to complete their painting/drawings but I suggested an activity for the rest of the group to start. Since we would be finishing with them soon it might be nice for them to have something to keep that doesn't go to the exhibition but that they can display in their school. I knew we had some wallpaper left over from before Christmas so I thought they could do a bigger scale painting/drawing together as a group or in two groups and create a banner to show off. Els agreed it was a nice idea and something fun they could do to complete the workshops and that we should get started with it on Thursday when she is gone.

In the afternoon, Els had brought in a collection of large objects for the pupils to begin their group sculptures, we hoped that with the success of last week's workshop with them they would create nice bigger scale sculptures together. We got started by splitting them up by class first and then assigning each group their own large object to get started on with pieces of wire and clay and some tools.

Alot of the pupils worked better together in groups, with two or three of them creating very interesting sculptures. However a few of the pupils whom we had bookmarked to really thrive on this exercise from last week's observations were rather put out by having to work with other children and wanted to keep to themselves. We allowed one or two to do this as there was no convincing them otherwise but we pushed the rest to stick with it and try to work as a collective. Having the larger objects to work on opened up new ideas and having more than one pair of hands proved useful to them in constructing the sculptures. We also tried to encourage them to build as high as possible and to go as far out as they wanted with it although we were strict in keeping them abstract. Some of the pupils were tempted to make something representational whne they became stuck for ideas but breaking this habit has been important all along in these workshops.

Part 2 Thursday

Today I was nervous about doing the workshops on my own, although I had brought help along I was right to be worried as I felt the pupils perhaps took a few liberties with Els being absent. No one was particularily out of line bar the usual culprits but it was difficult from the outset with the younger group in the morning. The first problem was that the majority of the markers and pens didn't have their lids replaced the last day thus most of them weren't working. The pupils habitually try and draw too quickly with them which causes them to waste as well and there was a period of about twenty minutes where nothing could get done without our attention being brought back to the markers. By the time all of the pupils had found a marker that even partially worked the workshop was halfway through, those of whom were working on their paintings from being absent the last day were taking their time to get the marker as dark as possible.

The rest of the group were copying the photocopies I had made that morning from the print book, just like the last couple of workshops, except the marker situation really put a delay in progress and I didn't manage to get them around to starting their large group pictures. There was plenty of enthusiasm for the drawings so Els' concern of them being bored with doing the same exercise was needless as the pupils seem to really enjoy the copying exercise, alot of them doing well.

There was an issue with one or two pupils whom showed blatant boredom or lack of concentration and caused a disruption with a couple of the other pupils whom were getting on with their work. At times like these when a child has a particular behavioural issue it would help alot if their classroom teacher were available to get involved to help control the siuation. I managed to work through the problems though and the children whom were to finish their painting/drawings got them done and some even went on to do their own drawings to occupy the last of the workshop time.

In the afternoon, the older group got straight back into work on the sculptures. One group helped themselves to doing the drawing exercise that was left over from the morning workshop as they felt they were finished and they quickly had to be put in theur place. Another group were stuck as to what they could do to continue their piece and I had to try and dissuade them from wanting to start all over again but rather to reinvent their piece, using what they've already done and making something more out of it.

Their efforts were great but they nearly changed the entire thing to something further away from what myself and Els were aiming for. A couple of the other groups attempted similar approaches by adding comic features to their work and it was difficult to make them move towards non-representational ideas without being too discouraging. One of the boys groups didn't make much progress at all as they were constantly quarrelling about what each of them wanted for the sculpture and who got to use the tools. They didn't work too well at taking turns and I didn't see much of an improvement of their sculpture by the end of the workshop. Although I was trying my best to keep the level of work consistent with what we were doing before, I really felt Els' absence affected the work ethic of the pupils. They were all very well behaved but her direction and authority over them I felt was missing, especially when they just started treating the whole exercise like a bit of fun. I hope that when we return on Monday we can get back on track as we only have two workshops left to complete their current project before we finish for the exhibition.