Great Expectations.

Well! What a week it has been so far! An exhibition which finishes on Sunday this week, and working along side artist Paul Hobbs and fellow artists Caroline, Lin and Rachel for two days at an Art and Religious Studies workshop for Secondary School pupils across Cheltenham and Gloucester.

A while back, I had been asked to participate in a project by a friend from Church who works for the Dioceese, which would involve us as artists helping specific gifted and talented pupils from a range of Secondary schools in Cheltenham and Gloucester. The aim was that they were to produce a piece of artwork based on a text in the Bible called the Beautitudes in a two day workshop assistedby ourselves.
I immediately loved the idea but had to think about childcare before I could commit to the project. After a phonecall to my parents, I was happy to tell Deb that I would indeed be free to help over the two days! So after a planning meeting to discuss the outline of the project we just had to sit back and wait (with a bit of planning) for the date to arrive! (Well, in reality, I had to get on and do the work i needed to do for the exhibition at Cheltenham Open studios which happened to run on the same week!!!!)

So on Tuesday evening this week I set off to our church building armed with various paraphanalia and visual stimuli ready to decorate the workspace for the kids to use on the Wednesday and Thursday!


The workshop started on the Wednesday with Paul outlining the day and then showing the pupils a range of his work that was based on the Beautitudes and other subjects and then he introduced the artists who were going to assist in the creative period of the day. We each spoke for a few minutes on our work and what we liked to work with, and then we showed them round each of the three workspaces pointing out the materials available and which artist would be working in which rooms.
After an ice breaker session and a brainstorm of ideas the pupils all chose their prefered room and got to work for the remainder of the day with exploring their ideas and starting their piece of artwork.


It was great coming along side the kids and asking them about their initial ideas and watching them take shape throughout the afternoon.

After a tiring but good day I returned home to my hubby and kids having spent an anjoyable time on the project.


On Thursday it was suggested that I moved into a different room to assist Lin with her group as there were more in her group and there was more help needed than in our textile room. So I got to work with a lad whose idea needed to take shape quite alot if he was going to finish it by the end of the day. But amazingly, he worked like a trojan and finished the piece in time so I could also help others to get their pieces done on time too!

I came back on such an emotional high that evening after the kids had all gone home and only one having not finished her piece out of about 30 kids! I had got really stuck into working along side the kids and prompting ideas and giving suggestions and it gave me such a buzz that I hadn't expected to have!

The pieces of work look great and they are going to be shown in various locations and exhibitions in the near future and it was just such a wonderful, exciting experience that I enjoyed much more than I thought I was going to~and I thought I would enjoy it anyway!

I haven't included photos of the kids work but there was such a variety of different expressions and styles and I think they too had a fab time!


Well there was a long waffle! But that's it for now.
Byee.
xxx
P.s Many many thanks to my folks for looking after the kids while I enjoyed myself on this venture!!! :o)