This term I started my Circle Artist Talks and we had both a textile artist (Claire Miller) and a Sculptor/Performer (Renata Bandeira) giving both informative and inspiring talks about their practice, which I felt was greatly received by those who attended. Due to exams clashing with this timetable of talks we came to the decision to postpone the rest of the talks until the Autumn term (as I gathered a number of artists/friends to deliver them).

Most of my 3 days a week is spent continuing to work alongside the art teachers in their art and textile lessons. I assist, which has been broadening my understanding and learning of techniques and delivery of ideas. This has been in key stage 3 lessons as well as GCSE and A-level classes.

The teachers have been really supportive of my presence and I have been encouraged to circulate in lessons giving individual attention to students as they work through projects. The A-level classes seem to really benefit from my knowledge too and I spend their classes giving individual tutorials, which they respond extremely well to. Taking on suggestions and research ideas to the next level and I have witnessed how this has developed through their coursework books.

At the beginning of the year Kate Miller and I went through the all the classes I would be in to highlight the dyslexic students so that I could pay particular attention to them in the classes.

During this term I have continued with my lunchtime art club, which has had a weekly set up, it has been largely conversational and visual. For your information I set out the schedule as follows:

  1. Week 1 : Introduction to site-specific art. Looking at artists works such as Gordon Matta Clark, Christo, Robert Smithson, James Turrell, Michael Landy. Print out of Christo’s work for them to take home with some questions so that they can give their personal response to the works.
  2. Week 2: Looking at Artist’s that use the house/building – Rachel Whiteread, Louise Bourgeois. Response to Louise Bourgeois draw house with reference to the body give questions for them to respond to.
  3. Week 3: Collage cut outs of buildings. Cut outs of buildings/images for them to immediately make into collages within their sketch books.
  4. Week 4: Taking photographs of the school buildings. Simply along the theme of INSIDE/OUTSIDE. I will use my/school camera to take images of outside of buildings as well as inside the building – the more overlooked spaces (corners, ceilings, carpets/floors etc) as well as the grand outside. Church, modern school buildings, etc. We will then use them for the forthcoming weeks to work directly on to the photos in the way of collage and drawing.
  5. Week 5: I will print out photos and bring them to the lesson for the class to start working on. This week start either looking at one of the artist’s we have discussed through realm of colour, texture, fabric and respond through their own interests/ideas onto the photographs printed. Katharina Grosse Artist of the week for them to respond to.
  6. Week 6: Using photocopies look at the outside of buildings think about blocking out with colour/texture. What to add on? take off? Block out? Use of Windows, think about stained glass, lights at night, what could the windows be used for – Even Cyrith Wyn Evans blinds?. Artist of the Week Rachel Whiteread, Richard Serra, Gregor Schneider.
  7. Week 7: The building and text. Looking at words and the building. Think about advertisement, words used on the roof tops as hotel names etc Jenny Holzer. Barbara Kruger, Yoko Ono
  8. Week 8: CANCELLED LAST DAY OF TERM – Dismantling the image. Cutting up the image making it into a grid for working on. This will begin on a small scale so A4 cut out in preparation to scale up to a larger work after Easter.

These lunchtime clubs have gone well and I have been introducing the students to artists they have not seen or heard about before. I felt I wanted to introduce them to expressive, abstract and gestural artists that also work with scale and boldness. My thoughts behind this were taken from my own experience as I feel dyslexia effects your confidence. So by showing them and telling them about artists works that are beyond at first, imaginable scale and idea, my hope was that it will open their eyes to this way of working and will be freeing and confidence building for the next stage of my creative mentoring next term which will stem from these clubs.