As part of the evaluation of the ACE funded, 40 Artist Educator resources, AccessArt has joined forces with Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University to bring a workshop programme of visiting visual artists or ‘creative practitioners’ into four Cambridgeshire schools.
VIVID Young Creatives set out to give year eight students the opportunity to meet and work with a practicing visual artist in a workshop session. AccessArt and VIVID aimed to use the workshops as a springboard for opening debate around approaches to facilitating creative opportunities for young people and broadening the ambition of projects and opportunities within the school curriculum.
5 artist educators worked in four schools in Cambridgeshire: Susie Olczak, Anne Harild, Betsy Dadd, and Hannah Webb & Anne Streubel. Please enjoy, share and comment on the resources below.
Many thanks to Hannah Kennard and students of Swavesey Village College, Cambridgeshire,
Morgain Williams, Sian Kirkby and students of Chesterton Community College, Cambridge,
Keith McPherson and students at Witchord Village College, Cambridgeshire and
Katherine Woodard, Teresa Pollard and students at St Bede’s Inter-Church School, Cambridge for participating in the project.
“We were nervous when we started (the workshop) but we got into drawing as we experimented with drawing. Then we started to create a master piece and were very happy with our sculpture!”
“Thank you so much for all your hard work and the resulting dynamic workshop. The students were delighted and really appreciated the opportunity to meet a real artist and produce exciting and original artwork. The range of materials was particularly fabulous! It was also lovely to have so many artists in one room for once and a chance to show off what we are all capable of. Perfect!”
“What a fantastic opportunity for our students to meet and work with a practicing artist. I feel students got so much out of being able to work or a large scale with materials we don’t normally use. The iPads really helped students to document their work and make the wonderful animations. I am really proud of the way students were so open to these new ways of working and know they all really enjoyed it!”
“Many thanks for sharing the post about the workshop, it is really good and our senior management are very impressed with the whole initiative. The students and staff enjoyed the experience and to have a whole day of creative work is a real treat. Thank you for all your hard work and support in creating such an opportunity it has given the students ideas and a flying start to their GCSE courses starting in September.”
Participating young creatives showed their work and were celebrated with AccessArt, Chris Owen, head of Cambridge School of Art, teachers and collaborating artists in the prestigious Ruskin Gallery at Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University in July 2014.
Many thanks to Loren McCarthy for documenting all the sessions and editing the images for the subsequent AccessArt posts and the event in the Ruskin Gallery on the 17th July.
The project is supported by VIVID (Value Increase by Visual Design) a “2 Seas” cross-border cooperation programme co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
Thank you also to Katherine Von Glos for her help and support behind the scenes and making this project possible and Chris Owen, head of Cambridge School of Art for wanting to offer Cambridgeshire students a positive experience in the visual arts while they were still at school.
Many thanks to Creative Front and Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University for hosting this event.
Many thanks to Elizabeth Emerson and her colleagues at Olswang LLP for their generous support and help making this project happen.
