words

Just rediscovered the words written by the students in Norway following my lecture on my art practice. I asked them not to think too deeply or self-censor, simply to write the first thing that came into their heads. These words sparked their own making in the studio.

• Nostalgia        
• Walking         
• Mysterious      
• Wonder         
• Silence        
• Afraid          
• Pink 
• Winter forest
• Air
• Vintage 
• Animals & nature
• Family
• Soft
• Bird

epping forest

Thank you to Sebastian Richter who traveled to Loughton in Essex to capture a large format photograph of my work. You can see where we trampled down leaves positioning the arms, using the photograph created in June as a guide. Throughout the seasons I'm creating four images of this piece.   

year 1

Working with the youngest children in school is a powerful reminder of the wonder available in everyday life. Witnessing the children's joy and willingness to get stuck in, have a go, to become absorbed in the feel, texture, colour of something. Noticing the way they repeat an action, becoming so focused and in a flash, unfocused. Whatever needed to be expressed/learnt has been processed and its time to move on. There is an ebb and flow in each child, quiet contained intent and then a desire to share and show. I adore their lack of self criticism, their lack of judgement around good or bad, their sparkly delighted eyes because they successfully glued a red shape to a piece of cardboard.

c2c lecture

Images from my lecture at the Agder Folkehøgskole in Norway last week. Showing one of the maps that I navigated across the country with and dipping my boots in the North Sea at the start of my journey. 

folk school

This week I lectured and taught my first art class outside the UK working with young adults at the Agder Folkehøgskole near Kristiansand, the most southern city in Norway. I'll post details soon, but for now wanted to share the students response to my lecture on walking and art. To spark their own making I asked them to write down two words that somehow encapsulated what I'd shared with them. These words were folded and placed in a bowl, pick and mix style, and each participant selected one to use during our two days together. Below are a selection of the unpicked words.

autumn term - year 6 art at drew primary

The first half term has come to a close at Drew Primary School. My focus with the year 6 classes was drawing and model making, our inspiration came from Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition. These were challenging classes to teach as the listening skills of the groups needs developing BUT, together, we achieved wonderful outcomes the pupils are proud of.

 Drawing with ink on coffee stained paper

 Map inspired by the journey of the Endurance in the Antarctic 

 Practice diorama

 Four layer diorama incorporating pastel, laminated collage and drawing

 Bold and detailed drawing of the ship - Endurance

Diorama showing blocks of sea ice

autumn term - year 5 art at drew primary

The first half term has come to a close at Drew Primary School. My focus for the year 5 classes was drawing and print, our inspiration came from within the pages of the book Skellig. We had a great time together, the classes were a pleasure to teach.

 Printing with acrylic paint

 Painted collaged block

 Drawing using carbon paper

 Printing with inks and rollers

 Print of Skellig

Beautiful design, art books were hand made/bound by the pupils