Talk About Art have teamed up with another new partner school, St Augustine’s in Bellingham. We are really looking forward to working with them on Talk About Art and the Environment.
TAA Senior Associate Artists Simon Purins introduced the project to St Augustine’s year 4s on 22nd September 2021. Here’s what happened.
You can view he films used in he sessions HERE
Week 1
Students were asked to select an object – either something they had on them or something they could find in the classroom. They then had 10 minutes to draw their chosen object.
Following this, the class watched a short film about the work of Christo & Jeanne-Claude and then another on the recent wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris together with a live video-feed of the artwork ‘in situ’. Students asked and answered questions about the artworks they saw.
For the final part of the session, students continued with their drawings, looking carefully at the shape of their object and adding as much detail as possible.
Week 2
Students were asked to draw an object that they felt had some direct connection to the environment – in either a good, or bad way…or even both. They could choose from objects in the classroom, something they had on them or from discarded objects that had been collected at school for this session. They were given 15 minutes to draw their chosen object.
Following this, the class watched a short film about the work of Senga Nengudi and asked and answered questions about her work.
For the final part of the session, students were asked to turn their first drawing into an animal or plant – real or imaginary.
Week 3
Students watched a short film about the work of environmental artist Agnes Denes and asked and answered questions about her work.
Students were then given demonstrations of various paper building techniques.
For the remainder of the session, students made their own paper sculptures. They could choose to make these either representative of something or completely ‘abstract’.
