Art School Sculptures
The stone casting project that pupils have been working on with sculptor and artist Andy Kirkby have been finished and are now on display around the outside of the Art School - click here for pictures of the finished carvings.
Casting Workshop
January 2008
Our visiting sculpture tutor, Andy Kirkby, has been working with groups using a range of casting techniques. Subject matter has included chickens, umbrellas, hats, body parts and jewellery. The groups have cast these objects using a range of materials from traditional plaster and pewter through to chocolate and lead. All of the sculptures will be on display in the Headmaster’s study and outside the art school alongside last term’s carvings soon.
Contemporary Charcoal Workshop
During the first week of the new year, Sixth form and GCSE artists had the opportunity to work with Paul Thomas, an artist who founded the prestigious 'Jerwood Drawing Competition', who lives and works in the UK and Australia.
The pupils learnt how to make large charcoal drawings starting with simple random mark making systems and developing their images using imaginative subjective strategies. It was a fantastic, lively and stimulating start to the year for both staff and pupils. Paul also gave a series of lectures to pupils from all years about what contemporary drawing can be using his own projects illustrating the Trojan War and his recent work in Australia. It was a fascinating insight for many about the real life of an artist.
Kevan Hopson Workshop Weekend
Kevan Hopson worked with groups of GCSE and A-level pupils during the Whole Day enterprise weekend. His workshop encouraged pupils to use sophisticated processes whilst working with scrap materials and driftwood. Pieces constructed inside frames used techniques such as burning into copydex, etching into glass and collaging text. Many of the pieces produced will form part of students exam exhibitions this summer.
Art Trip to Berlin - Easter 2007
Galleries, including the Hamburger Bahnhof, Bauhaus Archiv, Deutsche
Guggenheim and the Neue National Galerie provided an abundance of
inspiration and drawing oppotunities for 18 GCSE and A level students on
an art trip to Berlin during the Easter holidays. The excellent weather allowed the party toexplore (and draw) other points of cultural interest also; notably the Reichstag, Tier Garten, Jewish Memorial, Berlin Wall and Berlin Zoo.
House Art 2007 - The Environment
After the visit to Canford by David Buckland, who spoke about art and climate change, the theme for this year's House Art competition focused on ways in which art can draw attention to environmental issues. Houses were given the brief just 4 weeks before the shows and discussed possible directions with the house and came up with plans. Most of the work that was completed was produced in 3 days but a great deal of planning and decision making was done well before this.
The exhibitions ranged from recreations of environments to fashion shows and films. The creative tension on the week of the event showed the importance of both the theme and the event.
Painter Andy Ekins judged the competition and spoke about each house at an awards ceremony on Friday 2nd March. The prize went to the following:
Best House Marriotts
Bet Individual Sophie Powell
Best Curation De Lacy
Best Concept Lancaster
Judges Prizes School House and Monteacute
Andrew Ekins - Paint & Processes Workshop
Andy Ekins is a process painter who lives and works in London. His work deals with human presence and the physicality of painting and paint. Andy also lectures at Wimbledon School of Art.
Andy Ekins came to Canford to work in the Art School for the third time. He gave a lecture about his work to a large group of GCSE and A-level artists before two workshops. The workshops were concerned with producing pieces that had a physical presence to them together with a sense of human interaction. It was a difficult and demanding experience which required students to find new ways of producing paintings and sculptures. There was a tension and productivity in the art school during his visit and the resulting work had those attributes. All those that were involved enjoyed the challenge and were pleased with the resulting work. Not all the pieces were resolved but they have formed interesting starting points for future work and as each student moves into their exam the benefits are already evident
Head of Art, Dylan Lloyd explains more about the exhibition:
"The Assembly exhibition was conceived as a chance for the department to show off the work that pupils are producing. Our summer exhibitions are about marking and displaying exam work and we all rarely get the chance to see work in a gallery environment for an extended period. The staging of the pupils' theatrica production of 'Hot Mikado' at the end of the term helped to make the decision about when the show should take place.
To really show what the department was doing we wanted to show work by students of all years and a group of associated artists. These artists have run workshops, given talks and open their studios for our pupils. I was delighted by the response to the exhibition. A large number of visitors came to see it and commented on the quality and variety of work being produced together with the interesting balance of work by pupils, staff and artists. The students that had work chosen for the show were keen to show parents and friends their achievements.
A number of prep schools attended the show. This gave them a chance to see the type of work we produce and the experience that our students can have. I was impressed by the levels of knowledge and imagination of many of the younger pupils. We are very proud of our pupil's achievements. We believe that the artistic experience they have in and out of the art school is a refreshing balance of excitement, inquisitiveness, imagination and energy".
