tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16133771.post-1138348825293395532006-01-27T07:56:00.000Z2006-01-27T08:00:25.323ZJanuary review – posted by Terry<br /><br />After the glories of the first week were demolished, by an unwelcome visitor to the trail, I had to take stock and review the overall plan and timescale. Fortunately the wonderful sculptures and habitats created by the pupils were recorded, albeit on a very dull day which didn’t show them at their best. They had already been discussed with the pupils as ephemeral art but I had hoped for a more graceful decay!<br /><br />It was clear that the site was not going to be secure enough for a trail with a permanent and growing sculpture collection as initially thought. The emphasis then became the JabberFest with pieces being created towards some form of end performance/event. The work on the trail itself (carefully planned and mapped by Class 4) was put on hold until later where a narrower time frame may increase its chance of survival.<br /><br />Class 7 (Yr 3) built on their work with minibeast habitats and memories of the Forbidden Corner to create a splendid collection of plaited paper snakes to place in the trees. They quickly mastered the basic techniques, showed excellent teamwork and collaboration, and then their imaginations kicked in. Soon the “snakes” were sprouting legs, wings, multiple heads and the groups were joining them together to create veritable pythons!<br />In the most recent sessions they have gone on to make card masks of creatures invented in their work with Caroline and Pheonix. Again they worked very successfully in pairs, sharing and building on ideas and showing very good independence and resourcefulness for their age. The hippocrocopigs are particularly ferocious. At the end of the sessions they all wore their masks as we had a performance of the song they had written about the animals – complete with dance movements.<br /><br />Class 6 (Yr3-4) had previously developed ideas about the plants and trees of the Tulgey Wood so we went to explore the woodland and collect samples of colours, shapes, patterns and textures for drawings and collages. In the next session we made a start on some capes that could wrap around to hide a person, camouflaged by leaves and twigs, before opening with a flourish to become a moving, dancing plant/creature. We began this with quite large groups (5 or 6) to get used to the difference between painting on cloth and painting on paper. Emphasis on dull natural colours gave good opportunities for experimentation and colour mixing. Naming and describing the colours was harder than mixing them. Planning to use tie-dye as an alternative base for other capes to suit a different set of characteristics for their plants. This should be a quicker process too as Pauline wants dozens (2) for the dance! I’ll be coming in for an extra day to make headway on this.<br /><br />Class 4 (Yr4-5) took my original outline for the trail and extended it in all directions. They explored the wood, seeking out and naming recognisable landmarks such as the Treasure Tree, the Slingshot, the YI tree and the Giants Chair. They worked in teams throughout the wood to lay out sections of pathways using the steaming heaps of wood chippings that the workmen had left for us. This was drawing on an art attack scale! Unfortunately we couldn’t get the final helicopter view so translating it into a 2D map was quite a challenge. The quality of teamwork, discussion and negotiation that all this generated was impressive. In the January residency we built on their sense of place by focussing on the Wabe and in particular on the creatures that may be found there. We went down to the wood-entrance to look at the 9 posts I had erected to surround and define the Wabe. Their task was to create 3D creatures, to perch on top of the poles as guardians of the Wabe, using an assortment of scrap materials to then be covered in a shell of ModRoc. Again the quality of discussion, co-operation and invention was impressive as they successfully sustained their efforts for the full day and produced some wonderful creatures. Some are more complete than others and all will benefit from a layer of detail to bring out their characters but it’s an excellent start to bringing the Wabe to life.<br /><br />Class 1 (Yr 5-6) used their first session in November to make some very good rubbish-people. They used a very simple structure to make the figures from waste materials such as plastic bags and cartons with the intention that a crowd of these could quickly and easily be made to populate a part of the woodland. Mr Barber was particularly interested in developing character through modelling the heads, giving the originally faceless crowd a range of identities. This triggered an idea for Caroline and stories began to appear about the origins of this strange race that was infiltrating the wood. Since the Rubbish People now making a more active presence the next stage for Class 1 was to create a new range of large, mobile puppets. We used the newly arrived bamboo poles and some lengths of pipe insulation to make a basic frame for figures that are over 3 metres high and span 4.5 metres before they have hands! Although they will be mostly similar to the first figures, some of these are beginning to appropriate human costume in the form of shirt-fronts and ties. Hoods, capes and cloaks have also been suggested. Almost half the class were missing through illness for this session but those who were there are confident they can help the others catch up. Mr Barber is again keen to work on the heads at a much larger scale and may even put a glint in their eyes with some cunning LEDs. It will probably take 3 pupils to manage each of these large puppets so characterisation and choreography will become very important – over to Caroline and Pauline! Again I will need to put in some extra time to hurry these through to give C & P time to work with them.<br /><br />Class 3 (Yr 6) were responsible for most of the wonderful but ill-fated creatures made in the first residency. It is fitting then that they are now working to visualise and make real the Jabberwock himself. This amazing creature is evolving through every session. The sketchy glimpses in the original poem, character development with Caroline, anatomical studies and its need to act as a screen while moving in 4 directions at once have led to some challenging design decisions. The design shifted and changed through many drawings, diagrams and descriptions but the excitement, when the first pieces of framework showed the outline and size of the creature, was tangible. It spread across the classroom as a simple line of hoops but everyone there could suddenly see the beast in their mind’s eye. Lightweight materials (withies and lycra) have been used to make the creature as mobile as possible. The head, neck, tail and two-part body are built separately so that it can disperse and re-assemble at will – though this has led to the need for two extra pairs of legs! The head has yet to be made and due to its complexity I will build the basic framework for the pupils to elaborate and ornament. I am very keen to make the creature structurally sound as soon as possible so that I can hand over the complex job of choreographing the movements of at least 10 pupils to Pauline. More extra time needed!<br /><br />To get the various projects up to hand-over state I will be in on the 2nd and 3rd of Feb with possible time on the 2 following Thursdays 9th and 16th.<br /><br />The woodland trail has not been forgotten and we’ve recently had a delivery of withies and bamboo poles that will form screens and archways to suggest the trail. This is not with the original intent of producing a sculpture trail to follow but rather to give form and focus to the woodland and create an environment that pupils can populate with structures, ideas, stories and journeys. I have made a start on the area near to the entrance and will soon be involving the pupils in naming, mapping and developing the various areas.<br /><br />Looking back over the first stages of this project I’m pleased to find that my personal targets are being fulfilled. I came into the project with a complete plan of action as a safety net to ensure that something would be produced. I hoped that somewhere along the way a spark of magic might happen between the art forms to set off new ideas and directions. I didn’t have to wait beyond the first meeting for the sparks to fly and they simply haven’t stopped. I wanted to experience working alongside other art forms over an extended period to see how they would interact and it has been fascinating to watch ideas bounce around before resolving into a practical and creative form.davidnoreply@blogger.com