This project was a Creativity Action Research Award (CARA) project, funded by Creative Partnerships, which took place in 2005. The partners in the project were teacher Caroline Day-Lewis and artists Cally Trench and Alex Dewart. Woodlane High School is a special school in West London.
Visit the Creative Partnerships CARA website for information about the CARA projects in general.
Visit the Woodlane High School project webpages on the Creative Partnerships website.
WORK BY WOODLANE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Click on thumbnails for enlargements of work by each student
WORK BY ALEX DEWART AND CALLY TRENCH
Click on thumbnail for enlargements of work by the visiting artists, and for images of the final exhibition at Woodlane High School
PROJECT OUTLINE
The project involved a class of Year 10 pupils (aged 14-15), who were making work towards their GCSE in Art. Both the children and the artists travelled on similar creative journeys - making work on the theme of memory, and the end result was paintings in acrylic on canvas.
One of the two artists visited the school every fortnight to discuss the progress of their and the pupils' work, exchange ideas, and compare methods of working. The learning process was addressed through the following questions, which the artist, teacher and children tried to answer together:
- How do you start?
- How can getting stuck help you?
- How do you use research?
- How do you make choices?
- How do you know when it is finished?
The visits to the school took place in the Spring and Summer terms of 2005.
SOME COMMENTS ON THE PROJECT
'Since I started my painting and meeting the two artists I've learned that if there is something more you can come up with you can add it to your painting to make it look better. I think the two artists that came really helped because it gave me more confidence on how to do my painting.' (Student)
'The project had a direct impact on pupils' behaviour, pupils were engaged and motivated throughout the project - there were no problems getting started each lesson. Another pupil demonstrated her enjoyment at having the artists visit with increased levels of communication.' (Caroline Day-Lewis, teacher)
'The students became more confident about talking about their work. They started to ask more questions such as how to apply the paint in a certain way or about the merits of different colours to use. They discussed the work in quite a mature way - they were using me as a sounding board rather than as a straight source of information.' (Alex Dewart, artist)
'I think that projects that are sustained over a period of time like this one build up a kind of momentum, and allow children to achieve something significant - both in terms of a final product but also in terms of what they learn along the way.' (Cally Trench, artist)
'The method of parallel working where the pupils and the artist work on the same theme towards the same outcome was very successful in engaging the pupils and as a way to deliver the teaching objectives. All the partners would work in this way again.' (Caroline Day-Lewis, teacher)
'Parallel working is really the thing that makes this project different, interesting and, I think, successful. It uses artists as artists, not as substitute teachers. It uses the skills and abilities that we have. Parallel working provides the children with examples, ideas and strategies from artists who are identified as artists. It allows a different kind of relationship to build up.' (Cally Trench, artist)
I think the children gained the confidence to produce work that was very individual to each of them.' (Alex Dewart, artist)
'When we planned the project I knew it would work, while we were doing the project I knew it was working, but it was only with having time for reflection that I was able to analyse why it worked.' (Caroline Day-Lewis, teacher)