Enquire Project

From January to June 2010 a group of students from Ellis Guilford School, Nottingham went on a journey to explore and find out about Contemporary Art.

The group visited Galleries, talked to Curators and Artists, looked at artwork by local, national and international artists and asked a lot of questions about art.

The group then used their knowledge and discoveries to create a series of resources for others to help them learn and discover more about Contemporary Art.

“I ‘ve learnt more about Contemporary Art because at first I found it very confusing but then I started to explore it more and then I found it very interesting and I thought there was more to it than what I thought’

The Enquire resources created with pupils from Ellis Guilford School are now on line as a downloadable resource at-

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/museumprojects

under the heading- Enquire Phase 4 - British Art Show 7 Learning Resources

These are also available for use by school groups and visitors at Nottingham Castle Gallery and Museums.

Some of the groups thoughts about Contemporary Art…

Contemporary art is art that has just recently been created or is being created now; Contemporary art is modern art, of its time, original

Contemporary art keeps changing so it doesn’t get boring, it’s up to date,

Art changes to make it better

Contemporary Art is creative, colourful, attractive, different, the style, the colours, shapes, colour, texture, never been done before, It’s more modern techniques and fashion, use of modern material, the shape of things

Contemporary art gives mixed or unknown feelings, has stories behind the pictures, it makes you think of emotions or feeling

I think contemporary art is very interesting

I think contemporary art is new, original and creative

BASIC Shop

The BASIC young people's hard work has come together in the BASIC shop. The British Art Show Information Centre displays the work they created with artists Laura Ellen Bacon, Pete Barber, Sian Stammers, Nabil Musa and Michelle Hubbard. The work is inspired by BAS7 and looks at the themes of stereotypes and perceptions. The shop is located at 135/136 Middle walk, Broadmarsh Centre, Nottingham and is open 9.00-5.30 from the 19th October 2010 until the 27th November.

For the next part of the BASIC project the young people will be divising creative tours around the three BAS7 venues.
Some of the work created in this project is also being shown as part of the enquire conference, Nottingham and Light Night in February.

Brookfield Mural

Brookfield Primary asked me to liven up a disused wall by working with the pupils to design and paint a Mural. The pupils came up with a range of ideas around the theme "Multiculturalism". We selected our favorites which I drew up into three possible designs. The chosen design was then draw onto the wall and painted by myself and most of years 2,3,4 and 5 who also added a hand print.
Despite alot of rain we've managed to finish it before the winter sets in.

BASIC

The BASIC steering group of young people worked with Graphic Designer Simon Helliwell from designsource to create their logo. We created a brief using the young people's ideas of what they felt the project was about. This included an eye, as the artwork they have created looks at ideas of stereotypes and identity and because BASIC will also run an Information Centre, and an image of woven ribbon taken from the work they created with Laura Ellen Bacon.

The group love the logo and we're really excited about starting to use it!

We also have a shop unit for our exhibition and Information Centre at 135/136 Middle Walk Broadmarsh, Nottingham. Now we need to transform the space ready for our opening on the 9th October.

B.A.S.I.C project

Working with young people aged 16-24 years old to create artwork for an exhibition in an disused shop. The B.A.S.I.C project ( British Art Show Information Centre) will run alongside the British Art Show offering people information about BAS7 as well as housing the young people's interactive exhibition which will change and evolve through out its run.
The B.A.S.I.C group will also be devising tours around the BAS7 main venues to share their interpretation of the artwork on display.
( Above young people creating an installation with artist Laura Ellen Bacon)

Brookfield Landscapes

Year 4 at brookfield became explorers in their own back yard. Looking closely at the things that grew in their playground. The group worked on their observational drawing, colour mixing and painting skills to create painted landscapes.

Nottingham Castle, Enquire Project (ongoing)

Working with Students from Ellis Guilford School to develop their understanding and experience of Contemporary Art. The group will then be developing resources to be used by other young people as part of BAS7 this autumn.
The group has visited Nottingham Contemporary, NAE and Nottingham Castle, talked to Curators and Artists, created their own artwork and had a lot of in-depth discussions!
We are now working on our ideas for BAS7.

Brookfield Fossils

Had a brilliant day outside with year 3 at Brookfield Primary making Mould Fossils. I learnt alot about the different types of fossils and the group got to get properly messy, digging holes and creating fossil imprints in clay with natural materials or tools to create imaginary skeletons . We then cast the prints in plaster and dug them up when dry. They all looked amazing.

lakeside Art Centre

Looking at the "Without from Within" exhibition a group of 5-7 year olds from Portland Primary created stain glass windows and other work inspired by the exhibition.

Self Esteem day, Nottinghamshire Domestic Violence Forum

Had a brilliant day with the IMPACT project at their Self Esteem day. I worked with groups of young women aged 16-19 making textile pieces inspired by Katherine Hamnetts slogan t-shirts and Gillian Wearing's signs. I created stencils of positive and playful words that the young people could chose to make statements about how they saw themselves. The group stenciled these on to fabric "signs" and decorated them. The group also created poetry, learnt yoga and drumming with other practictioners through-out the day.

Brookfield portraits

We looked carefully at our features, worked out were they were on our faces and experimented with different materials such as water colour, charchol and oil pastels to create self portraits.
year 3 and 4.

Lakeside Art Centre

Weekly afterschool club with a group of young people from Brocklewood School. We drew inspiration from the artwork of Hui-Chen Lin and made our own colorful paintings based on her work.