Holding an Exhibition

Last week my MA group had an exhibition in Sailor's Home, Limerick. This was my first ever experience of opening an exhibition. There were lots of new skills learned that would be so useful when having a classroom/ art group exhibition.

Firstly there is the role of the curator. The curator is hired by the museum/artist to hang the art. They decide which pieces go where.

The Space:

First of all the space you are hanging the art in will determine how you hang it. If there is a noticeboard or maybe the shape of the wall. The colours of the background affect this also.

Choosing the Work:

If you are holding an exhibition with the children, you could let them look at their work and pick their 5 favourite pieces. This is important so that they are happy and confident about the work that they are hanging. Some may need encouragement and guidance. 

Then get the children to look at where they are displaying the work.

Notice the colours, shapes and feeling of the room. 

At this point, ask the children to reevaluate the work that they have selected and now to pick 3 from the 5 favourite pieces that may suit the space. This was a really hard lesson for us adults. Some people felt so passionate about certain works and may have put hours into them, but they just weren't right for the space. 

Encourage the children to keep thinking about the space and how the work will look in the space. 

The 2 works that are now left out of this exhibition may suit the next one. Keep them in a safe place as they are still favourite pieces of work and hold just as much importance.

Hanging the Exhibition:

At this point compare the work for common themes.

Maybe two children have paintings with the same type of theme? They may complement each other in the 'gallery'. 

Or a big bright messy style painting may need to be hung alone so as not to take from others.

Together, place the work and discuss why you hang pieces in certain places.

The children will feel much more connected to the exhibition and will now feel ownership of it. 

This may be a great activity to do with the class for an open night in your school. As always, I'd love to hear feedback.

This was a real eye opener for me! I hadn't experienced this process before. It has definitely changed the way I see an exhibition. You really appreciate all the work that goes into a gallery set up!! :) 

Creativity in Limitations

IMMA CPD and tours

I attended a teacher's CPD course in the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) on Saturday.

I love this museum, I just think that the look and a lot of the contemporary art is so accessible to children. I also think it is great to show young children the different type of art available, contemporary art may be more abstract and may influence the child to get creative! IMMA seem to make a lot of efforts to welcome schools and children to the exhibitions there, I love this!

The CPD course was about using IMMA's website as a helpful resource in your teaching of visual art.

In the Education and Community section you can book tours as well as CPD courses. 

I highly recommend the tour. If you have a chat with Mark you can let him know what level your class is at and they will pitch the tour to their level. 

See my earlier post about my visit: 

http://clairesprimaryschoolart.blogspot.ie/2015/08/irish-museum-of-modern-art-contemporary.html

It sounds like IMMA have great plans for the school visits this year. Edward Maguire's portraits and Nick Miller's remake of these portraits will show children that there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to capture a painting. 

Artefacts from Maguire's studio will also be exhibited. This is such a brilliant way to give children an insight to how an artist works. 

There will also be paper works and works based on the political troubles in Northern Ireland. This will be a fantastic link with the SESE curriculum and will bring it to life for them- age appropriate of course. 

The tours will be available from November 19th 2015 onwards.

The next teacher's CPD course is on November 7th, unfortunately I have other commitments that day- but I do highly recommend it! If you are there for educational purposes there is free entry into the exhibits. I went to "What We Call Love", such a splendid way to spend my Saturday- totally therapeutic for me!

The website itself is great for finding Irish artists that may be exhibited there. Simply search under 'Search the Collection'. You can bookmark them under 'My Portfolio', unfortunately this does not save once you exit the browser.

Some we found that we thought children may enjoy were:

Terry Akinson: work based on the troubles

Robert Ballagh: lots of shapes in his work

Barry Flanagan: animal sculptures with musical instruments

Chuck Close: Portraits

Teachmeet @ Feilte 2015

I had the pleasure of presenting at Teachmeet today! Thank you to Ciara for organising a great event. 

My day began with listening to a very motivating talk by Mark Pollock- he reminded us to be involved in our lives and not just a spectator. To be a competitor- not to win, but to be apart of life. 

My presentation was based around the use of sketch books in the primary classroom. Check out this post for more information: 

http://clairesprimaryschoolart.blogspot.ie/2015/08/sketch-books-in-classroom.html

I really enjoyed listening to fellow teachers and educators new ideas and innovations for the classroom. Here's just a few of the amazing presentations-

Mary Jo Bell, who I was familiar with from the twitter account @MrsBellsClass brought forward the idea of using Evernote in the classroom for digital portfolios of the children's work. (Twitter @mjbell)

Paul Knox described some of the benefits of Playworks in the primary school year. This is a programme that a colleague of mine is very excited about- and after hearing Paul's presentation today I am too! (Twitter @pauldechnoic)

Patrick Burke's Prezi captured everyone's attention. I really enjoyed the medium of "Prezi" for presenting (https://prezi.com/). It was so effective. Patrick used an app called "DoInk". This app can enable teachers to make a green screen from any background in their classrooms. (Twitter @patjburke)

Mags Amond introduced us to a handy site- classtools.net. (Twitter: magsamond)

Michelle Stowe discussed how to implement Restoratice Practice in schools. (Twitter @mstowerp)

Cormac Cahill works in an autism unit. I spent a few months working in one and I know how many resources have to be made and how long this takes. He uses the Book Creator app to make social stories that can be read on a child or parents phone or tablet. Not only is this faster to create a story, but as it's on a phone is also less conspicuous than a hardcopy social story. (Twitter @cosmiccork)

There were many other influential presentations, these are but just a few! If you are interested in presenting or attending the next Teachmeet check out  http://teachmeetireland.com/ and Twitter page @TeachmeetIRL 

I was also very excited to see so much interest in the art and outdoor education workshops at Feilte. I begin Forest School Leadership training later in the month and I can't wait to bring this mindset to my art and design education.

Polar Bears, 6th Class

I just had an enquiry from a TP student looking for ideas to explore Polar Bears with sixth class.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/polar-bear

Clay:

I think this would be a great opportunity to use clay. If they have small pieces just make sure they stick them with the scour and slip method. See this here: http://clairesprimaryschoolart.blogspot.ie/2015/08/using-clay.html

Drawing:

Polar Bears are also great to explore drawing and sketching with. The texture of the fur would be fun to draw and experiment with!

Why not introduce 'tone' or 'shading' with them?

http://justiraziel.deviantart.com/art/CW04-value-shading-359817233

Begin by giving the class a variety of materials- charcoal, chalk pastels, soft pencils (6B, 8B) get the children to draw lines and smudge the marks.

They could then apply this to a drawing of a polar bear. Maybe using white pastels on black or dark blue paper?

Seal the chalk pastels with hairspray after ;)

Fabric and Fibre:

The shape of a polar bear is simple and rounded- have you thought about embroidery or sewing?
Use some hessian, embroidery thread and plastic needles to practice stitches.

(see here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hemline-Hand-Sewing-Needles-Plastic/dp/B0039NEK6U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443730624&sr=8-1&keywords=plastic+embroidery+needles )


Then let the class draw a simple outline of a polar bear with pencil on the hessian and sew over the line as practiced.