ARTISTS TALKING

# 45 [25 January 2011]

Respect and friendship

I knew something must be wrong when small groups of staff stand at the edges of your working area looking at what your doing with shaking heads and folded arms obviously horrified at the delivery of your workshop. 

To cut a long storey short we were playing musical chairs with a twist and blind mans buff with 30 secondary school students, followed by falling backwards into trusting arms, all activities designed to place participants in positions where trust and respect and friendship are highlighted.

The expectations of the school were so very different from what we were trying to achieve and a quite word in my shell like made me feel extreemly awkward and that this was inapropriate free form woolley liberal nonsence that did not fit into this school of artistic exellance where teachers at the top of their game taught students who learned things!

Oh........we were trying to demonstrate the values of respect and friendship as the project was designed to include participants in experiencing the core Olympic values and this afternoon we were going to write some thank you cards make some friendship bracelets and do some art and craft stuff you know watch an instruction video showing you how to make some paper flowers and that out of crepe paper, possibly read a poem make little gift holder simple origami sort of pyramids, whatever you want to do really.

I felt pretty humiliated and that how could we be this far into the project and have missed the target so completely. I found myself being shown a display of wildcat sculptures from lce cream tubs and paper mache with leopards painted on them. All 20 of them were formulaicly painted and constructed, obviously a lot more art was involved in creating these sculptures which had shown how to research something and make it. 

Fair enough.

Our values project has a budget of £20 materials per day and is not being marked for exam criteria and we send a gift onto the another school as indeed will receive one in turn from them. 

I am delivering this with a new collegue and we both have the full support of our project manager who assured us we were doing exactly the kind of thing that was expected of us.

We have three more workshops to deliver and as it happens determination is another of those Olympic values. A quality which we undoubtedly need to reach the end of our programme!      

# 44 [21 January 2011]

I have decided to switch blogs?

Promted by: Annabell Tileys last post.

http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/642682 

And this is because working with other people is really what I am doing all the time and will be for a while. It is also what my professional world is all about. Pooling resources, sharing knowledge, combining skills and ideas to move things forward.

This way of working has become essential for me to survive as an artist and gone is that notion of a discovered tallent with singular recognition as an artist, in the manor of 'celebrity status' Annabel describes. This is the model that art education still persists with (in my experience) and is out moded, when was the last time a collage lecturerer rewrote their lesson plans and course objectives? Are they like Norton Motor Cycles and we've built them like this for years and they work so why change them.....while far eastern industrial powers launched Honda, Yammah and Suzuki and Norton's bikes did not survive, neither can our artists now!

Could artists be trained for the world so they work with Head School Teachers, Church Leaders, Landscape designers, Programme Managers, Maths Teachers, Architects, Planning Officers and Wildlife Organizations, Builders and the General Public. Surley the invention and skills of artists is better utilized in the world than put in a don't touch box. I dont get that.  

Anyway another rant over.....and to end I decided to post a picture of the catapult / trebuchet type machine we used in the school hall for a game with secondary school students...a bit of light relief and a really good laugh.   

# 43 [18 August 2010]

Working With Other People.

When making art seems all too hard, a waste of time, an uphill struggle or even a loosing battle. Phone a friend and say 'I have an idea why dont we X-Y-Z'. 

Some one I know did this to me. I have done it to a couple of people and things have brightened right up.

Projects both paid and unpaid have resulted, some stuff is more speculative and may sew seeds in future.

Musicians do this all the time: Have a go, push a few buttons, see what happens, take it round the block and push some more buttons and really have a look (as it says in the Honda add). 

Isolation: Its a bad place and dont stay there, go there and have look see what its like. I was sitting at my computer pushing refresh on my email box all day and it really is brain damage.

Next week I will be planning work for an 'Urban Safari'. Today I drew windmills on an abandoned car!

Art......fekin great, make some.

# 42 [21 July 2010]

The Boyhood of Raleigh By Millais

What's that got to do with the price of fish? your asking me. This painting shows the young Raleigh looking into his future. The  Corsair ........or is he a tary sailair, no matter, anyway we all know Raleigh sets off across the seas.

This is also me at secondary school in the 1970's listening to my art teachers. In those days I used to paint still life (I wish I still did). I remember a little voice in my head saying I would mature into a Landscape Painter. But the voyages I took never landed there. In fact I never even really became a painter. Raphael, Robert Motherwell or Malcolm Morely, proper feckin painters you know ...Breugel even.

But this might be the time to remember that little voice and cross over the water to the landscape over there in the distance I see every day. There has been alot of that water under the bridge since I heard that little voice and I know I will never be a landscape painter in the traditional sense.

So I have decided to be a 'Landscape Blogger' instead. It might be even better.......see what comes out?

As for this blog, I guess its dormant, waitng to be picked up in the future maybe?

The title for my new blog will be: Blogging the Blean'.

# 41 [14 July 2010]

I have just spent some time really enjoying looking back through the comments on this blog and would like to thank everyone for their contributions, but at the same time appologise to people for not responding properly or picking up and developing issues raised.

I tend to remember the ones about who is bullying who, or what they sing in the bath and the hippy flowers painted in colours that wer'nt even provided for workshop use.

Blogging is best when it is a two way thing and thank you for contributing it is much apprietiated.

I recieved a form for a tendering process yesterday which was accompanied with a 42 page document of guidelines and contractural procurement procedure. This has resulted in my inability to make any sence of the world today, or string coherant thought together at all.  

Procurement? we have to re-think this, exchanging information is'nt that difficult is it?  The question is always the same though, how will you carry out the ideas you havn't had yet and how much will they cost to deliver?

Slow down will you..control freak! or is it me that's unreasonable?  

# 40 [5 July 2010]

Garden Party at the Garden of Dreams.

You know when your project is a success when:

A) Three unmotivated teachers working with you all resign their posts.

B) The goal posts move 5 times, but you still score.

C) You avoid injuries to pupils when using heavy hand tools and power tools.

D) You ask the school librarian if you can display the design work done on the project in the library to the whole school and they phone reception and request 2 cartakers and head staff to act as a SWAT team to eject you from the premises 

E) Your work is not vandalised, but targeted by art theives.

F) One of your lessons causes a full scale riot

G) The Caretaker is on your side

H) A posse of students are sent out to find and bring you back when you're wandering around the school field talking on your mobile phone, when you hadn't realised you were supposed to be making a speech and thanking everyone for their help at the celebration garden party.

I) The kids you worked with can't believe your not coming back.

J) Your fellow artist (Pete) working with you on the project tells the staff 'Art is about ideas, and design is about realising them'.

K) Finaly; the deputy head invites you to play for their school staff cricket 11.

# 39 [26 June 2010]

The Garden of Dreams.

The table is now rebuilt and technically it might be a bar. It has only two legs, figured it was not so knickable with only two.

BBQ arrangements all left with the school to carry out. Parents, pupils school govenors and VIP's only.

Now this is the thing? When I look back at my education secondary, junior and primary, which must be over 40 years ago now........ I remember some badly behaved and problematic children with some degree of learning disability. A few years ago I may well have agreed with you if you suggested their was no such thing as ADHD, just bad behaviour. Now I would strongly disagree. I believe it to be real, and have worked with a number of children on two diferent projects who have medicated and unmedicated versions of it.

It is very hard to get results with these children and I compare them with my school contemporaries I mentioned earlier from 40 years ago and there was nothing like it going on. These children can not carry out a task for longer than a few minuites before running off to disrupt others. They are unable to controll this no matter how many detensions, exclusions or even sympathy, patience and time invested in their well being and development.

So: is there chemicals in our diet, something in the water which makes this terrible thing happen? Does it wear off and do you grow out of it in early adulthood? There seems so much of it about in the younger generations, my childrens contemporaries and classmates are afflicted.

Yet non of mine are?  

# 38 [24 June 2010]

The After School Club.

# 37 [19 June 2010]

Tables gone innit

sawn off at the point where the wood goes into the metal.

We've a BBQ with parents, school govenors and the agency I am working for is sending some more senior staff I believe.

The heat is on:

Staff off sick

moral is low

and I am not going to mention the gossip around the school!

D day is 2 July and a small.......ish part the budget has been used for unknown expenditure to me : venue hire sort of expenditure. Which is cool, as I went there for a meeting, that wasnt organised by me.

So living on the edge.

# 36 [10 June 2010]

A preview at the After School Club.

I have 21 children (some double sided) cut outs made from 18mm plywood. I took a few into the after school club to see what they looked like and where we might put them. I have about 4 left to complete.

They caused a stir, which is the point really. I also have about a dozen flowers to go with them.