The fourth week of my residency was quite a different experience from the first 3. It was arts week at the school and I agreed to set up 3 canvases in the studio and do a week long collaborative project. The idea was, every break time and lunch time, pupils and students and staff would come to the studio and make a mark on one of the 3 canvases.
Monday was crazy, it seemed to be really popular and I believe that there was a que to get in to the studio at one point. It was more of a free for all in terms of mark making, something that I changed for the rest of the week! The canvases did look a little sorry at the end of the first day, and I was a little worried. For Tuesday a 3 second rule was applied (you had 3 seconds to make a mark) and the materials were limited, the canvases now began to take shape, it was still really busy, but I had help for some sixth form students which was great. The 3 second rule worked very well so that remained on Wednesday and Thursday, but with further material limitations and rules such as 'draw a line', and 'draw a square or a circle', although one pupil continually insisted on drawing a chicken, so there may be a hint of poultry on each canvas. Friday was probably the most difficult day, trying to finish the canvases and guide the pupils into completing them, but they turned out pretty good, and interesting pieces of work. Strangely, adding rules to the mark making definately allowed for more creativety.
Another notable moment from the week was when a group of pupils came to see me with drawings of my work in their books, along with a list of questions and comments. That was great, I've never seen anyone make drawings of my work before.
My work has also continued throughout the week, I've been working on large pieces of paper and also on a new canvas as well as the double frame thing that I started last week. I've added an extra mini frame onto the corner of one canvas to extend the presence of the space. It seemed to work until I started to draw on the canvas. It now just looks odd, so I've got some serious re-thinking to do, I think the idea still has mileage, but the drawing works only on it's own, not with the extra frame. I'm sure things will move along this week though. I feel the need to start more work so I can work across several pieces at once.
Working with the pupils has already had a positive impact on my work. I've even been copying elements from their drawings and incorporating them into my work, I'm doing a one day project tomorrow with another group, so I'm interested to see what happens there.