From the start of this academic year to present, Stanley Picker Gallery has been collaborating with St Luke’s Primary and King Athelstan Primary to deliver a weekly Art Club inspired by the Gallery’s programme, for children from mixed classes across Key Stage 2.
Art Clubbers A/W 2018: Maisie, Olly, Brendan, Eric, Naveera, Stefan, Luca, Will, Nora, Elena, Levi, Elliott, Milly, Elspeth, Sam, Raphaella, Nishka, Sasha.
During the programme, with workshops tailored to meet the interests and requirements of individual groups, the young artists named above learnt about contemporary artists’ and designers’ practice, influences and creative processes, while sharing their personal interpretations, ideas and preoccupations through free-writing, drawing, printing, textile design, zine-making and animated discussion.
This term our practitioner in focus has been Furniture and Product Designer Michael Marriott, whose Stanley Picker Fellowship exhibition “You say Volvo, I say Potato…” is currently installed in the main Gallery space.
Pupils visited Marriott’s “awesome”, “clever” and “imaginative” exhibition, where they created prints using car parts and reimagined the possible functions of vehicle components that were ‘saved’ by the designer. They also made proposals for the potential repurpose of other unwanted or broken products, such as drawing materials made from plane dust, cinema seats from another old car, bags made from a hat, and a puppet made from a guitar.
Back in school, and inspired by Marriott, the groups began experimenting with ‘alternative printing’, objects including the contents of an Art Classroom and the containers which held their lunches – previously destined for the bin. Artists created their own designs which were transferred onto papers and textile products such as t-shirts, art packs, and bags, along with plywood coasters.
A display of the outcomes will be exhibited in Stanley Picker Gallery Lobby 15-17 November, with a celebration event Wednesday 14 November 4-7pm. We invite all to visit and take a browse of the young artists innovative drawings and ‘designer collections’.