I was lucky enough to be one of 10 artists chosen for the second year of this project. Segro commissioned 10 artist/school partnerships to create work on the theme of the world of work to exhibit at the Royal Society of Arts in London in June. Each school and artist had to bid to take part - so by being commissioned they were winners already... but as an added bonus they were offering to also buy their favourite pieces to display permananetly in their Offices...
I felt it was a great opportunity to work with young people on a commercial brief, using my practice in public art as a platform for sparking off their ideas...
It was wonderful seeing the young people picking up the brief and literally flying with it - making all the choices along the way that I had shared from my own work - from researching the client - to developing ideas - finding appropriate materials and methods of working and not least learning new skills.
In the end they chose to use a combination of copper foiling and sandblasting to get their ideas across - the sand blasted details of cogs and windows works exceptionally well.
As they worked they became more and more linked with their art and as a team - we had indepth discussions about the value of art, pricings, how to negotiate, issues of selling, your rights as an artist - and saying goodbye to their work all became part of the workshops "it's like saying goodbye to a child!"
The exhibition was utterly thrilling - what prestige to exhibit at the RSA whilst you are at school at the beginning of your career! I arrived in the morning to install the exhibition and was delighted to discover that we had been given one of the bare brick walls in the RSA's stunning vaults to display our work on. Later one of the students vocalised why it worked so well "well it is the natural place for stained glass - if you think about churches they are all bare walls and then stained glass"
Once I had installed it and switched on the backlighting I was delighted to hear some gasps and then comments of 'breathtaking' and it really affects you 'emotionally' from other people setting up the exhibition. What more could you aim to hear about your artwork? I was so proud of the students. When they arrived they were mesmerised. "Is that really what we made" "I can't believe I could ever make anything like that" and stood their just staring at it amazement - what a kick having that response to your own work! Seeing work in a professional setting is so important it gives the space to show the integrity of the work away from the clutter of the classroom...I was touched to see the depth of understanding in the students too "thanks for taking the time to display it RIGHT for us"
All the students, the headteacher and the head of Art were thrilled and the private view was a great success. At the end of the evening there was lots of speeches about the value and importance of such work and then Segro announced who they were going to buy.
My group were bowled over that BOTH of their panels were being bought. But cheekily put their foot down saying well you can only have it after the school exhibition as our parents and friends haven't seen it yet! Wonderful to have inspired such negotiation skills and passion for their work!
They also bought some work from Dionne Ruffy's partnership with Arbour Vale school in Slough, which is a special needs school - Her work had unleashed an amazing freedom of expression for the students by playing to their strengths and as a result they had created some stunning works - I couldn't help but think she had given those students such an incredible gift that they would remember forever.
Here's a link to the school's local rag write up:
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/search/4477460.A_real_window_of_opportunity_taken/
