Creative Project Manager, Rachel Attfield gives her account on the beginnings of the Primary Bank project.
Autumn Term 1 Part 2 (October - December 2007)
The second part of Primary Bank’s first term was inspired by a visit to the South London Gallery to see the exhibition by Eva Rothschild. A sculptor whose work includes a range of structures in differing shapes, textures and surfaces. This work was displayed all around the gallery, suspended up high, placed on the floor and walls. The trip offered the group stimulus for the following dance lessons this term, concentrating on the quality, shapes and textures of materials and how these ideas translate in to movement.
Lesley-Ann Eaton, Schools Programme Officer at the South London Gallery, gives her account of the visit.
Tuesday 30th of October and Wednesday 31st October
Year 5 pupils from Charlotte Sharman School came to visit the South London Gallery to explore the work of Eva Rothschild. It was very exciting as we had been planning the sessions over a period of time.
The day started with an introduction to the South London Gallery and Sculpture . The pupils then had 10-15 minutes to experience the exhibition by deciding in small groups which title went with each piece of work. Eva Rothschild’s titles are often as interesting as her sculptures with names such as Mr Messy, Muscles, and Inside Your Head so the pupils had great fun in deciding and then hearing everyone’s answers and reasons for their choices.
Veronika Seifert, a sculptor and set design artist, then talked to them about sculpture and dance and the group had a chance to ask questions before looking at the work in more detail and making simple line drawings of the sculptures. The groups were then rotated so that every child looked at the woven word poems in the young persons activity pack and used the words to inspire 3d shapes made from willow. Every child used these sketches and models to inspire a sense of movement and developed their own sculptures from plaster in the gallery education space.
The work produced in such a short space of time was amazing and the children’s sense of achievement was a joy to see. A big thank you to everyone involved in these two days including the two students from Camberwell College. SLG really enjoyed working collaboratively with Siobhan Davies and the Charlotte Sharman School and we hope the partnership will continue long into the future.
In the weeks that followed the groups thought about different types of materials used in the sculptures to consider whether a movement was light or heavy, the differences in the way movement flows by drawing lines on huge pieces of paper around the studio and how symbols can be repeated to create rhythm. Siobhan Davies Dance’s production designer Sam Collins offered the groups a workshop to consider how objects can alter the look and feel of a space.
Primary Bank Open Day - Monday 3rd December
The first term ended with the Primary Bank Open Day an opportunity for the whole school to experience one of the workshops from the project. The day was filled with activities and both the school and Siobhan Davies Studios were filled with photos, film, and art work produced by the year 5 pupils. Guests were invited to see the workshops and taken on a tour of both buildings by the pupils, please see the press release for more information.
Kath Duhigg Dance Artist from Primary Bank gives her account of the Primary Bank Open Day.
After a day of energetic movement workshops with the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes, my role in the Open Day culminated in leading a workshop for the Year 5 Primary Bank children and their invited family and friends. Alongside Sam Collins, Production Manager for Siobhan Davies Dance and Lesley-Ann Eaton and Veronika Seifert from SLG, we devised a workshop based on the ideas we’d explored during the first term of the project combining visual art, movement and the design of space.
Our challenge was to create a workshop that was accessible and enjoyable for both children and adults alike and to give the family and friends of the Year 5’s a good sense of what the children had been exploring. It was inspiring to see the children working closely with their families, sharing their new knowledge and experience gained throughout the term. Their understanding and awareness of movement ideas has developed hugely over the time of the project which is so rewarding and exciting to be a part of.
We created sculptures from boxes that we placed in the space, like a gallery or set, which we moved over, under, around and through. We learnt about how a space can be changed through the use of objects and how our movement through a space reflects this. The starting point of this activity closely resembled a preliminary task that Siobhan Davies gave her company in the creation of the work Bird Song. We work with the children in a way that reflects how Siobhan Davies works with her company exploring similar concepts and ways of thinking, developing and creating.
The children have responded brilliantly to new ideas and ways of working, evident in their commitment and enthusiasm to the project. In every Primary Bank session the studio buzzes with creativity and energy but the Open Day also brought a special feeling of ownership and sense of achievement to everyone involved.
