Connections Bursary: Keeping Momentum
Lolly Stewart
I successfully applied for a Connections Bursary from The Paul Mellon Centre directly after being a workshop leader and participant at the Art Teachers Connect community day at the Paul Mellon Centre. I was inspired to keep the day’s learning momentum going for as long as possible, with the idea to blend what I had participated in at the community day along with my own practice.
Within my own research and practice, I explore how the Art Room can play a critical role by being used by students ‘beyond the lesson’ to express ideas, thoughts, emotions and inclusion. I often refer to this as the ‘Safe Room’. I approached Sue Gibbons, a fellow PG Certificate graduate, who was also leading and participating in the community day, to explore her ‘workshop model’. The combination of the two ideas, I hoped would lead to some exciting opportunities for us both.
We chose four exhibitions in London with varied themes to broaden our field of possible workshop ideas, and conversations with students. Our chosen shows were ‘Design and Disability’ at the V&A, Lucy Sparrow’s installation ‘Bourdon Street Chippy’, The Wallace Collection, (specifically Sir Greyson Perrys ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ exhibition) and The Serpentine which is currently featuring the works of Giuseppe Penone in ‘Thoughts in the Roots’.
The first show of the day was the V&A, which I have been to dozens of times on school trips. I have to say it was a pleasure to visit without the responsibility of fifty Year 9s for once! The exhibition itself showcases the radial contributions of disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent people and communities to design and the contemporary Arts. As a neurodivergent person myself and having created an inclusive safe space within the Art room, it seemed apt to jump straight in with this exhibit. The fascinating and functional visuals of inclusive ideas was far more in depth than I could have imagined. They split the show into 3 sections, tackling ‘Visibility, Tools and Living’ and created a space which flowed between the visual arts and protests about of visibility of individuals as well as the literal visibility of inclusion. It was very much curated with disability in mind and showed off the artists and designers in all their multifaceted glory.
We enjoyed walking between the galleries, taking in the last days of the school term, the holiday sunshine and the opportunity to connect through our teaching experience. We discussed how the varied roles we have had in school have shaped what our classrooms have become over the years – the impact when colleagues come and go on our own confidence and practice. We arrived at the Serpentine to the magnificent gold dazzle in the gardens of Giuseppes Penone’s ‘Thunderstruck’ Trees, which set the tone of the scale of work to come.
This exhibition brought together works from 1969 to the present day, with discussions around the artists and the connections we have as humans to nature – the very roots of ourselves and the roots we form with each other. This felt particularly apt from a teacher perspective as we lay the foundations of communities in our teaching spaces. The idea of growth and tolerance between peers is not unlike nature, vying for its spot to grow well, but in harmony and with no harm to others.
My ‘stop and linger’ piece in this exhibition was called ‘Book Trees’. This was a wall-sized installation piece, which had been methodically carved to explore all the fine details of the sapling tress, as if they had been expertly peeled. The room was installed with walls of thick dense laurel – whilst we stood and took in the trees, I was aware of another sense being engaged too. Giuseppe explains in the supporting annotations that the leaves absorb the sound, “so it gives you a different feeling.” How often do we expect to be presented with one set of feelings and walk away with another- the power of art and a really good installation!
Next on the tour was nothing short of an unadulterated burst of fun, fun, fun! We navigated the side roads of busier streets to find the location; Bourdon Street, where the felt artist Lucy Sparrow had assembled her second full-scale installation; ‘The Bourdon Street Chippy’. Met at the door by a ‘chip shop worker’ complete with checkered apron and food menus, we were joyfully told that Lucy herself was in the building too- gosh!
The photos alone do not do justice to charm, wit and delight of this exhibition – all the small attention to detail, the humour of the celebrities who have ‘eaten’ at the chippy, captured in their autographed photos, and the notice board of local adverts alongside the pots of mushy peas and scampi pieces was simply brilliant.
My current schemes of work include Lucy as an inspiration, so it wasn’t to be missed as an opportunity to see the work first hand and indeed nab a selfie with the Artist herself. Showing the year 7’s was going to be ‘’Fan”-tastic!
The final visit of the day was to Sir Greyson Perry’s Delusions of Grandeur exhibition at the Wallace Collection. I chose this as Greyson is someone, I often find myself referencing in class discussions, as a local artist to where I am based in Essex, he is one of ‘ours’ and work often pops up in our local gallery hotspot for students to see. But I haven’t ever seen a full-scale collection of his work for myself before. The aim was to help with conversations about his work’s narratives that are always so provoking in the safe space of the art room. Playing with cultural identity, gender fluidity and inclusion and often-taboo topics in social history, I knew this exhibition was going to be something that could certainly contribute towards my growing curriculum; I wasn’t wrong….
We had a totemic ritual gun, which gave me much pause for thought, as a presentation of binary gendered assumption of artefacts, Perry subverts and allows the playfulness of the two narratives together – dark objects given light: feminine given masculine.
‘The Great Beauty’, a shrine to friendship, included the words “One of the most beautiful things we as human beings can have are relationships, and friendships, everything else just falls away”. As teachers we foster these relationships on a daily basis, help navigate the trials and tribulations of teenagers year after year, the Art room where peers gather at social times Is very much the hub of these connections.
‘A Tree in a Landscape’- a set-up not dissimilar to a family tree utilising the impressive collection of miniatures in the Wallace collection imagined as one related community was labelled with all known cognitive disabilities and diversities. The tree stands in a landscape of potential causes, so we can discuss the cause an effect of their labels, the environment – genes, brain chemical imbalances? Perry invites us to consider that “We all have our issues to deal with, welcome to the club”.
The day certainly ended on an immersive high with this exhibition and provided plenty of food for thought when it comes to our own classroom practises. I am incredibly grateful to have been given the time and space via the Connections Bursary to be able to immerse myself in the exhibitions alongside a fellow ATC teacher – looking, not rushing, discussing, note taking, photographing and thinking about how I’m going to inject the ideas all into my next class investigations and the safe space conversation of the magical art room. Thank you, PMC.