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Archive |
Evaluations | Past Residencies | Past Events |
A
Celebration of Ceri Richards’ 50th Anniversary |
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Keith Bayliss - Visual Artist
Dunvant Infant School Mural I have worked in Primary Schools for approximately fifteen years and have used the artwork of artists from Wales and the rest of the world as a starting point for our investigations. But until now I had never used the work of Ceri Richards, although I have known his work since I was in Junior School. This is also surprising for I had, along with my colleague and friend Dawn Phillips, been responsible for instigating the original celebration of the artists' work and life in Dunvant in 1990. On this occasion I worked with a group of twenty five children representing each year group in Dunvant Infant School. We looked at the work of Ceri Richards. We found patterns, shapes and recurring images. We saw that he used geometric, natural and organic shapes. We looked for the colours he used, mixed our own and drew blossoms and rainbows using soft pastels. We used charcoal to draw the shapes of leaves and made rubbings of bark textures. From this work we produced large scale group collages and multi coloured relief prints. Then we devised a design which the children helped me transpose onto a 10 ft by 4 ft mural for the school hall. This was also a whole school event with each teacher giving their children the opportunity to experience aspects of the artists' work. My aim was not only to produce a lasting reminder of the artist and the festival but to allow the children an opportunity to experience the work of an internationallly celebrated artist, born in their locality - an undoubtedly good role model. I knew I had succeeded when on advising a group of five year olds to refer to his work for ideas, one child exclaimed, "Oh, not him again!" |
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Jaroslav
Mykisa- Glass Artist
Dunvant Junior School Glass Column As an artist working with the children of Dunvant Junior School on the centenary of the birth of Ceri Richards, it surprised me how quickly, responsively and intelligently the children understood the visual world of the artist. The interpretation and translation of ideas onto glass presented a real challenge. The children had no understanding of glass technology and the techniques needed for the realisation of the project. I
wanted the children to tell me who the artist was and what he was
telling us, how he I really enjoyed this co-operation and would like to thank again all the children involved.
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Tony
Goble - Visual Artist
Pen - y - Fro Mosaic Mural On the first day working with Year 2 and Year 6 we looked at images by Ceri Richards, in particular the ones relating to the Dylan Thomas poem 'The force that through the green fuse drives the flower'. We decided that spring and the cycle of nature was an appropriate starting point for study. We spent a day working on the theme of plants, growth and movement, working in both the classroom and the school grounds, objectively looking, discussing and drawing. The children produced many drawings and every young artist contributed in some way at this planning stage of the mosaic. Some of their studies were developed into working drawings and a plan for the mosaic was made and transferred with felt pen onto two pieces of M.D.F. Ten days were spent working on the mosaic, planning, cutting, breaking and placing the tiles. Every child in the school was involved. A further seven days were spent completing the work - the mosaic was still evolving and the children's ideas were being constantly fed into the design. The work was being undertaken in the entrance to the school and it was an obvious thoroughfare and everybody who passed by was given a piece to place; parents, grandparents, visitors, inspectors, headteacher, cleaners, caretaker, cook, kitchen staff, teachers, secretary, council officials, people from Belgium and Japan also Esther Thomas, Ceri Richards sister came to place her contribution. It became a true community project. The whole experience was a joy and a delight. The happiness of the school was present throughout and the children worked with and through the process, a truly 'hands on' experience. Finally thanks to Maddie Davies a parent and supporter of the school, who helped throughout the making of the artwork. Her help was invaluable. Thanks to all the young artists of Pen y Fro School. There is much talent and individual quality here.
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Bernard
Mitchell - Photographer
Through the Green Fuse I had photographed Ceri Richards in 1966 and was pleased to find myself in 2003, working with all three Dunvant schools. I worked with two groups of eight children from each school. The children were taught the theory of light and camera skills before embarking on taking their own pictures. Pen-y-Fro Primary photographed people who knew Ceri, visiting his home, where his sister Esther Thomas still lives, and the village where Ceri grew up, including a visit to the chapel and grave yard. Dunvant Juniors looked at the history of Dunvant, and their school, which Ceri attended. Dunvant Infants concentrated on patterns and shapes and their school environment. The black and white films were processed and printed by the children in a mobile darkroom provided by the Arts Care organisation. Some of the children also produced photogrames, making patterns and shapes with flowers and leaves and other found objects, using the natural forms that so inspired Ceri Richards to make their own experimental images. All these photographs will form part of the Festival exhibitions, to be held in Swansea later this year and a set of prints will be housed at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
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Peter Williams - Composer.
The Music of Colour A large part of my work as a musical director and composer is directly involved with recording and sound engineering, this project was no exception. During my visits to the schools the children made eighty-four music and sound effects recordings, and ninety-one takes of poetry! Needless to say some items had to be left out - very difficult decisions were made, as the standard and quality was very high from all the schools. The children
sang selected notes in unison which were then inserted into the music
to form a choir of voices from the three schools. On a subsequent
visit I recorded the poetry which the children had already prepared.
This process involved recording via a stereo pair of microphones to
digital tape. These recordings were then loaded into a computer based
recording environment, edited and layered-over original soundtracks
specially composed for the project.
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Goff Morgan - Writer
The Colour of Saying I worked with both Pen y Fro Primary School and Dunvant Junior School. The work of Ceri Richards gave me great scope to move in several directions and the time to work with several classes. We produced colour poems allowing the opportunity for children to explore the relationships between colour and emotion and Surreal poetry and prose encouraging the children the freedom to use their imagination and to fly creatively in all directions. These produced some bizarre and hilarious results. With some children we managed to explore the idea of shaped poems, using words to create a visual image. I believe
Ceri Richards would be very pleased with the outcome and more importantly,
with the experience. |
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Vivian French - Writer
Dunvant Infant School Sadly I had only a short while with the children, but I could not miss an opportunity to work with Dunvant Infant school on such a unique occasion. Swansea has almost become my second home. I am here every year, with the Word Play Festival and have participated in many school projects, many of them working with Keith Bayliss. The children in Dunvant Infants were delightful, full of ideas, full of enthusiasm and full of life. They produced marvellous group poems with me and with their teacher. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate through poetry, an artist who loved the word as much as the image. What will
Swansea involve me in next? |
