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Archive |
Evaluations | Past Residencies | Past Events |
| Evaluations |
Residencies in Action Interim Report | Residency Report 1 | Residency Report 2 |
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Stained Glass Residency - Cila Primary School |
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| Cila Residency | Bryniago Residency | Talycopa Residency | Workshops | Points to Consider INTRODUCTION The Residency was set up under the umbrella of The City and County of Swansea Education Department and was funded by The Arts Council of Wales, "Arts for All" Lottery Fund. Glass Artist, Nikki Cass, worked for twelve days at each of the three schools;
One hundred and fifty five children were directly involved in the residency.Through a series of workshops the children were introduced to a new visual vocabulary and were encouraged to discover their own ways of working creatively, combining line, colour, texture, pattern and abstract forms, leading to the creation of highly individual stained glass designs. Group work was also an important part of the residency. The children also took part in making a stained glass panel for their school. Hundreds more pupils interacted with the "Work in Progress". The schools selected which classes would work with Nikki.
CILA PRIMARY SCHOOL
Nikki worked with 40 pupils from years 5 and 6. They created stunning glass designs on paper, working individually and in groups. They took part in a printing workshop, making line drawings and printing blocks, as well as being involved in the making of their stained glass panel. The year 5 and 6 pupils shared one classroom with limited space for creative endeavours.Working with each year group at a time, in a shared space, was at first difficult, but additional support from part time staff like Caroline Hokesbergen was invaluable in the organisation, communication, and delivery of the project. The school generously enabled Nikki to work in the Nursery classroom for a few days to make the stained glass panel. Design ideas from the childrenıs work were collaged together to make the design. The whole school visited the "work in progress" which created lots of excitement and interest. In small groups the children helped to select colours and textures of glass.They watched glass being cut and were able to talk about the various levels of transparency and opacity of the glass as well as comparing the qualities of machine and handmade glasses. As the construction of the window progressed visiting groups made judgments and were able to understand how small changes in colour, tone and texture can change and effect the whole piece of work . From the start of the project, the children's work was displayed in the main entrance way, generating interest in the project from the rest of the school, as well as a real sense of achievement from the year 5 and 6 pupils. An exciting open evening was held, which gave a full house of parents and pupils who had participated in the project, a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the work made during the residency. Work from the project was also displayed at County Hall and The Grand Theatre Gallery as part of Swansea City Councilıs "Open season for the arts in education" March 2001 Calender of events.
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| Click on the thumbnails to view the images larger. Ysgol Bryniago chose the nursery class to be involved in the making of the stained glass panel and year 5 to take part in design workshops. Nikki decided to use cast glass so that the childrenıs drawings could be made directly in glass. Faith James the Nursery teacher suggested the theme of "myself" as the children would be working on it as their theme that term. A preliminary test session was arranged with the afternoon children to see if they could draw faces into clay. In previous projects involving the artist working together with nursery children they had only impressed materials and not drawn into the clay directly. The first child from the afternoon nursery session to have a try drew a big, bold and beautiful face. New and exciting work had begun. The children from the morning and afternoon classes all had the opportunity to draw a face, impress a hand or foot or to use combs and string to make patterns like hair. In the classroom as a parallel activity, children were painting faces whilst the work in clay progressed. A special needs child painted for the first time and really enjoyed working with the clay. He continued to explore painting, and making his own discoveries, which was a real breakthrough. When working with the clay many of the children were initially tentative and then later excited to discover a new material. Many expressed a desire to take the clay home and carry on exploring. Plaster casts were taken from all the children's clay work. Once dry coloured glass was selected, cut and fired at a high temperature in the kiln creating fused and cast coloured glass pieces. As work progressed the children were able to see and touch and talk about the cast glass pieces. Parents were also able to see work in progress which generated further interest and enthusiasm from the children. The glass pieces were leaded together to make a very bright and lively panel for the school entrance way and additional cast glass pieces were leaded individually to hang up around the school. The children were given their clay work to take home at the end of the project. The nursery teacher Faith James's ideas, enthusiasm and support were invaluable to the success of the residency. The year 5 class took part in two days of glass design workshops. They worked in groups creating some stunning roundels and additionally created beautiful individual collage designs. Mrs James their teacher filled the school with displays of their glass design work, including written comments from the children about their experience of the project. She also continued working with the children after the residency, creating new collage work on current themes in the curriculum. Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Bryniago held two special events to celebrate and share the work made during the residency. Work was also displayed at County Hall and The Grand Theatre gallery.
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TALYCOPA PRIMARY SCHOOL.
Nikki Cass worked primarily with the year 5 class, who all took part in making a stained glass panel as well as designing for stained glass on paper, individually and in groups. The children worked with purpose and imagination to create wonderful work. Their teacher Rhian Bridgens was very supportive and interested in the developing work. After the residency the class went on to create powerful poems about their experiences. "Our world" was chosen as the theme for the window. The year 5 pupils each worked on a series of drawings and selected one to be painted on the coloured glass for the stained glass panel. One by one they glass painted their selected drawing, building up the mosaic of pieces to be leaded together. Teachers were also keen to take part and had the opportunity to have their work in the window alongside the children's. The year 2 class participated in a one day design workshop creating lots of bright lively designs.The class was split into two groups, a morning and afternoon session, which Nikki taught in the Junior Art area. The afternoon class was particularly challenging but they did settle down to make some good work. A number of children with learning difficulties produced creative work for the first time, which was a bonus. The year two children came to see the stained glass panel being leaded together. The stained glass panel was leaded up in the centre of the Junior area enabling all the children to see it's progress and to understand the processes and materials involved. The year 5 work was displayed in the school, at the Grand Theatre Gallery and at the Architectural Glass department, Swansea Institute of Higher Education.
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WORKSHOP DETAILS. Before the Residency. Stained glass panels were put up around the schools in anticipation of the project. Day
1. Nikki started with a short video which described the early history of stained glass as well as the science and craft of glass making. The artist then introduced herself as a contemporary artist making windows for homes, offices and public buildings. The days focus was to be on each child designing their own stained glass window. Emphasis was put on the lead line and how it is part of the design and structure of a stained glass window. The children looked at contemporary glass books focusing on the rhythm of the lead line, albeit organic or geometric, building up and repeating patterns, and the use of colour in design. Thumbnail sketches were to be used by the children as a starting point for generating quick ideas and from these initial sketches the children selected parts or a whole thumbnail sketch to transcribe into their window shape already laid out on A3 paper. Once the pencilled "lead lines" were transcribed into the window shape, black marker was used to reinforce the lead lines. Colour was then filled into the shapes with felt pens, creating it's own pattern and rhythm in the work. As the children finished their designs they moved on to work in groups on a collage stained glass design.They worked in groups of approximately 5, using coloured collage papers and black lines cut in various thicknesses. (5, 10, 15mm.)The children looked at their individual designs and discussed together how to break up the larger shapes. These group collages were intended as a warm up for individual work to follow in their next workshop. At the end of the day all the individual designs were displayed creating a corridor of stained glass designs in a main area of the school.
Day 2. A short video "the Nursery Project" was shown which focused on Nikki Cass making a cast, fused and leaded glass window. The video also showed the stages in the making of a stained glass window. Glass being cut, leaded, soldered and a window being fitted into a building. Children handled a selection of glass pieces of differing textures, patterns, colours, levels of transparency and opacity, as well as hand and machine made.They discussed the differences which created much interest and excitement. In order to show the relationship between the design and the finished work Nikki showed scaled designs and photographs of the completed windows. Collage papers taken from magazines were looked at for textures/patterns/colour that could be used in a window design. How to fold and tear selected pieces of paper was demonstrated. The children looked at books showing glass artists e.g. Jean Cocteau. Work then began on the creation of individual A3 size collage designs using a mixture of the magazine papers (textures) and coloured frieze papers (flat colour). Strips of ready cut black lines were used as a lead line to complete their designs. The children chose to design using patterns as before, or to abstract representational subjects, e.g.fish, faces, spider webs, butterfly, suns etc. At the end of the day the designs were again put on show creating a lively and vibrant space in the school. |
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