School workshop & mural

Live art, illustration, workshop

I had the opportunity to work with a group of students (from year 7 to 10) this month on a legacy mural for the grand launch of their fantastic new art department.

The project was broken down into two days - the first, a research and planning workshop, and the second would be when we actually created the piece live for students and guests to view throughout the launch. 

It was great to see all the incredible talent and creativity from the students, a genuinely inspiring couple of days!

Timelapse and further photos to be updated soon.

Day 1: workshop

During the workshop the students and I made a plan of action for the live art piece. The concept was to be based around the art department mission statement so I printed out some sheets with the key words on and we began brain storming with doodles, icons and words based on what the statement meant to them and the imagery it conjured up. 

As the students would be helping with the final piece on the launch day too, i wanted them to familiarise themselves with the Posca pens that I use, so we also had a doodle session so that they could get used to the paint pens which is a great way to loosen up and is really quite therapeutic! 

Throughout the session a theme started to occur, so it was great fun coming up with the final concept including all of the students ideas. (See legacy mural concept timelapse).

Day 2: art department launch

One the day of the department launch the team and I began working on the legacy pieces. We had two boards so the students worked on one making a giant doodle board, recreating the icons and themes that we focussed on in the workshop while I started putting down the lines for the main collaborative piece. 

Then throughout the day we had various visitors, from the mayor of West Bromwich to a local PCSO. Groups of 10 or so students would attend as part of their art classes and would create their own ideas of what the school and department meant to them, which could include anything from their thoughts about the future to their favourite cartoon characters/artists, as well as getting involved on the doodle board which was great to watch evolve through the day. While the photography class took this as a great opportunity to document the process.