On Wednesday 15 November 2023 we were delighted to welcome over 200 students from our local primary schools to celebrate the output of their work in the latest of our annual Art Outreach Projects.
Sidcot has been a trust partner with a local co-operative trust since 2014. In October 2017, this group became a multi-academy trust now formed of eight schools serving around 3,500 pupils in the local area, known as ELAN. Each year, we partner with ELAN for a range of sporting, dramatic and artistic activities held both at Sidcot and in their own schools.
This year’s Art Project has focused on students exploring ideas around identity, creativity and community through the medium of cyanotype and text. ELAN teachers attended a one day practical art workshop in the Sidcot Studios, where the project theme was explored and the cyanotype photographic technique was practiced. Here colleagues had the opportunity to develop skills and visual language.
Each School was then provided with a practical teaching resource pack to enable the delivery of the project. To begin the process, ELAN students used a range of sources including photos, scans, natural objects, cuttings, text and toys in the creation of their compositions. They all then awaited a sunny day to give the light needed to expose their prints – the magical moment of the project!
The resulting work from all eight schools was then put on display in the Sidcot Art Gallery for six weeks, accompanied by a class poem written collaboratively to enrich the visual element of the work. The children visited to see their work framed in situ and to make use of the Sidcot Art Rooms for an additional artistic project exploring the use of pattern, led by the Sidcot student Art Scholars. They were also given certificates to celebrate their work.
This project builds on last year’s ‘Ancient Vessels’ ceramics masterclass and is now established as an annual event where each year we explore a new art technique or process. Congratulations to all those who have contributed to the exhibition.
