loss ww1

a learning journey shared

working through arts processes with people whatever age continues my own learning journey. 

unpredictable

ambiguous

risky

humorous

valuable

insightful

recent highlights listed below

year 2 take journeys in print. Thank your feet for carrying you

where do you keep your brain? y1 explore your face....

y5's retelling of Beowulf in symbol and sculpture

y6 sheltering figures drawing in the darkness

monoprint y3

above all THINK inside the sketchbook

Viking fragment

art is magic

Art is magic

I believe that the arts empower the curious minds of all, young and old alike.

I believe that If we can appeal to the natural curiosity of our young people they can quickly become hooked into their learning and will lead the journey themselves. To enable that we have to take risks, letting the children go is often a scary prospect for the teachers I have worked with.

The teachers at Webster school are confident in giving their children the space to explore issues that arise along a learning journey.

Children and adults are given permission to play

They then use the ‘other’ vocabulary of the arts to delve deeper, often connecting them to the subject matter emotionally.

Developing opinions and ideas through an empathetic approach to learning and building skills in paint poetry and music to express them seems to keep the magic alive.

great review of' think'

latest amazon review
shop here


Every aspect of this book has been painstakingly thought through and thus it is a complete triumph. There is such impressive attention to detail-from the tactile cover and quality of the paper, to the fact that the book's spine has been spiral bound, enabling the pages to lay flat for ease of use. (The artist can then select pages that inspire and refer back to them, as they work. Perfect.)
I have bought several copies of this book and have passed them on to friends. It really is one of those books that should be shared, so that its' creative ideas and influence spreads.

bradford beck

the war cabinet

work produced by year 4 children from bowling park primary in bradford

to be exhibited at exciting new bradford venue, culture fusion

batbadgers and hedgefoxes

ideas books in use with year 1 children in spring grove primary huddersfield

planning designing creating the ideal nocturnal animals

bat badgers

hedge fox

curiosity and communication

amulet

ritual

hierarchy

Giving the children a strong voice in the planning of their learning.

what are you curious about?

how do you like to learn?

how will we share what we find?

offering them a collection of magical objects and playing with the themes that arise.

Here we will explore ancient Egypt through a simple suitcase.

big thinking from small people

It is essential that every child has an opportunity to find their voice, be listened to, valued and included. 

Over two days in St Brigids Primary School in east Manchester we asked ourselves big questions, interrogated Adire Yoruba textile and using simple resist techniques, collaborated.

The Art was big

footprints in art shoes

in Nairobi children have to walk for miles for fresh water

shoes that could tell stories, tell more stories

consolidating learning

thinking again, thinking differently 

process, think inside the sketch book

walk a mile in our shoes

THINK inside the sketchbook out now

Think inside the Sketchbook

This new book provides an exciting insight into how sketchbooks can be used by teachers and students to make significant changes in atitudes to learning. Case studies are included of sketchbooks from artists, designers, architects, scientists and musicians etc. The authors highlight ways in which sketchbooks can be used as a playground for imagination and trialling ideas, as well as encouraging exploration and creative thinking

http://www.nsead.org/publications/book.aspx?id=186

Think Inside the Sketchbook

Gillian Robinson, Alison Mountain and David Hulston

Published by HarperCollins in association with NSEAD (2011)

At a time when the Government seems hell bent on pushing art and design education to the margins of the school curriculum, it is very good to know that self-help is at hand in the form of Think inside the sketchbook. The authors tell us that sketchbooks and journals are ‘a non-threatening active space for exploration, play, self-evaluation and reflection … tools for gathering evidence, working through trial and error, asking and answering questions … they provide a way of learning which develops children as researchers…This book aims to capture the spirit in which sketchbooks are kept, and offers a number of practical strategies for their implementation.’

Think inside the sketchbook makes very helpful connections between the work of professionals and that of school students. It is a heavily illustrated 96-page A4 book that will be of particular value to educators. It identifies the kinds of thinking that sketchbooks and journals promote, explaining the what, who, why, and how of keeping sketchbooks. It is dominated by the artist’s voice, but also includes examples by designers and other professionals, such as a scientist, mathematician, composer and choreographer. In this particular book, a key challenge was how to bring together so many disparate examples to create what has become a coherent whole. The variety of examples demonstrates the wealth of approaches possible. 

The scope of the book is very broad. Sketchbooks are placed in the same category as learning books, thinking books, visual diaries, daybooks and journals; yet particular branding implies different purposes or emphases. The structure is very clear and the argument is supported by many quotes.  However, a stronger authorial voice might have been able to make more explicit the kinds of thinking prompted by the different approaches. Because it is primarily an advocacy document, where the intention is to inspire and enthuse, the text does not critique the use of sketchbooks by young people.

The book is a welcome addition to the growing range of publications that throw light on the use of sketchbooks. These include facsimiles of sketchbooks by artists such as Constable, Turner, Picasso, Moore and Gormley. Others, such as Tony O’Malley, The Visual Diaries by Brian Lynch, or The Diary of Frida Kahlo by Sarah Lowe, are edited collections of pages from artists’ and designers’ sketchbooks, with interpretative commentaries to illuminate their use. These feature mainly sketchbooks by adult artists: there are not so many that explore the use of sketchbooks by children and young people. An exception is Lines of Enquiry, published by The Campaign for Drawing, which is specifically about 16-18 year old students’ use of sketchbooks in art and design education. The commentary in Think Inside the Sketchbook is not merely a descriptive narrative, it attempts to explain the purposes that underpin the activities of drawing, collecting, collating, reviewing, reworking and manipulating material and ideas to develop thinking.

Think inside the sketchbook will increase the current interest in sketchbooks and their use. It celebrates and validates young people’s work and illuminates how sketchbooks can be used as a medium for learning and thinking. It presents convincing evidence that will encourage teachers to greater effort, enthusiasm and creativity in the use of sketchbooks – both for themselves and for their students.

Eileen Adams

from head to book and beyond

working in the art ideas book brought a fresh and challenging approach to creative writing

can we write upside down?

can we write what we want?

the great fire of london

from head to book

and beyond

thanks to the children of webster primary manchester