Plaster Casting workshops at St David's and St Patrick's Primary schools

Last month I spent a couple of days in 2 different Primary Schools doing plaster casting workshops with the pupils. The workshops formed part of North Lanarkshire's Cultural Festival, Encounters. They were developed to coincide with my exhibition at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall.

The children were great to work with, full of ideas, enthusiasm and were very well behaved. At the end of each day we had a group discussion about the work they had made, what they had learned, what ideas they now would like to pursue and so on. Everyone had enjoyed the activities and had done something they had never done before. I felt a real sense of achievement knowing that it had been such a positive experience for them, and I was really proud of the work they made.

At the beginning of the day I talked to the groups about the process of casting, and showed them examples of other artists who make work by casting.

Pupils made their moulds using cardboard covered in parcel tape, and then created a boundary with clay and poured the coloured plaster into the shape.

Everyone was eager to get their hands in the mixing bowl!

They watched attentively as I showed them how to do each stage of the process.

I hope that I get the opportunity to do more workshops of this kind, and so please do get in touch if you are interested.

Plaster Caster workshops as part of Encounters Festival

October is the month of North Lanarkshire's cultural festival, Encounters. I was asked to develop and lead a plaster casting workshop for school children in conjunction with my exhibition at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre.

Over the past couple of days I have been leading the workshops, first based at St David's Primary School, Airdrie and another day at St Patrick's Primary School, Coatbridge. I was working with children in P6/P7 classes, and had just under 20 students each day.

Both days went really well; the children were well behaved and all immersed themselves fully into the activities, producing some excellent work.

I began the workshop by introducing myself and talking a little about my art practice. I then explained what we would be doing in the workshop, showed examples of the materials we were going to be using, and handed round some of my work. I showed them documentation of other artists who have used casting, and simply explained the process.

The children were given a square of corregated cardboard and asked to cover it with parcel tape. They then used clay to make a boundary wall to form the shape of their mould. Working in small groups, the students made different colours of plaster and poured the plaster into their moulds.

The students made a variety of colours of plaster, and they all got a chance to engage in ever stage of the casting process. In addition to pouring the plaster into their cardboard and clay moulds, I had also given them a range of plastic containers for them to fill and had covered some tables with sheets of baking paper for them to pour and drip plaster onto in a more freestyle fashion. I showed them all how to remove the cast from the mould as they would need to do it the next day once the plaster had dried properly.

I ended the session with a question and answer session where we discussed what they had learned, how they had found the workshop, whether they had enjoyed it and so on. They also asked me questions about being an artist.

I am delighted that the children responded so well to the workshop, and the teachers were also very pleased with the workshop.

I am looking forward to receiving an email from the teachers with photos of the children holding their casts once they had been removed from the mould.

Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre

This afternoon I had a trip to Motherwell to meet with Anne-Louise Kieran, the Visual Arts Development Officer for North Lanarkshire Council. Anne-Louise has invited me to exhibit my work at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre later this year, and asked if I would be interested in running a couple of day workshops with children to coincide with my exhibition.

Our meeting today was to discuss the practical issues relating to the exhibition such as install and destall details, insurance, framing the work, and also discuss the workshops.

The current exhibition is work by artist and printmaker Bronwen Sleigh. Her work is "an exploration  of tangible spaces."

"She undertakes this investigation through a process of photography, model making and etching which in its final presentation creates an abstract notion of the original space."

My exhibition will run from 4 September 2013 until 30 October 2013.

Motherwell Exhibition

In light of the recent debate about artists getting an exhibition fee, I was delighted to receive my Exhibition Contract from North Lanarkshire Council relating to an exhibition I have at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre in September and October this year.

The contract consists of a single page of A4 with:

• basic information about the exhibition - date of exhibition, venue etc
• artist details - name, contact details, 
• exhibition fee details - amount, how it will be paid, what the artist is responsible for in order to get the exhibition fee
• signature from artist and council

Receiving this document fills me with confidence, especially as the exhibition is 8 months away!

The contract is extremely basic, but has all the information required at this stage. I fail to understand why other galleries cannot operate in such a respectful and professional manner, but look forward to having the exhibition in Motherwell.

Studio visit

This afternoon I had a studio visit from Anne-Louise Kieran, the Visual Arts Development Officer for North Lanarkshire Council. Anne-Louise had visited my studio at the recent Open Studio weekend, and got in touch shortly after to offer me an exhibition at one of the spaces that she programmes. 

It was really good to talk to her about her background, her role, my work and my forthcoming exhibition. The exhibition will take place at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre from Sept 4th 2013 - October 30th 2013. It seems like I have a lot of time, but I know how quickly time flies, and I am already thinking about making work for the space.

Given the nature of the building, the exhibition will consist of wall based work. I am conscious that  the work will predominantly be seen by a non-art audience and I will be mindful of this when producing the work. By this I do not mean to "dumb down" the work, but I need to ensure that the work can be appreciated on a number of levels and is not dependent on having an art background in order to get something from it.

 In light of the WAGE RAGE discussion that I attended yesterday, it was pleasing to hear that a small fee will be offered and that they are willing to help with things such as hiring a van to collect the work, assistance with hanging the work, and offering to loan some frames for the duration of the exhibition. Anne-Louise was supportive of the need for some guidelines or legislation around the payments given to artists for exhibiting their work.