Guided Tour
A thoughtful day was had by all, as the group tried to unravel the work in the
Locws International 2007 exhibition and an obvious interest was portrayed as the students continued to discuss the art as we walked to the various venues.
Some interesting comments were made when viewing Rhona Byrne’s work in St.Marys church; “How God views Swansea”(Emily), “Perhaps its to do with creation, the beauty of the natural contrasted with the city”(Joel).
Torsten’s work was considered to be a jumpy experience for some, others seemed to be perplexed with why it was considered to be art. Joshua commented on the fact that, “ these were everyday items put together to make music from”. Jamie and David thought that it had some historic influence, which was set up to make a song.
Rebecca and Joel commenting, “is it to do with global warming and this is how we will have to live in the future, because that’s all we will have left to make houses from and live”, unravelled Sara Rees’ work. Courtney thought it showed how unfortunate some people were and how they might live.
Niamh’s work brought up questions about migration, borderlines and maps. (Yasmin, Josh and Jamie).
Milena’s work questioned some of the group’s idea of art. Emily and Rebecca saw a child’s perception of war and thought the imagery to be sad. When Vojta was viewed the majority of the class found the video emotional and linked it with the child’s image. Questions arose such as, “did his father die in the war” and ‘what was the music a reminder of”(Yasmin and Sam).
Whilst on route to Sa1, I overheard a philosophical conversation regarding Milena’s sound installation, “it’s was like living your life by quotes, choices, “do you want coffee? Why don’t you have a watch? “How you make choices and how much they effect your life .You make up –the choices that you make you who you are”(Emily and Jessica).
Carwyns work gave some the impression of an illusion. “It’s 2d but looks 3d” (Rumia, Rebecca).
We finished the tour with the group being slightly perplexed with Rebecca’s work in the Norwegian Church. They found it difficult to unravel and a lot to take in all at once. However after the explanation the general consent was that the group liked the uniqueness and thought the idea was very clever.
Listening to Milena Dopitova’s sound work at Swansea Museum
Looking at Rebecca Gould’s sculpture in the Norwegian Church
Looking at Carwyn Evans’s sculpture in SA1
Artworks
On arrival at the school, it was obvious by the collection of materials on show that recycling was a strong focus for the day. Inspired by Sara Rees, the pupils focused on making sculpture from waste materials and got to work on their various concepts, familiarising themselves with how the items would be put together. By midday the individual pieces were strongly underway, from mechanical looking hands to floating houses.
One group’s artwork contrasted two futures, a robotic hand holding a world full of litter. “We enjoyed making this as you don’t usually get to do this type of work in school”, (Rebecca, Jamie and Mike). “Creating the objects does actually make you think about the whole picture of recycling for the future”, (Emily). These statements obviously show that Sara Rees’s art piece really works. Yasmin stated that “when you litter you become the rubbish”.
A chair made from waste material suggested, “some people are sitting down and not noticing the problem of waste’’. Josh didn’t realise you could make models of houses from waste material and said, “it was great to be inspired by different artists”.
The children clearly enjoyed the project, “it’s better than normal schoolwork”, (Daniel and Michael). “We enjoyed exploring different artists and the possibilities of art”, (Rebecca). “It’s really exciting and we would love to have another opportunity to do this”, (Daniel). “This project was really, really fun and we’d love to do this again”, (Rebecca, Rumia and Jasmin).
Some of the artworks inspired by recycling materials
The robotic hand holding a world of litter
One of the artworks inspired by recycling materials
The floating sculpture
A close-up of one of the artworks inspired by recycling materials
The sculptural chair made from waste