This years’ brilliant artists-in-residence, Sam Strachan and Naoibh Mcnamee, have led an array of creative sessions to begin instilling creative confidence, and breaking down barriers to engagement in the next generation of creatives!
As the academic year draws to a close, our Creative Learning team celebrate a year of lessons- inside and outside the classroom- and consider the impact of, and next steps for, The Classroom of Creativity.
Working Through Barriers Creatively
With these goals in mind, The Classroom of Creativity came to life through movement and visual arts-based workshops, family visits, and even a gallery exhibition!
Multi-disciplinary artist Naoibh draw on their background in costume making and worked with pupils to explore the theme of ‘emotions’ through alien masking making, performance, and an amazing catwalk session in our Mead Gallery!
Naoibh wanted to encourage ‘out the box thinking’, and their session were designed to immerse pupils in an alien world that would inspire new lines of questioning- how do we express ourselves through emotions, how do we explore our world, and new worlds, through movement, what are our norms- how do they make us different from aliens?
With their background in theatre-making, Sam’s sessions focused on performance, and students were encouraged to form connections with artwork in the Mead Gallery and engage with emotions through bodily expression and non-verbal drama. Pupils took over the Mead Gallery, creating self-directed responses to Mike Silva’s paintings, and working in groups to convey different emotions with Sam’s assistance.
“This program is not only great for helping children improve their art skills, but it also has a significant impact on their confidence and mental well-being. It gives them the chance to express themselves creatively in a space that promotes positive growth.” - Indy Virdee, Southfields Primary School
Providing Creative Opportunities for the Next Generation
In collaboration with Warwick Art Centre’s Mead Gallery, pupils were given the opportunity not only to embrace their creativity and take ownership of creative spaces, but to become part of our Growing, Changing, Becoming exhibition in the gallery! Co-created by our Youth Leadership Collective, work made from our sessions sat front and centre in this exhibition and inspired activities in the gallery’s Making Space.
Working from photographs taken during their workshops, Sam created five collages- one for each of the emotions pupils had explored- to display, while Naoibh carefully selected several of the students’ masks for the exhibition.
There was so much excitement as students tried to spot themselves in the collages, and proudly showed their loved ones their masks. We can’t wait to see what our little artists create next!
“I want to be an artist like you, Naoibh!” - Templars Primary School Student
Memorable Moments
Across the programme, there were many touching moments and wonderful instances of engagement. However, a particular highlight was our two Family Days. We invited the families of pupils involved in the project to Warwick Arts Centre for a day of artist-led workshops, self-guided sculpture trails, and the opportunity to take part in our Family Sunday sessions with artist Ania Bas.
Across two weekends, families from Holbrook Primary and Charter Academy took part in a movement-based workshop with Sam, and families from Templars Primary School created paper costumes with Naoibh and family portraits with Ania!
We were thrilled to welcome 150 people through our doors, and hugely touched by the wonderful costumes, amazing performances, and enthusiasm for the project from families! From filling the Gallery with excitement, to exploring our campus, and striking some brilliant portrait poses with Ania- we loved seeing families make Warwick Arts Centre their own for the day!
“You’ve really succeeded in bringing the arts of the region to schools and families!” - Katherine Turk, Templars Primary School
Artist Insights and Next Steps
We’re over the moon to announce The Classroom of Creativity will be back next year! We can’t wait to begin work with a whole new cohort, and we’ve learnt so much along the way this year!
Reflecting on the project with Naoibh and Sam, we have seen, heard, and noted the ways creativity works best in our classrooms- when we put pupils first, when we work closely with local communities, teachers and artists, when we give varied, creative opportunities to young people. It’s been a brilliant year- see you for the next one!
“There were so many happy children- they felt really comfortable in the space and welcome in the gallery! I’ve learnt loads about my facilitation.’’ - Sam Strachan, Artist-In-Residence
With special thanks to:
The Alan Edward Higgs Charity, for their generous grant enabling us to work, for the first time, with four schools on this project.
Our amazing artists, Naoibh and Sam, for their work on this project. To our four brilliant Coventry primary schools: Holbrooks, Southfields, Templars and Charter Academy. A special thank you to the wonderful teachers, Anna Lee (Holbrooks Primary), Katharine Turks (Templars Primary), Indy Virdee (Southfields Primary), and Kelly Rose (Charter Academy) for tirelessly supporting pupils and enabling the programme to flourish.
