The Frog Apocalypse and the Vampire Squid: Arnolfini Schools Programme 2017

THE FROG APOCALYPSE AND THE VAMPIRE SQUID Arnolfini schools programme 2017

In partnership with 12 secondary schools, Arnolfini has placed ambitious, contemporary artists into classrooms for just a few hours at a time. In doing so, we have begun to understand and explore ways that together with the student, we can subvert, challenge and reimagine who we are and the world we live in. We invite the reader to use this publication as a tool for developing and supporting art education; whether by testing out some of the quick assignments or by sharing the voices of the artists, teachers and students who were involved with the project.

The contributors of this publication have been thinking about a student studying in a secondary school in Bristol. The student is incredibly busy being taught how to answer exam questions. Within the school they have a much defined role in a cyclical system.

In 2014 the then coalition government introduced the mandatory requirement for the student to develop an understanding and knowledge of the fundamental British values they must abide, and which their teachers cannot undermine. With this bleak, vague and confusing backdrop the student is thinking about who they are in relation to everyone else they meet.

It’s far easier for the student to explore their identity in arts subject, they’re going to struggle to express themselves or place their own experiences in complex contexts when they are studying STEM subjects. The arts are a space for challenging and questioning binary narratives but they have been systematically side-lined within schools, with 27% decline in entries to GCSE arts subjects.

The requirement for schools to measure the technical progress limits limi the amount of time and space for the student to experiment and take risks.

Together, the contributors of this publication have been thinking about ways we can temporarily remove the restraints of the curriculums, the hierarchies and all the other visible and invisible restrictions placed on the student.

Front Cover Image: Oliver Sutherland working with students from Cotham School. July 2017.

Libita Clayton working with students from Kings Oak Academy. March 2017.

“Art education is vital. It allows students to think more creatively and openly about the world. It gives opportunities to students who for a variety of reasons may not be able to access the mainstream curriculum, giving them confidence and the tools to express themselves.”

Jennifer Betts. City Academy.

“Young people are becoming more and more engaged in politics and want their voices to be heard, art can help them do this!”

Nicola Williams. Orchard School Bristol.

“The thing I really like about art in education is that it isn’t about using really posh materials or spending lots of money. It’s about having a great idea and figuring out exactly how to communicate it to others.”

Rob Joinson. Hanham Woods Academy.

“Art encourages skills such as self-reflection, resilience, creativity and above all, is so much fun!”

Kelly Bogan. Digitech Studio School.

“In so many schools we’ve visited this year, the art classroom is a sanctuary within a much bigger and busier building. It is a place to learn through doing and playing and to think about culture.” Letty Clarke.

Arnolfini Programme Assistant.

“Students can let out feelings, thoughts and ideas. They can work on something that’s not ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Students can interpret their worlds inside their heads or the worlds around them and develop their imaginations.”

Emily Middleton. John Cabot Academy.

“Art can empower young people to be themselves and invent or find forms of personal and social expression that can be liberating.

Empowering and imaginative young people create unknown possibilities that can positively affect us all.”

Kayle Brandon. Artist.positively affect us all.”

Kayle Brandon. Artist.inative young people create unknown possibilities

ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE BEGINNING OF CLASS Karanjit Panesar Thinking a about and playing with perspective is a helpful way to start thinking about how our identities are constructed. How much of our identity is controlled by who we choose to be and how much is dictated by other universal factors?

Students will work in pairs and take it in turns to draw.

Prep before class: Lay out large sheets of paper on the oor, big enough for two students to lie on. Tape felt-tip pens to the end of long bamboo sticks, one per student in a variety of dierent colours.

The s students stand around the edge of the paper, with the tips of their toes touching the edge of the paper.

Holding the end of the bamboo stick they must draw a full-sized outline drawing of themselves. They will only have two minutes to complete their drawing.

Onces their drawings are complete, the students take On it in turns to lie down ontop of their drawings. This time their partner must draw around them and reveal a more accurate (but not perfect) outline of their bodies.

Background image created by Karanjit Panesar working with students from Orchard School. May 2017.

Film-stills from Chroma Key Performance.

Karanjit Panesar working with students from Hanham Woods Academy.

February 2017.

Karanjit Panesar working with students from Hanah Woods Acdemy. February 2017.

“I think Art is a great place to talk about identity. Students can explore the work of artists and this helps them to discuss their own identity and their thoughts on the identities of others.”

Kelly Bogan. Digitech Studio School.

“Identity has a malleable definition, as does art - as a free space, art allows you to think about identity in a way that is open and expansive.”

Karanjit Panesar. Artist.

“Students are at a critical age where they are forming their identity, values and beliefs and how identity is explored in Art is an ideal way for them to express themselves in a non-judgmental way.“ Emily Middleton. John Cabot Academy.

“To imaginatively express ourselves is a ubiquitous part of personal and social identity; we come to know ourselves better and find ways to be with our differences.”

Kayle Brandon. Artist “Having the opportunity to work collaboratively and speak the words of another person or create a costume for someone else allows for different ways to subtly unpick what identity is, and what it means, without creating one definitive answer.”

Oliver Sutherland. Artist.

Using art as a tool to explore identity helps us to ask difficult questions in playful ways. It helps us to consider new connections and possibilities and can give us courage to challenge dominant or normative ideas, narratives and behaviours.

Bryony Gillard. Artist.

“In its i essence Art is about self-expression and can be a great platform for young people to explore who they are and how they fit into the world around them.”

Nicola Williams. Orchard School Bristol.

ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE BEGINNING OF CLASS Oliver Sutherland Combining seemingly unrelated images can help us play with identity and representation. By personifying animals or g giving humans animal characteristics we can start to unpick what makes them who they are. Collage is also an opportunity to explore authorship and collaboration.

Prep before class: Create an image bank, 30 images should be of human fa faces and 30 images of animals.

Include faces they will recognise, such as celebrities, political ďŹ gures, historical images, along with ones they aren’t likely to be familiar with. Make there is a balance of gender, race and age.

Print the images on A3 paper in black and white.

For this assignment you will need to work in pairs.

Students will need to choose one human face and one animal each. In pairs they will need to ďŹ nd the most unexpected way to collage together the animals and humans into one image.

They will have just 10 minutes to do this.

Following on from this, join the pairs up so they are now working in groups of 4 or 6. Now give them just 3 minutes to combine all their work into one image.

Images created by Oliver Sutherland working with students from Bristol Brunel Academy. March 2017.

Oliver Sutherland working with students from Bath Community Academy. June 2017.

Bristol.

AcademyBristol.

CityAcademy fromCity studentsfrom withstudents workingwith Brandon working Kayle Brandon 2017.

February February 2017.

“Working with an artist in a class room gives young people a different dynamic to work against - an artist isn’t a teacher. We can offer a sort of resistance and disruption within a school environment without taking away the notion that this is space for learning and understanding.”

Oliver Sutherland. Artist. “ The benefits of inviting a contemporary artist into your classroom is that they will come with ideas and insights that maybe you hadn’t really ever thought of.”

Rob Joinson. Hanham Woods Academy.

“Introducing an artist means bringing in unknowns, risk, difficult “In questions and abstract concepts. Is this image hot or cold? Could Donald Trump ever be cute? Can we make a sculpture from images?

It’s exciting, they will try something unexpected.”

Letty Clarke. Arnolfini Programme Assistant. “[The artist] are not there as a figure of authority or to necessarily impart traditional forms of knowledge, but to facilitate a situation or scenario where the students are able to interrogate and push around ideas, methods or processes, on both a very practical and also a philosophical level.”

Bryony Gillard. Artist.

“It allows them to be part of the Art world as it is happening and exposing them to new options and ideas they may not have considered before.”

Jennifer Betts. City Academy. “ The school curriculum is focused on grades and quantifiable outcomes - it is important to work outside this and show young people that it is possible to make something that has value beyond what marks you get.”

Karanjit Panesar. Artist.

BRYONY GILLARD WORKING WITH STUDENTS FROM HANS PRICE ACADEMY. APRIL 2017.

For their continued support we would like to thank DAC Beachcroft. The funding you provided has enabled us to bring contemporary art to 393 students in secondary schools in 2017.

We would like to thank the staff and students at Bristol Metropolitan Academy; Hanham Woods Academy, Kings Oak Academy, Orchard School Bristol, Bath Community Academy, Bristol Brunel Academy, Digitech Studio School, John Cabot Academy, Hans Price Academy, City Academy Bristol, Colston’s Girls’ School and Cotham School.

In addition we would like to thank Oliver Sutherland, Kayle Brandon, Libita Clayton, Karanjit Panesar, Bryony Gillard, Lily Keal and Claudia Capocci.

Image is Lily Keal working with students from Bath Community Academy.

February 2017.

Contributors: Karanjit Panesar Libita Clayton Oliver Sutherland Kayle Brandon Bryony Gillard Claudia Capocci Lily Keal Emily Middleton Nicola Williams Jennifer Betts Rob Joinson Kelly Bogan This project was kindly supported by: