Resurrection - A Collaborative Exhibition

Adventurous Learning

Resurrection 21 – 25 January 2019

Arrow Motion Ryan Miles

Welcome to Resurrection. We are delighted to be presenting the work of our current Artist in Residence, Ryan Miles, alongside collaborative work created with Ashford School pupils.

Ashford School is an Independent School that recognises the importance of a creative education in all subject areas, not just within the Creative and Performing Arts. We are proud to offer our students an outstanding education in the arts through co-curricular opportunities and direct contact with professional artists, through their teachers (who are showcasing their own work for the students to see in an exhibition at the school next week!) and their Artist in Residence programme.

The programme is clearly an exciting and stimulating concept to students who are able to witness, work alongside, and watch the creative process of a professional artist. The pupils gain real-life experience of working in the creative industries and with the local community.

The students at Ashford School have been privileged to work alongside a photographer, an installation artist and a sculptor.

The post for Artist in Residence is currently open for applications in readiness for the next academic year.

Please visit: www.ashfordschool.co.uk/careers for more information.

You only have to look at the huge array of opportunities available to students in the form of trips and co-curricular activities (recent years have seen art tours to Rome, the Venice Biennale, Madrid, Edinburgh and Berlin) to see why our students achieve fantastic results and gain such confidence and a passion for creativity across all their subjects. It comes as no surprise that in our last inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, Ashford School was found to be “Exceptionally creative in all areas�.

Mrs Nicole Rayner, Head of Art

Introduction to Ryan Miles Artist in Residence: Ryan’s practice is sculpturally focused with an underlying study of the relationship between viewer and object, in particular the potential for physical participation. Working closely with geometric patterns and the idea of layers, the work forms an intimate private experience for the viewer, which is contradicted with the scale. When introducing the viewer to a larger scaled work, this creates a public experience where the viewer is much more aware of their surroundings and the architecture of the room. Complementing this, the materiality and composition of the works encourages the viewer to become aware of their surroundings.

The artist wants to develop an awareness of the subject’s surroundings because of the incorporation of geometric patterns within the work; leading to the potential connections they have with the environment. In the case of the ‘Resurrection’ exhibition, the 16th century church offers a contradictory environment to the mechanical structures Ryan creates.

Within the participation of the viewer, the work entails a variety of methods including the use of QR codes, which take the beholder onto YouTube videos of the respective artwork. Each artwork has its own unique video that demonstrates an animation of the work in action.

This varies from the physical motion of the piece, to the adjustment of colour.

The reasoning behind the incorporation of QR codes comes from the increase in mobile phone usage within today’s society. This has had a knock on effect on the way art is viewed, affecting the experience one has whilst viewing art on a device as opposed to in person. But whilst many artists perceive this as having a negative impact on the experience one has with an artwork, Ryan sees this as an opportunity. It creates another platform through which art can be viewed, like seeing through another set of eyes. In some cases, through the eyes of the artist, as this allows Ryan to manipulate how the work is perceived.

The Student Sculpture

Collaboration for Resurrection: Having spent the first school term working on a variety of mediums exploring the co-curricular activity ‘Light, Shape and Colour’, the students and I decided to create a collaborative piece that would be entered for an exhibition. For this collaboration, the students selected individual engraved boards and were free to express their artwork however they chose. This not only gave me an insight into their unique styles, but for themselves to understand their practice. I believe strongly in giving the students independence within their own work, as this allows them to develop as artists. As you can see from the artwork itself, the students approached their paintings in a variety of styles, which I hope they take further within their art lessons.

Ryan Miles, Ashford School Artist in Residence The sculpture was built by combining all of the students’ boards.

The following pages show each students’ work as an individual board.

N Lavallee

A Elliott

T Zhou

T Lai

M Narathasajan

H Ingram

H Groom-Shorter

A Goodman

C Wang

D Lai

F Pollard

Ryan Miles Red Arrow Study

Ryan Miles Blue Triangle Illusion

Blue Triangle Illusion The illusion comes from the lining up of particular shapes that make the viewer question their spacial awareness of this piece. This is illustrated in the animation in which the triangle disappears and reappears: during which, the shade of red subtly changes.

Ryan Miles Viewfinder

Viewfinder The church not only offers an environment for the work to be displayed within, but as an artwork itself. Within the book ‘Seeking God’ by Esther De Waal, the stained glass windows of Canterbury Cathedral are discussed as being ‘theological statements’ for the illiterate during the Middle Ages. This offers a pictorial method through which people can be follow Christianity, and an art in itself. This is why Viewfinder has been placed on a large plinth that frames the historic art that the church contains.

Ryan Miles Rotating Floor Tiles

Rotating Floor Tiles Much like the Cross Faced Sculpture, the Floor Tiles rotate to present multiple perspectives.

As the tiles rotate, they create a variety of compositions that disrupt and reconfigure in different formats. The artwork has a time duration in which the viewer has to spend with the work to experience it as a whole.

Ryan Miles Cannons

Ryan Miles Spin Circle #2

Ryan Miles Royalty

Ryan Miles Distorted Projection

Ryan Miles Blue and Yellow Layers

Ryan Miles Spinal

Ryan Miles Spin Circle #1

Ryan Miles Rainbow Painting #1

Adventurous Learning

www.ashfordschool.co.uk Ashford School | East Hill | Ashford | TN24 8PB