France, Hungary, India, Thailand, Turkey, UK & USA
contents river thames with r. seine r. danube r. hooghly r. chao phraya the bosphorus r. anacostia
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introduction rivers of the world is the thames festival trust’s flagship art and education project. delivered in partnership with british council’s connecting classrooms, and with support from hsbc global education trust, the project links schools and over 2,000 young people around the world through common river themes. 4
rivers of the world
Class groups of thirteen- and fourteenyear-old students from London, Kolkata (India), Paris (France), Szentendre (Hungary), Bangkok (Thailand), Washington DC (USA) and Istanbul (Turkey) have worked with artists to create these magnificent artworks inspired by the study of their, or their partner city’s, river. The artworks will be on display along the banks of the River Thames as part of The Mayor’s Thames Festival 2010 and will also be enjoyed by millions of people in the coming months as they travel to riverside locations in each of the participating cities. www.riversoftheworld.org
introduction
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artists shona watt, nina ayres, helen blejerman, chloe bonfield, alex buxton, helen ireland, rebecca lucraft, heather mcreynolds, pia randall-goddard uk / alex buxton, pete gomes france / balázs laár hungary / tandra chanda, pulak ghosh india / thanom chapakdee, chalit kangvaravoot, arthit mulsarn thailand / barıs karayazgan turkey / abigail byrd, dylan byrd usa 6
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Rivers of the World workshops are delivered by a dedicated team of international artists and arts educators led by Shona Watt. As specialists in the fields of fine art, design, photography, textiles and print-making they bring a wide range of experience and a professional approach into the classroom. In conversation with class teachers, they suggest a range of ways that the river theme may be explored considering the history, geography, culture and environment of each river city. They aim to introduce unusual techniques and new media and provide a strong design aesthetic for the artwork. Finally, they help students to document their work and share what they’ve learned with partners overseas via the project website.
artists
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artists & schools Shona Watt & Chloe Bonfield Bishop Challoner School / Clapton Girls’ Technology College / Enfield Grammar School / Grey Court School / Langley Park School for Boys / Mount Carmel RC Technology College / Mulberry School for Girls / Notre Dame RC Girls’ School / Sacred Heart High School / St. Thomas More Language College / Southfields Community College
UK /
Shona Watt & Manuela Zanotti Langley Park School for Girls / Salesian College / Tiffin School
Hungary /
Balázs Laár Ferences Gimnázium / Il. Rákóczi Ferenc Általános Iskola és Gimnázium / Móricz Zsigmond Gimnázium / Petzelt József Szakközépiskola és Szakiskola / Szentendrei Református Gimnázium
India /
Tandra Chanda & Pulak Ghosh Adamas International School / Bidya Bharati Girls’ School / Dolna Day School / Garden High School / Shaw Public School / Techno India Group Public School
Thailand /
Thanom Chapakdee, Chalit Kangvaravoot & Arthit Mulsarn Matthayomwatnairong School / Sainampeung School / Satri Si Suriyothai School / Sirirattanathorn School / Suankularb School / Yothinburana School
Turkey /
Barıs Karayazgan Asagi Dudullu / Cengelkoy 4 Murat Ilkögretim Okulu / Eyüp Rami / Münevver Sefik Fergar Ilkögretim Okulu / Recaizade Ekrem / Üsküdar Altunizade Hafize Özal
USA /
Abigail Byrd & Dylan Byrd Bell Multicultural High School / Duke Ellington School for the Arts / Hardy Middle School / Lincoln Multicultural Middle School / Sousa Middle School / Winston Education Campus
Shona Watt & Arash Sahami The City Academy, Hackney Nina Ayres & Alex Buxton Brentside High School / Hatch End High School / Maria Fidelis Convent School / Northumberland Park Community School / Oasis Academy Coulsdon Helen Ireland & Pia Randall-Goddard Bentley Wood High School / Ernest Bevin College / Fortismere School / Newstead Wood School Rebecca Lucraft & Chloe Bonfield Bexley Grammar School / Buxton School / The London Nautical School / Valentines High School Heather McReynolds & Helen Blejerman Langdon School / Mayfield School / St. Aloysius’ College / Stepney Green School France /
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Alex Buxton & Pete Gomes Collège Claude Chappe / Collège George Sand / Collège Montaigne
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ARTISTS
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messages from supporters of the rivers of the world project: hsbc & british council
‘HSBC Global Education Trust is proud to be supporting the Rivers of the World project for this, the fifth year in succession. The vibrant artwork shows the exciting results of dialogue between students in seven countries. As the exhibition travels to riverside locations in other participating cities, millions will have the chance to admire the creativity of young people from across the world.’
Simon Martin Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Holdings plc
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‘Rivers of the World enables young people from the UK and other countries to share, explore and celebrate their local environment, learn about other cultures and engage with global issues. By capturing their perspective on the world, these artworks are a striking reminder of how young people’s creativity can provide a unique cultural insight. The British Council is delighted to be working with the Thames Festival once again to support this project.’
Martin Davidson CMG Chief Executive, British Council
messages from supporters
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r. thames, uk & r. seine, france students from london (uk) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river seine / students from paris (france) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river thames
Photo: Adrian Evans
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1. Langley Park School for Girls Students looked at vintage fashion magazines sold along the Seine in bouqinistes, or bookstalls. They then made hand-tinted etchings of Marie Antoinette emphasising the excess and embellishment of that period.
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2. Collège Claude Chappe Students made pen and ink drawings of imported tea boxes, designing their own tea company logo and branding inspired by mythical beasts. 3. Collège Montaigne Students combined pencil drawings with patterned paper to make a collage of new and old London architecture influenced by contemporary design.
‘These two days were like a journey into a world of tea chests and we were utterly occupied by the activity.’ Laure (pupil) Collège Claude Chappe
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4. Newstead Wood School Inspired by Impressionism, students used a pointillist technique to create images of trees. These were then inverted to form lungs, linking general health with the health of the city.
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5. Collège George Sand Imagining ships sunk at the bottom of the river, students designed figureheads and printed them using a relief collagraph technique.
6. Langley Park School for Boys Pupils studied French poems based on the Seine. They experimented with marbling and then followed the natural contours of the resulting pattern with layers of text from the poems.
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‘I’ve learnt to look at things in a different way, such as trees relating to breathing then lungs.’ Courtney Grover (pupil) Newstead Wood School
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‘The project emphasised the process involved in developing ideas through stages. The students have used and mastered specific techniques that have allowed them to communicate their ideas. And they have worked together!’
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1. Collège Claude Chappe 2. Langley Park School for Girls 3. Langley Park School for Boys 4. Collège George Sand 5. Newstead Wood School
David Branch (art teacher) Langley Park School for Boys
6. Collège Montaigne 7. Langley Park School for Girls
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r. thames, uk & r. danube, hungary students from london (uk) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river danube / students from budapest (hungary) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river thames
Photo: Adrian Evans
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1. Brentside High School Pupils drew various ways in which the Danube is used as a resource, then hand-embroidered each image before scanning and compiling their work using Photoshop.
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2. Valentines High School Students made paper-cuts based on Hungarian embroidery inspired by the German story of Noeck: a half-man, half-fish that tempted migrant workers into the Danube with riches and jewels.
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3. Ferences Gimnázium The group combined Wendy Hodge’s picture ‘Tower of Babel: Docklands’ with the well-known heroine Mary Poppins, shown holding hands with children of various nationalities.
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4. Móricz Zsigmond Gimnázium The students selected photographs from their trip to London, showing everyday situations as well as typical English icons, based on their own experiences. 5. Petzelt József Szakközépiskola és Szakiskola The water is the place of parties, summer, youth and freedom, illustrated in the students’ artwork made using chalk pastel.
‘When we visited London we wanted to take photos of everyday situations, not only focusing on typical english subjects.’
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6. II. Rákóczi Ferenc Általános Iskola és Gimnázium The members of the group merged their impressions of London and the Thames into a picture using chalk pastels.
Sári and Anna (pupils) Móricz Zsigmond Gimnázium
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8. Bishop Challoner School Pupils studied the famous thermal baths alongside the Danube in Budapest. They made linocuts of spa buildings and arranged them to resemble the patterned ceiling of the Szechenyi Gyogyfurdo bath.
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‘This year we have learnt many things about the Thames. We have also learnt a lot about our own river, the Danube. It was sad to see how dirty our river is.’
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9. Mount Carmel RC Technology College Pupils studied Hungarian folk tales and their emphasis on forests. They made observational drawings of trees, making the knots into eyes, to produce a 3-D pop-up forest.
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10. Szentendrei Református Gimnázium The group used lino-cut printing to give a vibrant and impressionistic aspect to the Thames and its riverside buildings. 10
Korpos Dávid (pupil) Szentendrei Református Gimnázium
7. Fortismere School Students created scenes from Brothers Grimm fairytales set in the Black Forest where the Danube has its source. They used a paper-cut technique inspired by Lotte Reiniger.
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‘This project has inspired me to use my imagination more.’
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Zoe Simons-Walker (pupil) Mount Carmel RC Technology College
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1. Il. Rákóczi Ferenc Általános Iskola és Gimnázium 2. Mount Carmel RC Technology College 3. Brentside High School
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4. Petzelt József Szakközépiskola és Szakiskola 5. Szentendrei Református Gimnázium 6. Móricz Zsigmond Gimnázium 7. Fortismere School 8. Ferences Gimnázium 9. Bishop Challoner School 10. Valentines High School
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r. thames, uk & r. hooghly, india students from london (uk) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river hooghly / students from kolkata (india) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river hooghly
Photo: Adrian Evans
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1. Shaw Public School Using simple forms and bright watercolours inspired by traditional Bengali Jadupatua, or scroll paintings, students portrayed river workers and river industry. 2. Bidya Bharati Girls’ School Students used acrylic paint and cloth to create a collage showing the wildlife in and around the River Hooghly.
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3. The London Nautical School Students made ‘Exquisite Corpses’ based on tradespeople on the Silk Road. They combined these with typical import and export products to create mini match-box works. 4. Southfields Community College Students researched Indian gods and goddesses and the ritual of placing flowers in the Hooghly. They then made drawings on Bengali newspaper which they hand-coloured.
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5. Techno India Group Public School Students used vibrant acrylic colours to paint sara – round terracotta plates traditionally fired and decorated by Bengali artisans.
6. Garden High School Inspired by the few surviving examples of woodcut prints from nineteenth century Kolkata, students made black and white paintings on plywood.
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‘The Rivers of the World workshop was a very educational and enriching experience. We had the opportunity to work with terracotta pottery and at the same time convey the message of this year’s theme, ‘polluted river’. An effective method has been devised to raise awareness about the condition of India’s rivers.’ Abhishek Biswas (pupil) Dolna Day School
7. Dolna Day School Students made acrylic paintings of river pollution on traditional terracotta pots which are used as part of everyday life in many Bengal villages.
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8. Bexley Grammar School Students looked at Indian culture and religious beliefs linked to the river. They created artwork based on the tradition of Indian block printing, experimenting on paper and fabric.
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‘I have learned about the many ways in which our partner city’s river, the Hooghly, is used and why it is so special.’ Lizzy Howard (pupil) Bexley Grammar School
9. Oasis Academy Coulsdon Pupils made paper-mâché busts of river workers on the Hooghly, which they finished with text and illustrations to suggest their jobs.
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10. Mayfield School Pupils looked at floral offerings made to the River Hooghly. They made their own mandala designs on wooden ‘rafts’, each with a personal message for the river.
11. Enfield Grammar School The students painted vignettes of life on the River Hooghly using watercolour and gouache, inspired by Indian miniature painting.
12. Adamas International School Students used watercolours to paint the city surrounding the River Hooghly, adding glitter and sequins to develop the composition further.
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‘I feel very lucky to have been chosen as one of the participants to represent my school and my city. It was wonderful to be able to share thoughts and learn new drawing techniques from the artists. It was a marvellous experience.’
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Diya Goldar (pupil) Shaw Public School
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1. Dolna Day School 2. Shaw Public School 3. Mayfield School 10
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4. Garden High School 5. Oasis Academy Coulsdon 6. Bidya Bharati Girls’ School 7. The London Nautical School
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8. Bexley Grammar School 9. Southfields Community College 10. Enfield Grammar School 11. Techno India Group Public School
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r. thames, uk & r. chao phraya, thailand students from london (uk) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river thames / students from bangkok (thailand) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river chao phraya
Photo: Adrian Evans
1. Hatch End High School Pupils recreated a 1920s London Underground poster by putting themselves in the picture, wearing fabric designs inspired by their own cultural backgrounds. 2. Bentley Wood High School Pupils drew musical instruments and made sound-drawings inspired by Handel’s ‘Royal Music with Fireworks’ and the history of festivals on the River Thames.
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3. Sainampeung School Students used watercolour, pastel and acrylic media to illustrate the concept of ‘River City’, showing the traditional Thai lifestyle where rivers are held in high esteem.
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4. Matthayomwatnairong School The students’ work is based on the concept of ‘Working River’, depicting the actual floating markets in Thailand using collage and paper-mâché techniques. 5. Sirirattanathorn School Using a range of mixed media such as photographs, paintings and waste materials, students illustrated the theme of ‘Polluted River’.
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6. Grey Court School Inspired by nearby Hampton Court, students copied royal portraits, replacing the faces with those of animals traditionally hunted in the area to represent each person’s character.
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7. Satri Si Suriyothai School Oil and pastel colour techniques were used to demonstrate the ‘River of Life’ idea where Thai people relate almost everything to the rivers. 8. Yothinburana School Students made wire sculptures to show how the river inspires both music and play in Thai culture. 9. Suankularb School Students depicted the abundance of the river in Thailand, and its use as a resource, through use of watercolour and performance.
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‘The Rivers of the World project helps remind people to do more to conserve our rivers and the environment. In my painting, I presented Thailand’s way of life and how we are interconnected with rivers. I hope the message from this painting will be useful to those who see it.’ Nuttawan Na Nongkhai (pupil) Satri Si Suriyothai School
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‘I learned that all scenes along the Thames can be inspiring and that, in art, the possibilities are endless.’ Marri Rose Midson (pupil) Sacred Heart High School
10. Sacred Heart High School Making etchings from drawings made on a trip to the South Bank, the pupils created modern pastoral scenes in the style of Toile de Jouy fabric. 11. Tiffin School Students made surrealist alien collages based on their investigation of invading crustaceans – Asian mitten crabs and Zebra mussels – and their polluting effect on the Thames. 12. Salesian College Students drew maps and made lino prints based on the history of Thames pirates, particularly the exploits of privateer Captain Kidd who was hung at Execution Dock in Wapping.
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1. Salesian College
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2. Grey Court School 3. Sainampeung School 4. Sirirattanathorn School 5. Satri Si Suriyothai School 6. Tiffin School 7. Bentley Wood High School 8. Sacred Heart High School 9. Matthayomwatnairong School 10. Hatch End High School
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‘Every time when I see the river I now wonder, what would the rivers want to tell us? I think I know. The rivers want to tell us to take care of them.’
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r. thames, uk & the bosphorus, turkey students from london (uk) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river thames / students from istanbul (turkey) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the bosphorus
Photo: Adrian Evans
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‘I re-lived Istanbul while I was drawing the picture of a real place. I have started to live differently in this city after this project.’
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Berna Hazal Çelebi (pupil) Recaizade Ekrem
1. Cengelkoy 4 Murat Ilkögretim Okulu Students drew ships decorated with international flags, having learnt that 300 cargo ships use the Bosphorus every day, connecting Istanbul with the wider world. 2. Buxton School Students looked at trade on the Thames and designed their own Victorian-era advertisements for imported and exported products using ink and embroidery. 3. Recaizade Ekrem Students made letters to symbolize an aspect of culture around the Bosphorus. They made multi-coloured Evil Eyes adapting the millefiore glasswork technique by using polymer clays instead of glass.
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4. Üsküdar Altunizade Hafize Özal Pupils painted scenes to show the beauty of old and new Istanbul which they linked with marbled tulips and an image of the Bosphorus Bridge. 5. Northumberland Park Community School Students produced their own printed wallpaper inspired by William Morris’s use of river imagery. Flowers were sketched and used as the basis for collagraph prints.
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6. Eyüp Rami Students experimented with ebru, a traditional Ottoman paper-marbling art form, to create images of river pollution and Turkish architecture. 7. Clapton Girls’ Technology College Looking at Pre-Raphaelite paintings of nature, pupils took photographs of weeds and flowers which were collaged and layered in Photoshop to create a painterly image of river weeds.
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8. Münevver sefik Fergar Ilkögretim Okulu Students used a range of labour-intensive techniques to show aspects of the working Bosphorus, from beaded fish to quilled waves and miniature self-portraits.
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‘Everything was enjoyable in this project, I wish it lasted longer.’
9. Langdon School Students focused on river life as seen through a microscope, developing characteristics and stories for micro-organisms using wet-on-wet inks, marbling and collage.
Dinesh Kalamegam (pupil) Langdon School
11. Ernest Bevin College Using objects found on the Thames foreshore, students made a ‘display cabinet’, inspired by archaeology, containing artefacts and chalk drawings of skeletons. 12. Asagi Dudullu Students researched ceramic tiles used as a building material in mosques and many buildings along the Bosphorus. They moulded and glazed their own tiles with images of Istanbul.
10. St. Aloysius’ College Students painted props and staged scenes for The Swan Theatre, which rivalled The Globe at the turn of the sixteenth century. 10
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‘With this project I learned what we could achieve as a team. I learned to trust the members of the team and act as a single body.’
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Zeynep Naz Akyokus (pupil) Üsküdar Altunizade Hafize Özal 3
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1. Clapton Girls’ Technology College 2. St. Aloysius’ College 3. Ernest Bevin College 4. Eyüp Rami 5. Buxton School 6. Münevver Sefik Fergar Ilkögretim Okulu 7. Cengelkoy 4 Murat Ilkögretim Okulu 8. Asagi Dudullu 9. Recaizade Ekrem 10. Northumberland Park Community School
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r. thames, uk & r. anacostia, usa students from london (uk) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river thames / students from washington dc (usa) worked with artists to create artwork inspired by the river anacostia
Photo: Adrian Evans
1. Winston Education Campus Inspired by street art and urban culture, students cut stencils and used spray paint to create iconic representations of their city, designing typography to highlight key ideas. 2. Hardy Middle School Students looked at the ecology of life in the river and the society around it. They created linocut prints and then collaged them together to give a complete picture of a river of life.
4. Bell Multicultural High School Students created relief sculptures in the shape of mechanical gears with scenes showing the transformation of the working river.
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‘Through this project I learned that it’s not just the animals and their habitat that make up the river, it’s also the people who take care of it.’
5. St. Thomas More Language College Students looked at the effect on wildlife of discarded plastic ‘six-pack’ rings. They created animal skeleton paper-cuts and arranged them within a lace pattern of rings.
3. Duke Ellington School for the Arts Students used mixed-media to show the culture of the Anacostia River. The eagle was featured as a symbol of hope having returned after a 50-year absence.
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India Garces (pupil) Bell Multicultural High School
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6. Lincoln Multicultural Middle School Students photographed elements of their daily lives then ‘tagged’ the images with graffiti-style designs which were digitally collaged to form an abstract, urban river.
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7. Mulberry School for Girls Pupils researched the East India Tea Company and the English fashion for tea-drinking. They drew aerial views of cups and saucers incorporating images connecting England and India.
8. The City Academy, Hackney Students looked at the juxtaposition of old and new architecture along the Thames and in the Square Mile, printing linocut buildings onto Financial Times newspaper.
‘This project changed my perspective because the world is dirty and polluted and in the future it’s going to be a wasteland if we don’t do anything about it.’
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9. Notre Dame RC Girls’ School The pupils researched the Pearly Kings and Queens and their connection to the Thames. They made cut-out silhouettes which they then decorated to imitate their famous pearl buttons. 10. Sousa Middle School Students researched plans to revitalise the Anacostia with a National Children’s Island, making a mixed-media collage inspired by JM Barrie’s Neverland.
Oscar (pupil) Lincoln Multicultural Middle School
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12. Stepney Green School Students researched river water as a resource, and combined graphic explorations of surface and texture with photographic images to create a Thames collage.
11. Maria Fidelis Convent School Pupils looked at the wildlife of the Thames, drawing creatures onto hand-made marbled paper and arranging them in the style of American Tiffany lamps.
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‘I thought that if you did something yourself it would be really good and you could make a difference, but I found out that working together can make a change that’s even greater.’
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Aurielle Catron (pupil) Duke Ellington School for the Arts
2. Mulberry School for Girls 3. Maria Fidelis Convent School 4. Lincoln Multicultural Middle School 5. Notre Dame RC Girls’ School 6. Hardy Middle School 7. Duke Ellington School for the Arts 8. St. Thomas More Language College
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‘Now I know that art is a subject that you can use for the rest of your life.’ Rilary Gomes Miranda (pupil) Notre Dame RC Girls’ School
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Rivers of the World 2010 thanks: Simon Martin Paul Sinclair Olga Stanojlovic Rachel Ireland Ariel Wosner Irene Daumur Marianne Garcia Andrea Simon Viktoria Vas Csilla Ruman Marina Gandhi Mrigank Mukherjee Wibhawinee Chommuangboon Chananyou Muadmanee Matumon Katerenchuk Mallika Iamla-or John Bramwell Semra Yal癟覺n Yavuz Yilmazoglu Alison Corbett Kate Anderson Ralph Genang Grant Ozolins Claire Finnie Denitsa Kamburova Alan Hayward Barry Field Shaheena Pooloo
Design by Why Not Associates
Thanks to all the teachers and pupils involved for their support and enthusiasm for the project
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms and with support from HSBC Global Education Trust.