Primary School Placement

I have chosen to do a work placement within a primary school in order to obtain experience toward my PGCE application, in addition to developing a better understand of the way in which Art and creativity is integrated into a primary teaching environment. Russells Hall Primary School in particular teaches a creative curriculum, therefore I hope to see artistic integration throughout subjects giving me the opportunity to provide workshops, fresh and creative Ideas and an enriched dynamic. Alongside learning how creative practice within the curriculum stimulates and engages children within the topic.

This will enable me to make informed decisions regarding the age group I may want to teach at a later date and if a creative dynamic and artistic approach would lend itself to better engagement and enjoyment in the classroom.

My initial intention is to research how Art is taught in primary schools and also how creativity is used throughout the varying core subjects. I will research successful existing workshops, lesson plans, health and safety issues regarding equipment and conduct, which will give me a strong basis of knowledge upon which to enter the primary environment.

From here I hope to develop my own set of workshop plans and Ideas for the children in support of the teachers and their subject. For example, with regard to history and the Stone age, children could experiment using found tools, clay and a hands on approach to engage and encourage them with the subject of our history. Or perhaps with Literacy, children could write and illustrate a book of poetry together.

Small projects and items that can be presented or taken home can be used as a way of encouraging pride and enthusiasm in the child's work. Further to this, offering a display or presentation at the end of term could allow a gateway for communication between parents and teachers, and a platform of knowledge that can be shared visually. (Requiring approval from the Head teacher)

Overall I plan to research creative classroom approaches, assist teachers with a new range of creative Ideas depending upon subject area, encourage and engage children using interesting materials that they otherwise may not have the chance to encounter, all the while bringing my own experience as an artist into practice, developing a new element within my portfolio, alongside gaining basic teaching experience.

UPDATE TO DISCUSS THE QUESTIONS OF HIGH SCHOOL VERSUS PRIMARY??

or leave as it is and do a new set of OBJECTIVES and LEARNING OUTCOMES

Workshops I can provide at primary vs high school

Textiles

Clay workshop; ceramics, historical pots, relief, casting, etc

Craft, design workshops

Drawing with a range of materials ie light, shadow,

high school,
photography, cyanotypes, cameraless photo
use of materials substantially more complex

Research existing methods and examples of mask making then include your own developed Ideas that resonate with shakespeare or elizabethan approaches etc tudors??

traditional versus contemporary mask making,

are there any exhibitions regarding masks on currently? anything relevent? where i can do work along side this to add to portfolio?

MASKS RESEARCH IMPORTANT

Masks are objects that cover the face for variety of reasons. They are used for protection, disguise, entertainment or ritual practices and are made from various materials, depending of use. Earliest use of masks was for rituals and ceremonies, and the oldest found mask is from 7000 BC. Art of making masks could be older but because of the materials used for making them (leather and wood), they did not survive to this day. Oldest masks were of ritual purpose and could be found in many places of the world. They are generally similar in their overall appearance, but very different in style and way they are made and used.

In Africa, ritual masks are used in many different ways. In West Africa, they are used in ceremonies which purpose is to communicate with ancestral spirits. They are made out of wood, with great skill and such masks are used in ritual masquerades of Edo, Yoruba and Igbo cultures. Beside human faces, many African masks are made in the shapes of the animals. It is believed in some African tribes that they make possible to communicate with animals spirits of savannas and forests. One of the more common masks is an antelope. It is believed that an antelope have thought people agriculture or that it symbolizes a farmer. Some tribes make mask as symbols of different attributes. Mask with closed eyes symbolize tranquility while bulging forehead symbolizes wisdom. War masks are made to scare the enemy with big eyes, painted colors and anger of the carved face.

Elizabethan masques

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-masques.htm

History of Elizabethan Masques - the Mummers

The history of the Elizabethan masque dated back to the ancient custom and ritual of 'Mumming' which were performed by 'Mummers'. The first mummers performed mimes, plays without words re-enacting old stories, legends and myths particularly those about Saint George. The term Mummer therefore derives from the old Middle English word 'mum' meaning silent. All Mummers were disguised with vizards or masks and referred to as 'Guisers'. The important element of disguise was passed on to the Masques of the Renaissance. The mummers were various male members from the community - many played the same role for years. The Mummers were traditionally associated with Christmas and their torch light processions through the villages and appearance at the Manor House or Castle were greeted with great excitement. The Mummers entered the Great Halls with loud blasts from trumpets and drums and the blaze of many torches. Over the years dialogue was added to the mummer's plays - they became a forerunner of the theatre. The element of disguise continued and the identities of the Mummers were concealed.

When dialogue was added to the plays of the Mummers they also disguised their voices to conceal their identities. The Mummers introduced additional elements to the plays which became increasingly entertaining with the addition of jokes, jests, songs and dance.

The Staging and Scenery of Elizabethan Masques

The staging of the Renaissance Masques was extremely important. In later years even great architect Inigo Joneswas employed to produce lavish sets accompanied by various mechanical devices for the Jacobean masques. Great attention was paid to the indoor sets and scenery used for Elizabethan Masques. Expensive items of furniture and paintings were borrowed to embellish the scenery, sets and stage areas. The 'props' and accessories were even more fantastic and included items such as gilded chariots and fountains. Scenery was designed for temples and the facades of castles. Devices were developed to produce thunder & lightening effects. Elizabethan masques were also performed outdoors during the summer months.

Queen Elizabeth and the Elizabethan Masques

Queen Elizabeth was fond of making Royal progresses throughout England. She expected to stop at the great Elizabethan houses and palaces and to be entertained royally. Masques were often produced in her honour. This was the case the Kenilworth Entertainments of 1575. Kenilworth Castle was owned by the Queen's favorite courtier, Robert Dudley. Dudley spent a fortune on preparing the castle for the visit of the Queen - he intended to impress her and no expense was spared. Entertainment was an important element of the visit and Robert Dudley employed the Elizabethan poet and dramatist George Gascoigne (1537-1577) to create a new Elizabethan masque. The theme of the Kenilworth masque was male heroism and the vulnerability of women - the story was about men of stature in the days of King Arthur. Robert Dudley naturally played a leading part as a 'man of stature'. This traditional, romantic type of masque theme, emphasising the strength of men and the vulnerability of women, was not unusual. Masques also promoted the notion of marriage and men protecting their women. These blatant themes of male authority dominated the stories of the masques. Perhaps this explains why the powerful Queen Elizabeth, who often referred to herself as a 'prince', did not sponsor masques performed during the Elizabethan era - but she must have enjoyed the lavish spectacle of the masque and the blatant flattering directed at the sovereign!

Dramatists and Composers of Elizabethan Masques

Leading Elizabethan Poets and Dramatists were employed to write the words and verses of the masques. These included Sir Edmund Spenser, Francis Beaumont (1584 - 1616), John Fletcher (1579 - 1625),
Thomas Middleton (1580 - 1627) and, in later times, Ben Jonson. Famous composers and lyricists such as William Byrd (1543-1623), Thomas Campion (1567-1620) and John Mundy (1550-1630) were also responsible for creating masques. But the most famous and important of all the Elizabethandramatists was none other than William Shakespeare. The fantastic themes of the masques were included in many of the plays of William Shakespeare such a A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado about Nothing.

Artists using Paper Mache

Will Ryman was a playwright before he became a sculptor, and his work draws as much from the realm of theatre as it does from art. Spanning over 8 metres, The Bedis both a monumental sculpture and a stage. Made from papier mâché, Ryman’s giant man reclines in a dreamy world, somewhere between Sunday morning lie-in bliss and nervous breakdown, basking in the clutter of indulgence. Ryman crafts the accoutrements of pastime with cartoon exaggeration: notebooks, beer cans, open bag of crisps, and even the requisite faithful dog become comically distorted in this clumsy, lazy state of ennui. Through his use of papier mâché, Ryman’s installation takes on the dimensions of set design. The Bed’s description of slacker-ish idle is humorously at odds with its oversized, commanding spectacle. By revealing the process of making, his clunky forms invite suggestive narratives through their self-conscious artifice, becoming both props and performers in an anti-drama of epic proportions. The bed itself operates literally as a platform or stage, the centre of expectant action and entertainment, a fabricated, self-contained tableau posing in (and overtaking) the viewer’s real-world space with delightful suspension of belief.

These examples of contemporary artists using paper mache, show its potential. Seen above, Rymans giant man, seems expressive and wrinkled, something that was evidently enhanced through the use of paper mache. As the children will be making masks, this is a particularly useful example where we can see human features, yet in the same way we intend to juxtapose reality with fantasy, this seemingly usual man, is giant. In addition I find a link between the notion of dreams and the surreal, vs reality and Shakespeare's fondness of dreams and his playing with reality and fantasy.

Mask work, see references.

A piece of work on show, coming from New Art West Midlands. This sits central in the space and as you walk through a square cut out within the supporting wall in the gallery, the room seems chopped off by this dividing wall covered mostly in a sort of wallpaper created by graduate student (name?) three masks which she wears accompanied with three wigs (pictured and shown on a wall to the left of this dividing wall) consider her partially oriental heritage. The way in which the paper hangs looks messy! I feel that this paper would have looked better flush to the wall. However, In pictures the paper almost looks more like material, that could reference drapes and the extravagant materials of the orient. Perhaps this was the intention for viewers in the space but was not achieved.

The three plinths reflect the three images taken and create a sense of balance with the central plinth set forward creating a triangular field of view across the piece.

Primary School Placement

Saturday, 2 January 2016

applying to redhill and UCAS

CRITICAL EVALUATION SO FAR.....PROPOSAL - NOT ON BLOG - SECOND STAGE DEVELOP/REVIEW/HIGH SCHOOL??

AFTER VISIT - looking/research into classroom plans for high schoool art

Visit to REdhill

Enquiring about High school voluntary places

CRIT EVAL - how does it influence my practice/profesional developement currently? do i want to teach high school or primary? etc considering voluntary days at highschool

MASKS DEVELOPED, APPROACHES TO PAPER MACHE researchETC... PROPER PLANS WHAT WILL NEED ETC ALL DONE ON THIS NOW UNTIL JAN

Artists using Paper Mache