Brighton inspired art work

So by day I am an art teacher, currently training 44 year 10 students to be creative, yup tough challenge I know. The theme for the mock exam was the built environment, and as we live and work in Luton i could for see a few problemos.....namely the factories, motorways and shopping mall smack bang in the middle...

Our aim is to inspire, engage and have a positive impact on the students, taking them out into town was not going to produce any artistic empathies and would result in 44 students descending upon Mc Donalds!

So where could we go?.....lots of deliberation ensued with my colleagues about, various hillsides and even London, but all seemed to lack a real focus....then it hit us...Brighton....

Perfect, they have the peer, the burnt down pier, the pavilion, the square and the lanes, an artistic paradise.....

So off we trundled, to the train station and caught the train to Brighton. The students were very excited, most of them never been before. Bit of a nightmare accounting for all 44 students but we made it.

First stop the gorgeous pavilion....

I must add prior to the trip both myself and my colleague Carri had done a rekki in the half term to plan the trip, and we didn't even get to shop ! We made sketches and decided what we wanted the students to get out of the day.

Whilst at school we got the kids to prepare sketchbook pages, which they could work on top of, whilst down there. (its less daunting and adds drama to the artwork, a blank white page can be tough to start with)

Here's a few of mine; (used to inspire and help the frightened ones!)

(water colour background with 5 min felt tip sketch overlay)

(Prepared page-with masking tape, over-layed with felt tip pen sketch and watercolour relief piece)

(torn paper collage (magazine pages)

(Layers of acrylic worked into with a spatula whilst still wet)




(Once again cause I just love it- torn paper collage!, not finished though)

So after an 1/2 hours drawings in biro,pencil and felt tip it was time for lunch! (my favourite part) and who could resist a go on the merri-go-round, certainly not the boys!

We then descended upon the beach like a swarm of locusts, took photos and got out some watercolours, by then my feet were killing me and I had to bare all? Well just my ankles!
Arghh Miss Tremblay, ruling with an iron fist! ha ha

Isn't there something so utterly charming about the English seaside? I just love it, there doesn't seem to be another country on earth that has that really intoxicating smell of the sea? not to mention the treasure trove of finds!

I saved these for taking back to school with me.....poor unsuspecting year 7's tee heeee

Look at these they are simply stunning!

Now on to my favourite part............... the old burnt pier!;I think you'll agree its absolutely captivating.....

Sad to say but it looks beautiful now, ghostly .... and inspiring!

I didn't realise until we got down there that the metal pillars sticking out of the beach would have housed the walkway onto the pier? (ps I love the chap sunbathing )

we particularly wanted the students to think about composition, background, middle and foreground. Making photographs less like holiday snaps.

Here's a few more from the day !....

As you can see we had lots and lots of great stuff to work from.

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Anyway, I shall stop babbling now and show you what has been produced post Brighton..in my year 7 and year 9 groups, they are super brilliant I love them..

and here is my display board..

.................and this is what I've come up with for next weeks lessons (screen printing)...





And lastly my favourite piece, a year 9 lad incorporated rain into his piece, genius ....
I hope you enjoyed my blog...goodbye for now x