Trading Places/CR.E.A.T.E. Programme

Third Phase Residencies

Back to residencies

blue light moves

Written by artist Sharon on 14 April 2005

moves in light

Written by artist Sharon on 14 April 2005

see the wire

Written by artist Sharon on 14 April 2005

moves in shape

Written by artist Sharon on 14 April 2005

space architects catalogue

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

Here's a few more from the eminent Space Architects' folder!!! Please check out the rest of the pictures.....

other dimensions for the space architects

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

Some more of the alternative imaginings for our shapes.....

Space Architects at work

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

After the children had constructed their shapes, I asked each group of children to show their piece (it was hard to hide!!!) to the rest of the class. I asked them to each speak about how they had made it and what problems they faced and what they liked about it. One group said their shape was a bus and turned the other way up it was a shower!
This prompted a couple of exercises in which I asked the children to make two drawings of draw their shapes - one was to be drawn as carefully as they could, referring to the shape infront of them and the other drawing was to be based on what they saw, but to use their imagination and turn the shape into something else!

These pictures are of the drawing session. (I have to say the children did not like this bit as much - they were so fired up about making a huge shape and so to settle at a drawing was very disappointing!!!) However they made some lovely drawings and I'll post some more of these up in the next upload!

space architects

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

Some more pictures of the spaces created with tape and bamboo sticks.......
We had to stop somewhere as we were going to run out of space to store these! We can't wait to show Nicola what we've done!!

We also made some tunnels and we will be able to connect these spaces and move through them all. It will be interesting to see how light affects the atmosphere of these structures and what else we could explore.....

The big build begins

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

Today I worked with the children in the big hall. I wanted to maintain the connection with the work Nicola and I had made in the Mill, which was about using space, moving in and out of a resricted space (the sunlight shaft) and about improvisation. I also wanted to maintain the connection with drawing and so began by speaking to the children about these ideas, and asking them what they remembered about the piece they had viewed on DVD.

So I suggested to the children that they were going to draw a space using bamboo sticks and tape. We discussed the idea of creating a space that a person could move in and out of. Like a giant line drawing. So for that time ahead the children would be architects of space and artists!

Three groups of six/seven children worked on 3 differet shapes/spaces, each very different and each wonderful creations.

The children had a lot of problems to cintend with, how to begin was one! Although we had paper and pencil to hand, the children really improvised and began their build immediately. The spaces just grew organically. It was great to see how these children worked together to solve problems and had great ambitions......

The big build....

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

It took alot of concentration, co operation and effort to keep the building on track. I was really impressed with the children's work and enthusiasm. They had alot of fun and seemed to be fired up by these tasks.

We ran out of bamboo sticks and by lunch I had to hunt Lisburn for more sticks. We continued our shapes after lunch. Stabilizers had to be added, extensions were planned, and so it was!

the big build continued

Written by artist Sharon on 6 April 2005

There were so many great pictures of the build session here's some more.

more pics of the big build

Written by artist Sharon on 5 April 2005

here's more pictures of our build session

fast drawing

Written by artist Sharon on 1 April 2005

These are some more images from our moving drawing session. For more pictures etc, remember to check out Nicola's section!! The children worked hard making this speedy drawing - it was really a continual drawing. The children were asked to keep their charcoal in contact with the paper and move round a table as they drew!. The lively images that were caught by Nicola on camera were viewed by the class in the afternoon session, however these pictures, taken by one of the children, have caught a different view - a still image of a moving thing and that is quite special.

drawing other space

Written by artist Sharon on 1 April 2005

These drawings were made by the children in response to being asked to draw the space around and between two objects, rather than directly drawing the objects themselves. This is part of our exploration of drawing in different ways. The children placed two chosen objects from their tables in front of them and drew the space - the drawings have a lovely feeling of space around them. This might lead to further work about drawing space.

drawing other space

Written by artist Sharon on 1 April 2005

more drawing ways

Written by artist Sharon on 1 April 2005

Tuesday's session began by showing the children the evolving/moving drawing video piece of my own work called LIFE DRAWING. This at least set the scene for the work to follow.
Nicola and I took half the group down to the hall to work on moving and drawing.
One of the things we tried was to record the children moving around a table with a blank sheet secured on to it. The children were asked to keep drawing while they moved. Another child took photographs of these fast movers! Nicola recorded this exercise with a video camera also. The video camera was placed overhead, so she had a bird's eye view of the table top.

The children were asked to move at different pace - so slow then faster and eventually as a child made a mark, the next hand that came round smudged the previous marks out of the way. What they ended up with was a continual smudge. We also recorded the children erasing these smudges. This was very hard work!!

The children will see when they next check the website that when a photograph is taken of a moving thing - it will be blurred.

The second group of children then came down and we tried some improvisational drawings using string. Each child was asked to lay a piece of string down onto a flat surface joining their string to the prvious child's. By this means a whole drawing grew and grew. The best of these exercises was onto a black sheet spread out on the floor, onto which white string was laid. The resulting drawing was really strange - a little bit like lots of things.... it was some suggested an ambiguous camel!

Nicola recorded this sequence with the video camera and then we asked the children to each take a piece off - in this way the drawing de-constructed itself in a totally different way.

The afternoon session was spent showing the children what each group had done and discussing the work. We went to the IT suite and the children had the chance to check the website and see the images that Nicola had uploaded from the previous day. The children also looked at other work on the website.

One of the children ,when we were clearing up the string pieces, began to hang the string onto my body, insted of putting it in my hand, so this might be a start for some ideas using the LED wire and exploring space and restricted space.
I would like to explore other means of making lines visible, perhaps with flourescent ink or invisible ink..........

Drawing ways

Written by artist Sharon on 1 April 2005