Young Arts
encouraging young people
Young Arts support and organise projects in partnership with schools, colleges, galleries and museums, working with arts professionals to develop skills and encourage creativity in young people. We are looking for TASS members to volunteer to support these projects. If interested please contact us at Sherborne@theartssociety.org
volunteering
As a charity, the Arts Society likes to encourage an interest in the arts among the young, and The Arts Society Sherborne (TASS) has been doing this for many years. Recently, in 2022, we asked the primary schools in Sherborne, Sherborne Primary School and Sherborne Abbey Primary School, if we could help their children to have direct access to the arts and they both jumped at the chance. Both schools asked local artists to come in and work with their schools for an Art Week last summer. The results were outstanding and were displayed for parents at both schools. I visited the Art project work at Sherborne Primary and heard from staff how hard the children had worked and how much they all appreciated the grant we gave them and this was acknowledged in a notice on a display. Their theme was the ‘World at Work’.
EYFS pounded leaves and flowers onto linen leaving some impressive prints, with natural pigments; Years 1 and 2 used clay to portray their ambition in the world of work; Years 3 and 4 worked on landscapes with local artist, Lawrence Belbin and Years 5 and 6 worked on illustrations, using poems as stimuli, with Lucy Neale. The work from both artist projects shows the value of the artists’ input and how it can make a difference when a specialist works with children, as the quality of the work was very high. This is from the Art Coordinator at Sherborne Primary school – ‘First of all, I cannot thank you enough for the generosity of the Arts Society for donating this huge sum of money towards our art projects, we are so very grateful.’ At Sherborne Abbey Primary School they said how much the children enjoyed the project – ‘the children had a lot of fun’. The whole school had an Art Week based around the book ‘The Story of Climate Change’ by Catherine Barr and Steve Williams, and the quality of the work is a testament to the quality of the input they received. All their work used recycled and reused objects, brought in by parents. The display of the work was seen by parents in the last few weeks of term in the summer of 2022
Year 5 and 6 worked with the local artist Des Alner for 2 days. They developed technical skills using a variety of cutting tools and sawing and drilling tools. They painted and used a printing press.
Year 6 also worked with a KS3 art teacher from Gryphon, which had the additional benefit of making a transition project. They made a huge octopus from recycled bottles, and a magnificent sea turtle from egg boxes. The Art Week led to into English lessons as the children researched and wrote about the animals they were studying.
Finally children made a mural from bottle tops which is going on display in the school.
TASS paid for the artists time and all the resources needed for the entire week in both promary schools.
Charlton Horethorne Primary School works closely with both Sherborne primary schools, and so we extended our offer to them in the autumn last year. They asked Daniel Wakelam to come in to work with every child in the school over three days. All the pupils had input into the marvellous outcome of their work, a magnificent cross now in the entrance hall of the school.
This work was completely supported by TASS for the artists time and materials used.
In early 2023, the committee wanted to extend their support of our local schools and offered to pay for the transport, and associated costs, to any art exhibition the schools would like to make with pupils.
Charlton Horethorne school took to their Years 2,3 and 4 (ages 6 to 9 years) to Montecute Housse to visit the Long Gallery. They enjoyed it very much and sent some of their own portrait versions for us to see as a big thank you for paying for their visit.
Report: Gill Evans
Pictures: Denis Borrow
We are expecting Sherborne Abbey and Sherborne Primary Schools to visit their chosen galleries in the autumn term and will let you know how that went in a future newsletter. Our aim now is to extend TASS`s charity offers to primary schools in our wider membership area as we know how much difference we can make to the experiences of our local children and how much benefit they gain from some additional funds.
Report: Gill Evans (Arts Volunteering/Membership Secretary)