We are planning a visit to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London on Sunday 9th October.
This visit will be a very exciting opportunity to see work by contemporary textile artists; you can be assured of an inspirational day. The cost will be £20 to include coach transport and entry into the exhibition.
If you are interested please contact Carolyn Roberts at car@churchdown.gloucs.sch.uk.
Two groups of Miss Hornby’s Year 7 students worked in the Curve Gallery this week, using Celia Smith’s sculptures as inspiration for their drawings.
Some of the students’ work will be on display alongside Celia’s in the Gallery and will be available to view at the Private View of the exhibition to be held on Thursday 26th May from 4.00-5.30pm. Celia Smith will also be in attendance at the show.
Celia Smith is an artist who draws with wire as others draw with pencil. For her creating sculptures out of wire is like drawing in three dimensions. She became inspired to make wire shadows during the spring of 2006. The sunlight seemed particularly sharp after the grey of winter and as a result she kept noticing peoples shadows and was intrigued by how the shadows distort yet still retain the characteristics of the person casting the shape.
Birds are Celia’s main inspiration; capturing their movement and character is her primary concern. She finds that wire has a spontaneity that can give her sculptures a feeling of life and energy.
The majority of Celia’s sculptures are of domestic and native British birds. She aims to capture not only their shape but also their movements and character. A lot of time is spent drawing and studying the birds and often small wire studies and life-size pieces are made directly in front of the subject.
Growing up as a farmer’s daughter has given Celia a passion for the natural environment. To get ‘close to her subject’ Celia spends time away from her studio in beautiful and inspiring rural locations – these range from studying migratory Whooper swans in Norfolk to creating Greylag Geese in the Shetland islands.
The exhibition will run until 26 May 2011 and visitors are welcome to the Curve Gallery during school hours. There will be an opportunity to meet the artist at a Private View from 4-5.30pm on Thursday 26 May.
A few of the entries…
Sue Belinfante
Pauline Lillico
Karen Bunting
The Head takes a closer look with Leigh & Neil
Students cast a critical eye over the photos
a happy customer
A very enjoyable morning was spent at the Saturday Morning Art School by pupils from the school and from Longlevens, Innsworth and Churchdown Parton Manor junior schools, plus local parents and teachers.
ashley does work!
another happy customer!
The children really enjoyed working with artists using packaging and thread to produce Louise Baldwin-inspired work with Karen Bunting, making decorative fashion accessories from recycled materials with Bettina Bunce, producing colourful animal sculptures using paper and card with Alison Cockcroft and making clay masks with Sue Belinfante.
playing with clay
Fabulous accessories!
I think it might be a bird!
At the same time adult groups worked with printmaker Adrienne Craddock to produce ‘Art of the Machine’ collographs featuring cogs, wheels and pisterns, and in a 3D textile sculpture activity making sweets and chocolates as lovely Easter gifts for a loved one, Joanne Raywood assured her group that they would be ‘a feast for the eyes that won’t add to the hips!’
Tofty strikes again!
Fruity and fabulous!
Meanwhile, Andrea Dryland worked with a group of GCSE students who greatly benefitted from the extra time and attention to develop their exam work.
Laura at the PV
Sue Belinfante, Head of Art, was especially pleased to present this exhibition by Laura Taylor as she is a past student of Churchdown School. Hanging alongside the artists’ work in the exhibition are examples of work completed by some of the school’s current students who have participated in workshops with Laura.
Some serious Art Criticism takes place
Many of the students and their families came along to the Private View in the school’s Curve Gallery to see how they had experimented with fun and unusual methods of painting, reflecting the approaches the artist uses in her own work.
"That's only your opinion, Joe!"
‘Serendipity’ continues at the Curve Gallery until 24th March and visitors are welcome during school hours.
Flying Dunlin by Celia Smith
Lapwing by Celia Smith
Celia Smith is an artist who draws with wire, as others draw with pencil. The majority of Celia’s sculptures are of domestic and native British birds.
Her sculptures are also very eco friendly – the materials that Celia uses are mainly sourced from scrap yards, each visit brings new colours and textures which helps to inspire the next creation. Her beautiful forms are constructed out of wires, which may have previously been used for telephone and electrical wiring, or perhaps some rusty fencing found abandoned in a field.
Celia originally studied Fine Art Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art, graduating in 1996. The degree course offered her the chance to experiment with lots of different materials and techniques, but wire became her most favored medium.
Year 8s enjoy working with Laura in the Curve
Spinning Around
Lots of hard work
