The Sketchbook Project

The Blackpool School’s Sketchbook Project aims to get children recording and documenting;
1. Their life
2. Their surroundings
3. Things which have inspired and influenced them
4. Ideas for art projects

The sketchbook project is ideal for work in class to support projects, with after school clubs and to take home and work on as a family.

Each child has their own sketchbook to personalise. There is no list of content to include and no mark at the end of the project, it is an ongoing project for them to be responsible for.

Sketchbooks should be full of imagination, experimentation presented in a relaxed and individual style.

The school to provide each pupil taking part with a mini sketchbook (no bigger than A5) and the Grundy Art Gallery’s Education Officer will come into school and do a workshop on how to get started.


The aim is that every child gets their sketchbook celebrated in an exhibition organised by the Grundy Art Gallery, ideas for where and when to be discussed at a later date.


If you are interested in getting your class involved, we are looking to start this project in Oct 2010 with workshops in school. Please contact Kerry Hunt on 01253 478170 or kerry.hunt@blackpool.gov.uk to register your involvement and arrange dates and times for the workshops.

Classroom resource

The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester has put together a very nice resource which could assist creative writing and numeracy skills in a imaginative way. It is very pretty to look at too!

Classroom resource

Tate Artist Timeline is a brilliant class room resource.

The teachers at our last forum meeting had some great ideas of how to use it on the wall. Pin it up in the class room and add images underneath of particular artists they have researched, or their response to a work. It is also a really good prompt for teachers to use when deciding which artists to look at.

Next forum meeting

The next forum meeting will be on Tuesday the 25th  of May 2010 from 4pm-5pm at the Grundy Art Gallery.

We will discuss various things about the art curriculum and the opportunity to start a cross-school sketchbook project to be part of the Wordpool programme. Wordpool is Blackpool's annual literary festival and this will be it's fourth year.

If you can attend please let me know via email on kerry.hunt@blackpool.gov.uk

Shipwreck Project idea

Wreck of Sirene and Sea Wall 1892, photo from Grundy's collection

Below is some information on four shipwrecks in Blackpool, taken from this website: http://rmhh.co.uk/blackpool.html

1755

The Fylde Coast had its share of Shipwrecks in the old days, and being sparsely populated it was a common thing for the inhabitants to help themselves before the Coast Guards or Excise Officers could get to the wreck.

A ship named "The Travers" was wrecked on the coast, it had a cargo of Lace, and there was "Travers Lace" in homes all over the Fylde for years after.

1779

Owing to there being a bad summer and poor crops, food was scarce. During the autumn, a ship was wrecked on the Coast which, among other articles, was carrying a cargo of peas. This was raided and helped out the food supply and the wreck became known as "The Pea Soup Wreck".

1839

A ship called "The Crusader" was wrecked at South Shore, and a few Marton men were sent to Prison having been caught taking silk from the wreck.

1892

Wreck of "The Sirene" against the North Pier, the crew managed to climb onto the Pier to safety. (Pictured above).

Ideas for School Project

1. Ask the class to illustrate a shipwreck story with line drawings and then create a print, using a piece of shiny silver card and the shell of a biro. Scratch deep marks onto the card with the biro and then wash over the card with ink or watered down acrylic paint. Place a piece of white card over the silver card and press down (use a printing roller if possible). Peel off for the finished print.

This idea was inspired by Contemporary Artists - Daniel Arsham (image below)

2. Film or record the children re-enacting the shipwreck as if they were survivors or locals. Fill in the missing gaps in the stories, like where the ships were going, why it crashed, what happened to the survivors and how tasty the pea soup was. 

Magic Show - Exhibition

                    Colin Guillemet, ‘Untitled (anything but a rabbit)’, 2006, © the artist 2009

Magic Show

13.02.10 – 10.04.10

A Hayward Touring Exhibition from Southbank Centre

Magic Show is an art exhibition about illusion. It includes 24 international artists and features work by Christian Jankowski, Bruce Nauman, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Sinta Werner. This exhibition explores magic, illusion, manipulation, power over the mind and our belief systems using many different methods which often relate to science and maths.

Guided tour - Education Officer led tour of the exhibition. We will explore the artwork using the Magic Show activity guides. The group will be encouraged to work in pairs and have group discussions. The activity guides have an emphasis on investigating how and why these illusions work, whilst asking them to observe, describe, record, review and sketch.

Workshop - Key Stage 2, 3, 4, 5

This practical workshop is a creative response to Sinta Werner’s installation, using the evidence found whilst exploring the exhibition. In pairs they will design a proposal for an ‘illusion of space’ for the gallery; generating ideas, combining different components, talking about their ideas, discussing what to do next and communicating their creative problem solving through drawing.

Workshop  - Key Stage 1

The young people will be asked to create an alter ego character and then design a theatrical poster to advertise their character’s spectacular, magical event.

If you would like to book a tour and workshop, please contact Kerry Hunt, Education Officer on 01253 478170 or kerry.hunt@blackpool.gov.uk

Art Object about Blackpool

The next forum meeting will take place on Tuesday the 9th of March and will launch Blackpool, Inside Out, a new artwork created by Kate Eggleston-Wirtz as the 2009 artist in residence for the Blackpool Art Service’s Regeneration Arts Programme.

The object is now available on loan for FREE from the Grundy Art Gallery, as an educational resource exploring Blackpool’s heritage and discussing Blackpool’s future. The object has many layers, opening up to reveal several themes including; Blackpool Tower, Donkey rides, the Hotel Business, Trams, Tourism, Circus and plenty more. It is adorned with historical objects to handle and look at, getting everyone talking about Blackpool - past, present and future. Blackpool, Inside Out also comes with an Educational Pack with lots of infomation on the history of Blackpool and also suggestions for activities.

The launch will take place at the Grundy Art Gallery, Queen Street, Blackpool, FY1 1PX on Tuesday the 9th of March from 4pm. At 4.30pm, Kate will be giving a talk about the object and how to use it as an educational tool in class or with a group. If you would like to attend please RSVP to Kerry Hunt on 01253 478170 or kerry.hunt@blackpool.gov.uk