Crafting with Coffee- Arts Award

Over the course of the last two terms, a selection of Art, Graphic Design and Photography students have been working alongside the Heart of Glass to obtain their Bronze Arts Award. As part of the activities they have engaged with, contributed to and been participants in a variety of arts experiences.  

Earlier this year, Arts Award students were incredibly lucky to work with an artist called Kate Hodgson who creates imaginative and creative zines that relate to a variety of topics and issues. Students learnt how to create ‘marbled’ paper which was very easy to do with the most effective results. Students were then able to use these in subsequent workshops with Kate to create their own zines which reflected something they were interested in or an aspect of their personality, or even an issue that was relevant to young people today.  

Additionally, we were also able to visit the Turner Prize and have a guided tour at the TATE Gallery in March which was both insightful and informative. This engagement with art as a viewer opened our students up to a range of possibilities in how to approach the practice of art and that some of the skills we teach in school can then be transformed and flipped to create something very unique, interactive and immersive. In school, we currently complete a project based on ‘Sweets and Treats’, and the Turner Prize winner, Veronica Ryan is also inspired by food in her work. This was a different take on the theme and students were intrigued as to how she had taken this theme in such a different direction.  

Finally, our students had to share an arts skill as part of their Arts Award. This culminated in a mini-exhibition of work and a ‘Crafting with Coffee’ morning that our Year 10 students put on together and invited their peers and staff members to enjoy a brew and get involved in some art activities. It was a highly successful morning, with lots of happy faces and a brilliant way to begin a Wednesday morning in a stress-free, calm and relaxed way. A thoroughly enjoyable experience, it was nice to see our students taking on the role of teacher and sharing their skills and interests with others.