DAY TEN AT THE CORO...FINISHED WORK FROM CROFTLANDS

Here is the finished piece from Croftlands in all its colour and detail...cars roam the narrow lanes, children play in the school grounds, ordered streets and manicured gardens are revealed and the landscape teems with mystery and vigour.. a wonderful piece of work.

In addition, we have a sound piece, describing a sudden thunderstorm and it's effects on the local wildlife and pets   https://soundcloud.com/artspacegreenroom/croftlands-storm-1

and a series of drawings which will support the final piece...here , down the page , are just a  few to be going on with..

This was the last of our school sessions at the Coro..we started, continued and finished on a high note. We were able to canvas the group for opinions on the project and the process behind it , and their well-expressed and candid comments will help us to shape future events and inform the Coro's management on the way the venue can be used in the future.
Here are a few more details , taken by Fran on one her visits to the sessions..

Thank you to all the children and adults who have taken part and for your beautiful work..and for the atmosphere you've helped to create in the building... we'll see you all for the exhibitions..watch this space for dates

DAY NINE AT THE CORO ; CROFTLANDS KICK-OFF

Days like this remind us why we are in this business. We spent a full day with the Croftlands Artsquad, their teachers and our three commissioned artists, and watched an exceptional piece of work take shape.
We handed the reins of the project to the group, which includes boys and girls from across the schools year groups, and saw them work with great skill, imagination enthusiasm and care.  They brought their own materials and photographs to add to the mix, and, in groups of three and four, transformed the white spaces on the  board into highly evocative  representations of  Croftlands and the surrounding area .  
Let's look at some pictures..

We saw some superb model-making, including these sections of woodland..  some beautiful use of colour and surface, some delicate layering and placing of carefully selected shaped and prepared materials.

In the discussions with our artists the boys and girls  were able to discuss  ideas and the practicalities (expense, for example) of working in particular ways and in one case to share  and compare sketchbooks.  



The overall impression is one of a highly imaginative bunch of people, capable of blending a serious approach  to a job with  enthusiasm for a challenge and a willingness to experiment. Here's the piece at the end of the second session...wednesday is going to be very interesting indeed.

DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT AT THE CORO WITH SJB...AND A FINISHED PIECE!

We had two really nice days at the Coro this week with the SJB boys and girls. After a session of "fettling" and building up the railway line section of the piece we sat down with Fran and Pete to  catch up on their progress, listen to some of Pete's sounds and look at the work Fran has made using the SJB piece as her starting point. 

The Coro were hosting a memorial event in the Supper Room for a valued friend of the building, and we were happy to move into the Main Hall for the afternoon.  Andrew kindly set up a screen for us, and Alex showed a series of pictures of SJB school, which were a useful aid to the boys and girls who were working in the description of the school and its grounds.

  Lex and Fran  joined us on friday, the boys and girls had a close look at some of Lexi's Felt  pieces and we completed the work by adding a railway track, a train and a huge flock of birds that seem to hover over the landscape. Fran has photographed all the birds and will be working these images into another piece.

  There's been a lovely atmosphere to these two sessions. Thanks to the boys and girls, and  to Fran, Lex and Pete for their contributions and to the SJB staff too..it was great seeing everyone joining in and working together on friday, we hoped this project would be all about sharing ideas and experiences and today  we've seen exactly that.

Look out for more pics from the SJB sessions, meanwhile here's the finished piece of work...and below that, a picture from Frans' birds collection..

  

DAYS SEVEN AND EIGHT AT THE CORO WITH SJB...AND A FINISHED PIECE!

We had two really nice days at the Coro this week with the SJB boys and girls. After a session of "fettling" and building up the railway line section of the piece we sat down with Fran and Pete to  catch up on their progress, listen to some of Pete's sounds and look at the work Fran has made using the SJB piece as her starting point. 

The Coro were hosting a memorial event in the Supper Room for a valued friend of the building, and we were happy to move into the Main Hall for the afternoon.  Andrew kindly set up a screen for us, and Alex showed a series of pictures of SJB school, which were a useful aid to the boys and girls who were working in the description of the school and its grounds.

  Lex and Fran  joined us on friday, the boys and girls had a close look at some of Lexi's Felt  pieces and we completed the work by adding a railway track, a train and a huge flock of birds that seem to hover over the landscape. Fran has photographed all the birds and will be working these images into another piece.

  There's been a lovely atmosphere to these two sessions. Thanks to the boys and girls, and  to Fran, Lex and Pete for their contributions and to the SJB staff too..it was great seeing everyone joining in and working together on friday, we hoped this project would be all about sharing ideas and experiences and today  we've seen exactly that.

Look out for more pics from the SJB sessions, meanwhile here's the finished piece of work...and below that, a picture from Frans' birds collection..

  

OUT AND ABOUT WITH LEXI..

Lexi sent this today, an interesting encounter  on a research walk....

"I have been out and about sketching today for the Sir John Barrow piece, you meet some lovely Ulverston people on this project....Sketching the wooden house (known locally by the children as the ski lodge apparently), situated in the corner of Lightburn Park, the lady came out and found me almost in her drive...happily Val was lovely and invited me in to photograph the house from the back, she loved the idea of our project and was very keen to see our end results at the exhibition.  Turns out she is part of a group trying to get affordable housing for Ulverston and they are very keen to work with young people involving the architecture of these houses, and was wondering if this could be part of some future project working with the schools. ........ "

Yes, I know some people involved in this group, I'll follow this up..thanks Lexi and thanks Val.

ALKANET, FROM PHIL JOHNSON

This ferocious looking stuff is called Alkanet and it was supplied to us in large amounts by Phil Johnson, Ulverston musician and Allotment holder.  Lexi will be deriving red dye from it's hairy roots. 
I could have sworn I saw it move.

TEAM 'ANDED AT THE CORO

We've had all three Commissioned Artists at work in the Coro today, and a visit from Workshop Leader Alex in advance of wednesday session  with SJB, along with a nice bunch of visitors from and in and out of town.

I'm off to meet someone about some plant dyes in about an hour..and we've had a nice message of support from Ulverston Community Enterprises, a new social enterprise running local assets including the Coro.
So, plenty happening...here's some of Lexi's work in progress, and Pete gathering the sound of Ulverston Market Hall and playing back his recordings to our visitors...

 We'll be back tomorrow and wednesday morning..

THE SIR JOHN BARROW MONUMENT: GREENROOM INSTALLATION VENUE

We've been talking to Ulverston Council about suitable and interesting sites for installing and exhibiting Green Room work, and its been very good to meet Les Tallon , who along with Ken Barratt manages the Sir John Barrow Monument on Hoad, overlooking the town and Morecambe Bay.

 Hoad Keeper Les is one of a group of volunteers that maintain the building and provide a welcome to visitors and access to many local community groups. If you visit on sunday afternoon - weather permitting - Les will be the feller who greets you at the door.Les is happy for us to install Pete's sound piece in the tower, and as long as we can ensure safety and ease of access Its looking a distinct possibility. This would be great, as it would open up a much loved local building for our work and - hopefully- as a partner in future projects. 

If you dont know the Monument - and once you've seen it, you won't forget it - here's a quick tour, including a section drawing from Les' own documents.

PETE AT THE CORO, AND SOME WORK IN PROGRESS FROM FRAN

Nice to see Amy Stretch Parker at Pete's sesh at the Coro yesterday...Amy is running the Coro All event in august, where the work from Green Room will be on show.

John and Pete were nicely locked into rendering and logging audio and video , nicely fuelled by the Coro's buffet leftovers.

Meanwhile, Alex is looking at more pics from the Croftlands boys and girls, and  Fran is at work on her detourned phrenologists head.. an exercise in interior mapping....see below..

BOOK- BUILDING WITH FRAN AND FINLAY, AND A MEET-UP WITH SOME OLD FRIENDS

We are meeting some interesting people on this job. There was another event  called Green Room on in the Coro supper room, and we picked up a few accidental visitors. The event was organised for people working with local Autism groups, and it was good to see Dan Banks from Barrow 6FC and elsewhere, who I last saw while working on Co-Mmotion, a great project led by Furness branch of the National Autism Society, Musician Alan Fitzgerald and Dancer / Therapist Tids Pickard. 
More about that here:

 https://creatingacommotion.wordpress.com/

Fran's open sessions are going well, she's amassing a collection of exploratory objects, images and notes , some of which are here..

...including the Croftlands Litter collage (below left) which has been to sent to the school as a contribution to their research (..see yesterday's entry.) 

Among our visitors today to  was Finlay from SJB, who was very interested in the work his schoolfriends had made and  who produced this excellent multi-layered book (see below) with help from Fran. Look out for more pictures from this great piece of work when we get 'em.

So, a day of really enjoyable surprises, alongside the day-to- day  of running the project. 

It's been great being in the Coro so often lately. Today English Touring Opera were doing their get-in for Don Giovanni, and the U3A Italian group were in the building too..surely some crossover there..and we've had another steady flow of interested and interesting visitors from Ulverston and elsewhere..

"Amazing work to explore-spotting familiar places on the model, starting to make a book, 
brilliant video and background to the project-great vibe,"

" It's so important to be doing this work with children and the local environment - makes it full of meaning and texture.. Love it!"

LEXI AND FRAN MEET U3A, and A VISIT TO CROFTLANDS

A full and succesful day....Members of the University Of The Third Age Mixed Media Art Group were among the visitors to Fran and Lexi's open session at the Coro today. The group meets regularly at the Coro and comprises  a wide range of skills and approaches, so  there was a lot of interest in  the commissioned artist's work, and  in the wider project .  

Comments include.." Amazing explosion of creativity in this room! Enjoyed trying to pinpoint the places in the chldren's work + hearing about Fran and Lexi's processes + seeing
their beautiful interpretations of mapping.."

John and Alex then went to Croftlands to meet a hand-picked group of the schools' best artists and introduce them to the project.
 The boys and girls began work immediately, taking photos of details of the landscape around the school which will be fed into the mix of collage material at their sessions at the Coro. We asked them to look for colour, surface and texture...this is random sample of the  lovely images that came back.  A very good start, we think.

FRAN, LEXI AND VISITORS AT THE CORO.

 

Another successful open session at the Coro, this time with Lexi and Fran  who were both putting together ideas and preparing materials for their commissioned pieces. It was great to see a group of felters and textiles artists talking about their methods,  swapping ideas and contacts, and to be able to share work in progress such as Fran's books and her versions (below) of the maps made by our schools.This is exactly the kind of interaction we hoped would happen through this project.   Furthermore, we'll be sending this blog to a school in Reading via one of our visitors, and we had another school in Sheffield showing interest too. Thanks to all our visitors,  we'll be following up your suggestions and sending out more info.

WORK IN PROGRESS: LEXI

"....First stage of felting of the Church Walk School piece, no longer a 3D sculpture Hoad as I calculated I would probably need several flocks of sheep! It will be partly 3D when its finished though........."