With a glue gun in hand, talented Lower Sixth artists at St Edward's Senior and Sixth Form, intricately designed and built skeletal structures using only driftwood which, stick by stick, slowly came to life. Over the course of an hour, their creations swiftly took form; by using driftwood, students have to utilise the uniqueness of every stick, learning how to see beyond its shape and recognise its potential to become a rib cage, or a shoulder, or even a toe.
The sound of wood being snapped and cut into place filled the studio as students used their imagination and demonstrated their passion for art. As the construction took place, many considerations were made as to the bigger picture of their work, all painstakingly ensuring each part of the sculpture was anatomically accurate and also fit in with their overall design.
Director of Art, Mrs Haywood, said, "Creating these sculptures is a fantastic way for our students to explore physical art, as they experiment with multiple materials and are required to consider shape and scale. We hope to put the finished pieces on display in order to inspire younger artists lower down the school."
The aim for this, was not only to encourage several skills in seeing how something small and insignificant, but will also become a canvass for later works. Over the next coming weeks, students will further refine their artistic skills by taking photos of their designs and then making tonal drawings of their work. The idea is to show how place, scale and position can have an overwhelming impact on the viewer and change the mood of a piece.
This was a great way to start the Spring Term, with many HPL values used, specifically “Linking”, which was used by all as they were required to use their previous knowledge of using multi-materials in their art work and their understanding of the human body from Science lessons.