nities since 1997.
The Village Art Show Artists
Six artists have been working in six rural primary schools in the Lancaster District for a period of 6 days to develop a celebration of their special relationships to environment, produce, creativity and rural living – developing a stronger knowledge of contemporary visual art through the work of Green Close Studios, and of the special unique environment which makes up the Forest of Bowland AONB. A collective ‘spring harvest’ event will be held to profile the creativity of the young people and the rural schools of the district.
Artist: Hilli Mc Manus
School: Melling Saint Wilfrid’s C of E Primary School
Artist Hilli McManus works as a theatre designer and has been working with juniors and infants looking at the concept of the ‘Giant Onion”– exploring patterns and textures of the onion family and creating collages with coloured tissues and withies. The children will be creating a prize onion for display at the village show, which will have a Trojan horse type of element – it is hoped to link the creation of the onion to a choreographed performance of spring onions and music.
Artist: Sue Flowers
School: Arkholme C of E Primary School
Environmental artist Sue Flowers has been working with juniors exploring our global relationship with the environment and our connectivity to produce and food. Working with local and global produce the children are creating a series of temporary and more permanent sculptural Mandalas, which will be re-created and digitally projected at the show. Older juniors are creating fantasy fruits and vegetables, which will house their own environments and play with a sense of scale inspired by the concept of a miniature garden on a plate.
Artist: Mike Hares
School: Leck Saint Peter’s C of E Primary School & Hornby Saint Margaret’s C of E Primary School
Puppeteer Mike Hares is working with juniors from both schools working with the concept of the village “Pet Show”. Juniors are creating their own pet / animal puppets and will work towards two short productions of their own crafting, to be held at the village art show.
Artist: Pete Flowers
School: Leck Saint Peter’s C of E Primary School & Hornby Saint Margaret’s C of E Primary School
Fine Artist/painter- Pete Flowers is looking at the development of 20th Century Art through Flower painting. Working with infants from both schools and juniors from Hornby, he will be introducing them to a range of processes and mediums in painting, drawing and collage inspired by flowers and plants, creating a range of small and large scale wall paintings including watercolours and mixed media canvases.
Artist: Anna Read
School: Caton Saint Paul’s C of E Primary School
Community artist Anna Read worked with juniors from Caton St Paul’s’ primary school exploring the inspiration of apples to create drawings and collages, leading to the creation of large-scale textile bunting and apple sticks.
The tastes, colours and textures of many differing varieties of apples led to the creation of the work. What colour is sour? How do you visually describe the taste and texture of an apple? Apple sticks were created for a unique apple each child had tasted – telling a story of the delights of being (and eating) an apple!
Artist: Kate Wirtz
School: Wray Endowed Primary School
Mixed-media artist Kate Wirtz will be working with infants and juniors to create work for the vegetable category. Children will create mixed medium collaged objects and sculptures with a story. Part of the artwork will be making 3 dimensional work made out of symbolic objects representing vegetables, themselves as individuals and their local community. The final sculptures made from recycled and collected artefacts will be on display at the Village Show event
Performance related workshops are being planned for rural schools to be run by Dhamak & Ludus Dance
Dhamak
Dhamak is a project based in East Lancashire which brings together musical talent from South Asia and western dance music styles; its workshops are a chance to combine and be influenced by music forms such as Punjabi folk songs, Keerwa beats, Hiphop and Drum'n'Bass. The sessions give an opportunity to discover new sounds and beats, making music with instruments such as dhol, tabla, dholak and harmoniums as well as keyboards, samplers, decks and vocals. Plus a chance to be involved in range of music making involving rhythm, songwriting, singing, improvisation and technology.
Ludus Dance
Ludus Dance Based in Lancaster for over thirty years, Ludus Dance is Britain’s Leading Dance in Education Company and has been working closely with Green Close Studios for the last 6 years. Ludus will be offering a series of workshops to profile schools dance performances in response to the visual artwork created for the village art show. The Ludus Touring Company creates and tours contemporary dance-based performances and workshops specifically designed to explore themes and issues relevant to young people, and the Ludus Dance Development Department offers a comprehensive range of community dance activities for people of all ages, abilities, cultures and backgrounds, both locally and across the County of Lancashire.
The Village Art Show:
Will take on the form of an old-fashioned village show but will in fact be a contemporary art installation, and exhibition/event.
This will be held at Melling Institute and various venues in Melling on Saturday 14th March 2009 from 11am – 4pm Children free Admission £1.
Profile exhibition at the Platform Gallery Clitheroe in June 2009.
