Chalfonts 1st Visit

Intro talk with Year 12 students from Chalfonts Community College

Last month, my final intro school visit was to Chalfonts Community College, where I met with year groups 10-13. Chalfonts runs a GCSE Digital Art course along side the traditional art and design and graphics courses. It will be interesting to see how all these students relate to the virtual residency project.

My afternoon began with an introduction talk with year 12, about my work and use of processes. This incorporated student and staff questions. On discussions of light activated work, (fabric imagery I back light and photograph), one student inquired about using photo sensitive paper to make abstract marks onto, literally, drawing with light, which was a highly relevant connection to make between my own process and that of the student's. I look froward to seeing those experiments.

I also met with year 10 and a group of year 13s soon to be deciding on art college applications. It was encouraging to see the number of students thinking about taking art into higher education.

Activities carried on after school, with an open to all art group. The session on this day was to try out some experimental digital photography. I demonstrated some light installation ideas with which to take photographs and offered a selection of fabric, plastic and lights. I encouraged students to prepare their surfaces (to be used as filters) before taking photographs, for example, cutting into acetate sheets, painting onto plastic folders and melting wax onto fabric. These surfaces would then be placed with objects and further layers to be photographed with back lighting. By preparing surfaces by hand to as a first step, students will beable sure of achieving unique and personal imagery, not to mention extraordinary results. It was a very inclusive activity, with staff and students experimenting together in creating the imagery.

Some images of the session: