Alumwell Business and Enterprise College, Walsall 2009 – 2011

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau

To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.
George Kneller

What is a face, really? Its own photo? Its make-up? Or is it a face as painted by such or such painter? That which is in front? Inside? Behind? And the rest? Doesn’t everyone look at himself in his own particular way? Deformations simply do not exist.
Pablo Picasso

The VideoWall Project (working title)
VideoWall is a presentation of 9 constantly changing video and audio portraits displayed in a public space within Alumwell. The VideoWall presentation is the end-point of a creative process whereby participants are invited to sit in front of a video camera in a formal studio setting. They are facilitated to discuss their thoughts and experiences, or simply allow the recording of a video portrait. The overarching aim of the project is to positively celebrate and reflect back the participating pupils in a highly contemporary and dynamic medium.

The school has now commissioned a permanent installation of the VideoWall near the main entrance.  I am currently training key staff, led by Ed Rowberry, and a pupil documentation team to develop and realise the project over the next 12 months. This involves developing the themes of VideoWall across the school, professional use of studio equipment (lighting, camera, sound), advanced interview skills, post-audio and video production, and playback/feedback sessions with the participants.

The aims of the VideoWall
• To create a positive, powerful and potentially moving composite image of the participants that is shown in a highly visible place within the school.

• To help improve the self-confidence, communication skills and the self-image of the participants.

• To celebrate the diversity and shared qualities of the participants – everyone is different but also has much in common.

• To invite the audience to encounter the ‘image’ of the participants in ways that may challenge former perceptions and experiences of the individuals.

• To create a dynamic record of a range of pupils across the school.

• To provide the school with a focal point through which to explore and share a wide range of contemporary themes and topics.

What it is technically
The VideoWall is an audio-visual projection run from a computer. On the computer a specially commissioned ‘player’ made using MAX MSP and Jitter that randomly chooses 9 pre-edited videos from a large pool of clips (of any maximum number). When each video has been played it is replaced by another clip and so on – the piece has no start or end point and will play continuously as a random sequence. The program allows for certain play-back variables to be altered such as how many images actually play a certain time, the fade-time between each clip, and gaps between each clip.
The player was built by artist/programmer Bob Bird and myself over a period of 12 months.

You can see a screen-recording of the trail version of this project within the school in 2009 below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This project has been funded by Creative Partnerships. Thanks to Noel Dunne who has been key in advancing this project within Alumwell Buisness and Enterprise College.

Page last updated September 2010

images: Andy Pugh  / Andie Kempson  / Julie Cliffe and were produced as part of  the Telford Re-imagined Project

Towers Above is a Telford-based community arts project that engages with mental health service users to encourage creative expression and contribute to their well-being. Set up in 2007 by the director Sharon Walford, the project offers service users the chance to work with professional artists exploring a range of creative tools and deepen their understanding of contemporary art practice. Many of the participants are themselves now going to college to further develop their own art practice. You can visit the Towers Above website here.

I was appointed to work with Sharon in the capacity of artist mentor, supporting the project’s development and help achieve it aims. I was also commissioned to prepare two evaluation papers of the project that documented its development, consider the impact it had upon the participants, and set out some recommendations for the future.

You can download both reports here: Evaluation 1 May 2008 / Evaluation 2 June 2009

In 2010 Towers Above show-cased their installation of the participatory project Onwards and Upwards. I was commissioned to make a short film about the project and presentation in Telford Central Shopping Centre in August 2010.  You can see the film below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A short film commissioned by ABCD (All Saints and Blakenhall Community Development) in Wolverhampton. It reflects some of the many groups that have been supported by the Community Chest Scheme. It combines a sequence of simple portraits of the area and each of the featured groups with the voice-over interviews that share how the Community Chest scheme was able to make an impact in a wide range of ways.

Produced by Geoff Broadway and Brendan Jackson as part of Laundry.

Click here to view the embedded video.

St Edmunds Catholic School, Wolverhampton September 2009

Aspirational Futures is a collaborative project developed by Performing Arts Teacher Sarah Cole, artist Vicki Stinchcombe and myself to create a celebratory event around inspiration, ambition and the future. We wanted to develop a project that would have an impact across the school and create a memorable event that everyone could get involved in.

Our first step was to create an online film that combined a range of thought-provoking quotes, powerful imagery sourced from the internet and a strong supporting sound-track by the Malian-born artist Rokia Traoréto. We used this to help stimulate pupils to reflect upon their lives and consider what dreams and hopes they may have for the future. You can see the film below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Following on from this we worked with the staff and pupils to design the mass balloon launch. Everyone would design their own label with a personal message that captured the wishes and dreams of the staff and pupils.On the 25th of September we spent 4 hours blowing up over 1000 balloons ready for the celebratory launch in the afternoon.Following an inspirtional speech by headteacher Deirdre Finucane we played Fanfare for the Common Man composed by Aaron Copland over a high-power address system to accompany the launch. You can see images of this amazing event below.

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Portrait of a Nation’s finale in Liverpool 1st-2nd December 2008

The Portrait of a Nation finale was the culmination of a two-year journey which challenged more than 3,000 young people from 17 cities across the UK to explore who they are, where they come from and their hopes for the future as young British adults. It was organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Liverpool Culture Company, as part of the European City of Culture celebrations.

Conversation, debate and creative exchange has underpinned the year long programme of Portrait of a Nation projects in 17 UK cities. Over 3000 young people have engaged in explorations of roots, heritage, identity and culture themes through more than 50 individual projects representing a wide range of creative processes and artistic engagement practise. These projects have resulted in performances, films, soundscapes, music, creative writing, banners, visual and street art and giant processional puppets.

Over 3 days in December over 300 young people from across the UK converged in Liverpool to meet, showcase their projects, and celebrate their many achievements. The historic St Georges Hall in the heart of Liverpool was transformed into a vibrant hub of activity as young people from the 17 cities shared their many projects to participants and members of the public. You can read more about Portrait of a Nation here.

I worked with Creative Director Orit Azaz and the Liverpool Culture Company to devise and deliver 10 simultaneously run creative workshops that would dynamically explore the themes, questions and issues raised by young people over the course of the 2 year initiative. Facilitated by a diverse range of artists and practitioners the workshops used

very different art forms that including drama, poetry, documentary, and comedy, to explore ideas and perspectives in imaginative and challenging ways. The Creative Convesation took place during the 2nd day of the finale in St Georges Hall, Liverpool.

In the Autumn of 2007 I worked with eight residents of Inverness Prison on a series of creative projects. Focusing upon abstract expression and photo montage, the group produced 25 pieces that were exhibited at Old High Church Hall, Inverness in November 2007.

Using simple methods that included paper-cutting, collage and line-drawing, I invited participants to reflect upon the most important aspects of their own lives and try to express these visually.

The diverse images developed out of an intensive period of six sessions that encourage expression of deeper aspects of life through more abstract forms of expression.The playful and vibrant artwork reflects their willingness and enthusiasm to engage in a challenging and ultimately enjoyable process.

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01 March – 30 June 2007

At the end of February 2007, a group from Kingsland Primary visited the Richard Deacon exhibition at Ikon Gallery. They spent a day with artists Geoff Broadway and Jo Russell Lacy, exploring Deacon’s drawings and sculptures at Ikon before returning to school to continue the project.

Over the following 6 weeks, the pupils worked with Geoff and Jo, experimenting with different creative techniques, quickly producing drawings, prints, sculptures, models and collages. Each week, the aim was to experiment rather than to ‘finish’ or ‘complete’ a piece of work and in this way, pupils developed a real understanding of the way in which Deacon plays with materials and ideas. The project finished with a walk during which the pupils collected objects that interested them, something that Deacon himself often does.

Following their time in school, Geoff and Jo used the pupils’ explorations as the catalyst for new works. Geoff encased prints made by the pupils in resin, referencing Deacon’s brightly coloured resin bricks, set into the pavement outside Ikon. Jo used some of the plants collected by the pupils on their walk to produce her own prints, creating an embossed, textured surface.

This project was funded by Birmingham City Council’s Art Education Award scheme and kindly supported by the Erdington Town Centre Partnership.

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MyGrations was a year-long programme supported by SAMPAD and Creative Partnerships and linked a range of participating schools to involve both students and their families in an exploration of memories, origins and backgrounds.

I worked with Mayfield Special School in Handsworth, Birmingham. We started by using photography to explore self-portraiture, and then moved on to documenting home and family life using disposable cameras. After creating a celebratory slideshow that we set to music we decided that we wanted to make some kind of exhibition using the photographs we had made. We printed 40 photographs onto A3 fabric and then constructed light-shades out of the material with the aim of making the installation that can be seen in the images below.

The larger Mygrations project culminated in an event at the Drum in July 2006, and featured exhibitions of photographs, film, live performance, light installations and spoken word, that were created other workshops led by Basil Gabbidon, Jag Kumar, Ashok Mistry, Katrice Horseley, Dilwara Begum and Pritpal Rai, with additional input from Moving Hands Theatre.

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