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Playing with Fire Teacher’s Pack 5 September – 31 October 09
Playing with Fire
Teacher’s Pack
5 September – 31 October 09
BILSTON CRAFT GALLERY – GENERAL INFORMATION
Craftsense Craftsense is Bilston Craft Gallery's permanent exhibition displaying the best of our craft and decorative art collections. Pupils can explore three hundred years of craft history together with works from some leading figures of the contemporary craft scene. Pupils will be stimulated by handling materials relating to exhibits and exploring various information stations. An introductory talk to Craftsense is available on request and a Craftsense teacher’s resource book for ideas to use in the exhibition as well as back in school can be obtained from the gallery shop. A DVD, Raw to Refined, of three makers can be purchased to support work back in school. Craftplay Craftplay is a creative play project with a specially designed activity space. All the sessions held here encourage child centred learning through discovery and creativity and respond to the exhibitions. Sessions can be for children in nursery and reception classes. Craft Interpreter A Craft Interpreter is available on Wednesdays to help you get the most from your visit – please ring and book if you would like the Craft Interpreter to lead a session in the gallery for you. Schools are charged £1 per pupil for this bespoke service – schools signed up for a Service Level Agreement will get this service as part of their package. On other days introductory talks by gallery staff are available with prior notice. Craft Workshop Room Schools can use this room for teacher-led activities. The room is equipped with pencils, erasers, rulers, crayons, scissors, paper and other craft equipment, and we can also provide clipboards for drawing in the galleries. Garden There is a large garden to the rear of the gallery, which is a suitable space for children to eat their lunch in good weather. Facilities We have male, female and disabled toilets, and there is a lift for disabled access to the first floor and craft workshop room. Gallery Shop The gallery sells craftwork by practising makers at a range of prices. There are also pocket money items for sale in our gift shop. We sell tea, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits. Coach Parking We do not have on site parking for coaches but there is space in the road directly opposite the gallery, and there are various free car parks in Bilston. Opening Hours Sunday and Monday: Closed Tuesday and Thursday: 10:00 am- 4 pm Wednesday: 10:00 am –7 pm Friday: 10:00 am-1 pm Saturday: 11:00 am – 4 pm
Playing with Fire
5 September – 31 October 2009
CONTEXT
Playing with Fire is a fantastic opportunity to introduce school groups and students to
the wealth of existing enamelling talent in the UK. The exhibitors are a mixture of
established and emerging makers, working in traditional and contemporary applications
at the cutting edge of their fields.
Enamel is ground coloured glass which is fired, in a kiln, on to a base of gold, silver,
copper, steel, stainless steel, or aluminium. A wide range of enamelling materials and
techniques is represented in the exhibition. Enamel has been used to make intricate
objects of great value as well as items for the home, advertising and street signage.
Bilston has long been associated with enamelling as a craft and an industry. It became a
production hub for snuff boxes, trinket boxes, patch boxes and pocket watches. During
the eighteenth century there were many craft workshops in Bilston which were often
family-run businesses. The heyday for Bilston enamels was 1760-1790 when fashions
changed and the industry began to decline.
Come along and enjoy the wealth of enamelling expertise and styles, allowing your
group to see how local people gained an international reputation for their craft in the
Craftsense exhibition. They can then be astounded at the breadth of work and the
imagination of the current makers on display in Playing with Fire.
ARTISTS
Selection for inclusion in the exhibition was through open submission and the judges
chose fifteen artists who they felt had taken their work into new territories. They
wanted the exhibition to excite, inform and familiarise visitors with the craft of
enamelling.
Kathryn Adamson
Stephen Bottomley www.seb-goldsmith.com/index.html
Helen Carnac http://helencarnac.wordpress.com/
Tamar de Vries Winter http://www.enamellers.org/winter.html also
http://www.whoswhoingoldandsilver.com/search/portfolio.asp?did=118
Beate Gegenwart
Grace Girvan
Rachel Gogerly http://www.rachelgogerly.co.uk/
John Grayson http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=7208
Joan MacKarell http://www.enamellers.org/mackarell.html also
http://www.whoswhoingoldandsilver.com/search/portfolio.asp?did=57
Jilly Morris http://www.jillymorris.co.uk/
Zsuzsi Morrison website coming soon: http://www.zsuzsimorrison.com/ also
http://www.brookgallery.co.uk/artist.php?arid=151
Liana Pattihis http://www.pattihis.com/
Kimberley Scott
Ed Silverton http://www.edsilverton.com/
Jessica Turrell http://www.caa.org.uk/exhibitions/exhibition-
archive/2009/inner-voice/jessica-turrell.html
Also worth exploring is www.enamellers.org, the website of the British Society of
Enamellers. It aims to support and encourage good practice in contemporary enamelling.
Its ethos is to promote original design in conjunction with a technical competence in the
qualities unique to enamel.
The Craft Gallery has a set of supporting notes written by the Devon Guild of Craftsmen
which talks briefly of some of the history of enamelling and how each artist has worked.
If you visit with a group the craft interpreter or staff at the Gallery can supply a copy for
you. In addition, the exhibition catalogue available from the Gallery has images, a
glossary and detailed artists’ statements for £3.50.
TOPICS TO EXPLORE
Teachers and group leaders can build the visit into a creative project based around:
Design Technology: metal; containers.
Art and design: artists’ working practices; development of ideas; working to a
brief; building skills in critical analysis of contemporary craft, and personal
responses.
Use a visit to Playing with Fire to experience the artists’ use of the following methods
and materials:
Digital scanning, computer generated design
Lazertran and transfer printing
Sgraffito
Automata, pop-ups
Making connections between past and present
Using nature and the environment as inspiration.
KS1 & 2
The exhibition supports:
Art QCA Unit 5B Containers – use the exhibition to explore examples of containers
by contemporary makers. Explore and record the different forms of the
containers, from John Grayson’s lidded containers that hark back to the famous
Bilston enamels from the 18th century to Tamar De Vries Winter’s simple cup
shapes. Research methods of adding surface pattern and texture (stencilling,
sgraffito, and engraving). See how makers have simplified natural forms: Kathryn
Adamson’s Flower Garden and Ed Silverton’s Squiggle Tree are both excellent
examples of this.
In addition, use the exhibition to support the following generic skills and research:
Collecting visual and other information to inform and develop pupils’ own ideas
Investigate different materials, methods and techniques used by the makers
Develop personal responses to exhibits in galleries: what they think and feel
about the pieces; improving speaking and listening skills; widening vocabulary
Identify the qualities of form and the materials and methods used.
KS3 & GCSE and beyond
Art QCA Unit 8C Shared view – Explore how the makers have used different
materials to convey meaning: the translucent qualities of enamel that can
replicate the delicacy of flowers (Kathryn Adamson); laser cut-out shapes creating
shadows behind enamelled work (Beate Gegenwart, Jessica Turrell); the remains
of vegetation left over time in layers, recreated in the form of beads, using
various colours and textures (Joan MacKarell). Record how makers have
abstracted and simplified shapes from nature.
Art QCA Unit 9B Change your style – Playing with Fire is an ideal way to support
research for the pupils looking at contemporary designer-makers. Research and
note how makers have taken ideas from the works of others and synthesised them
into new creative forms. Discover various forms of body adornment.
Art QCA Unit 9C Personal places, public spaces – the exhibition has examples of
murals. Beate Gegenwart’s work consists of “large sets of inter-related panels,
which explore the multi-layered aspects of locality, geography, borders, place,
space and language from a cross-cultural perspective.” Kimberley Scott has taken
her interest in the urban environment and everyday occurrences to create a set of
sixty tiles, each providing a snapshot of her locality. Ask the Craft Interpreter to
assist the students in collecting multimodal research, ideas and information, for a
presentation to others in school or the Gallery.
In addition, use the exhibition to support the following:
Seeing how new technologies have been used e.g. for producing the pieces by
Stephen Bottomley.
Work from first-hand observation. Students add to the evidence of their research
into the materials and techniques used by designer makers, building their
vocabulary and visual awareness.
Improve the students’ ability to analyse and question critically, encouraging them
to express opinions and make reasoned judgements about the objects on display.
Realise the importance of craft by developing an appreciation for the work at the
Gallery.
IDEAS FOR TEACHER-LED ACTIVITIES AT THE GALLERY (all ages)
Justifying your choice: give the pupils a set period of time for them to work in
small groups. As individuals they should research their favourite work. At the end
of this time they explain their choice to the rest of the group as if they are on
television. They will need to consider their emotional or personal response, an
analysis of the object and what the object is about. There is a worksheet to
support this activity at the end of the pack.
Nature: Firstly look at the work by Ed Silverton in the exhibition. For the
exhibition he worked in bold colours and created cut-outs that were wall hung as
well as free-standing. Take pupils to observe flowers, leaves or trees in the
garden at the Gallery. They can then create simplified drawings that they transfer
to coloured card and cut-out. To make them stand make sure they leave a tab on
the base of the plant to fold back and then arrange into landscapes.
Mark making: fold a sheet of A4 paper in half four times. This will create 16
squares. In each square pupils record a different textural effect made from a
repeated shape or pattern. Ask them to try and make each section of their paper
have only one type of mark in it. Look at the objects in the exhibition and see
what different marks they can see. A good starting point might be the cups by De
Vries Winter or the panels by Beate Gegenwart. Keep this record of different
marks as a reference for work in school.
Past and present enamelling: draw comparisons of the modern enamelled objects
shown below to the Georgian enamels in Craftsense. The staff at Gallery have
laminated versions of these photos to show to pupils.
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/metalware/chromo.htm
Questions to put to small groups:
What would be the opposite of this work? Describe what it could be made of,
what it could show (or what surface texture could there be) and what size or
colour it could be?
What’s like this – what’s different?: Pupils have an image given to them and
they have to find a work that has similarities to their picture and another work
that has differences. They should try to think of more than one reason for
their choices. (See the end of the pack for some ideas for pictures to print off)
PROJECTS TO DO BACK AT SCHOOL (all ages)
Lazertran- Design a pattern, make marks or create a collage of found pattern.
Print this image on to Lazertran and apply this to a chosen surface (glass, glazed
ceramic or metal).
Mark making: after seeing the way that Kimberley Scott has collected together a
set of images of the urban environment, pupils work on their own image looking
at their locality (school, home, ground cover). Develop this research into images
on scraper board and display the completed images together.
Make records of natural formations like bark, rock, or cloud patterns. Simplify the
images to work with as sgraffito. Pupils work on card or heavy cartridge paper.
Thickly apply wax crayon to completely cover the support. Apply coloured ink,
one colour or many colours in different areas, over the wax crayon. You can apply
opposite colours of ink to wax crayon or the same colour family ink over crayon-
experiment with the different effects. Leave to dry completely and then scratch
away the surface to create patterns and different marks (use darning needles,
nails, knitting needles or scraper board tools). Pupils can use the marks
researched and recorded at the gallery to inform their work. More coloured ink
can be applied over the scratched patterns. As a stimulus for the pupils’ work,
look at the work of Rachel Gogerly to be inspired to create fine, intricate
patterns or Tamar De Vries Winter for bolder, looser patterns.
Collect pebbles or stones. Record their colours and patterns using chalk pastels.
Decide which ones have been worn away by water in the sea or river. Recreate
them in clay and cut in half to display as a bas-relief panel. Paint on the subtle
colouring and patterns observed on the found objects.
Pop-ups – after examining the boxes of John Grayson, pupils make their own
versions as lift-the-flap pictures. Download images from the Collections section of
the Wolverhampton Arts + Museum website:
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/locally_ma
de/english_enamels . The pupils choose an image to work with, print and cut it
out. Use this as the flap and then design an appropriate image to go underneath.
The apple enamel could lift to show the interior of an apple, the lion could be
roaring, or the guillotine could show a decapitated head!
Embossing into metal – use thick copper foil sheets available in packs from craft
suppliers and indent with biros or embossing tools to work in the style of Beate
Gegenwart.
Look at work by Jilly Morris to be inspired to create collages using multiple
materials e.g. wire, thread, wood, or stone. Look for contrast of textures, form
and apply pattern in a very subtle way. Jilly’s work is related to the
documentation of memories and incidents. What is the best memory each pupil
has that could be documented in this way?
Collect ideas by sketching the decorative patterns on the Georgian period Bilston
enamels found in the Craftsense exhibition. Transfer these to squared paper and
create a modern version that can be used as a stencil, or as a digital design to be
applied to art work or a ready made object. See Stephen Bottomley’s work to be
inspired.
VOCABULARY
Enamel – Vitreous enamel is a clear or coloured glass that is bonded by fusion with
heat to a metal surface. The process of bonding the glass to the metal by fusing is
called enamelling. The finished product is called enamel and is a permanent finish
that will not fade.
Engraving – incising or cutting marks into a hard surface.
Etching – areas are left exposed in an acid-resistant surface on metal, the metal is
dipped in an acid bath, allowing the acid to eat away the exposed metal making
recesses in the surface.
Fuse – to liquefy or re-melt the enamel by heat. To bond the glass and melt with
heat.
Sgraffito – scratching away or cutting into a surface, exposing the surface beneath
Stencilling – a cut image used as a template to create a repeated image. Areas
are removed from the template that allow pigment or other material to be
applied through the removed section/s.
Please contact the Gallery to book a visit:
Bilston Craft Gallery
Mount Pleasant
Bilston
Wolverhampton
WV14 7LU
Tel: 01902 552507
Fax: 01902 552504
Name ……………………………………. Justifying your choice Look carefully at your chosen object
Draw it here:
Next tell your audience about what you feel about the work:
Why did you choose it?
What were your first reactions to the work?
What does it remind you of?
Have you seen anything else like it?
Do you have anything like it at your home, or someone else’s home?
Then tell your audience about the object itself:
Colour
Shape
Surface and texture
The materials used
The processes used to make it.
Finally tell your audience:
What the object is about; does it have a purpose?
Is it for decorative purposes?
Was it made for a specific reason?
Does the title of the work mean anything?
Make notes to remind you of your ideas on the back of this sheet
Images for the ‘What’s like this – what’s different?’ activity
