A wonderful enriching St Ives Art trip basked in glorious sunshine

A wonderful enriching St Ives Art trip basked in glorious sunshine... 

Click here to view all the photographs from the trip

On Saturday 3^rd June, 19 pupils and 3 members of staff set off on a 4-day art adventure down to St Ives, to delve into the Cornwall’s connection to Modern Art, Culture, and rich history.  

After months of planning for all weather conditions, luck would have it that we had the forecast onside with blue skies, baking sun and not a cloud in sight. We travelled safely down split into two groups ready to immerse ourselves into Bernard Leach’s iconic potters’ studio and museum at The Leach Pottery. 

This was a fantastic opportunity to get pupils into the trip as we began with a brief history into Bernard Leach & Shoji Hamada who established the place in 1920, over a 100 years ago. The Leach educational team were inspirational and took us on a magical journey engaging pupils throughout, asking pupils to consider hypothetically what they would like to take home with them, leading to interesting discussion all round. Moving through the museum quarters, we engaged in the process of working with clay, from traditions such as, Japanese fathers create a store of clay for their children's future endeavours, along with an insight into exploring techniques from throwing, hand building and casting using clay. Back in the Workshop, the other half of the group rolled up their sleeves to build skills using drape moulds using local Stoneware clay from St Agnes. It was great to see our pupils actively personalising their work using slip and iron oxide to decorate their ceramic vessels.  

After all the travel and Leach pottery workshop, it was time for a delicious meal on the harbour front at the Tretho Lounge. As pupils enjoyed dining in small groups, after dinner, we headed down to the harbour beach for a highly competitive twilight game of rounders between Mr Cole vs Miss Russell which was the perfect way to finish the day off and a refreshing sea dip!    

On Sunday morning, we arose early for an active day traveling between the North and South coastline. We began at St Michael's Mount waiting for the tidal pathway to open as we began our trek towards the rocky island crowned by a medieval church and castle. This the jewel in Cornwall's crown we gave ample opportunity to immerse ourselves in the history, tales, and legends. 

After a spot of lunch on the island we made our way over to the exotic looking Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens. As we followed the trails meandering in and out of woodlands with plenty of opportunity to make first-hand recordings escaping the mid-afternoon sunshine. To round off the experience we were lucky to factor in a memorable 30 minute talk by the owner of the gardens, Dr. Neil Armstrong. We entered James Turrell’s, Skyspace,  an elliptical domed ‘Skyspace’ chamber designed as a space from which to view the sky. This provided the perfect setting, as Neil explained in more depth key, highlights from the collection, including Lisa Wright’s dancing figures evoking an Arcadian space. Whilst discussing the calming nature and wellbeing benefits, as adrenaline levels are estimated to drop by 40% moving through a woodland. It was fascinating as he shared his passion of plants, sculpture, and space with us. 

Our last stop was to head back to the St Ives Bay on the Atlantic North coastline. It was time for the beach, so the pupils’ hired wetsuits and boards and headed onto Porthmeor beach to relax in the waves at the end of the day. There was plenty of action as pupils invented their own fun as the waves were nothing to write home about. To round the day off Mrs Warren prepared and delivered a fantastic jewellery workshop on Porthmeor beach. The theme for the workshop explored Celtic spirals as a source of inspiration. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn new skills with the sound of the waves edging ever closer to the shoreline.  

Monday morning was a great chance to take stock and spend some time exploring the historic town of St Ives with a short walk to the Harbour Front for a sketch up. As we split off into two group we rotated between gallery tours at Tate St Ives including a major exhibition about the artists of the renowned Casablanca Art School. As our artists explored a distinct vision for modern life, driven by five teachers at the school in Morocco during the 1960-80s. As the vibrant abstract paintings, urban murals and rarely seen films gave a unique insight into a distant ‘New Wave’ urbanised culture.   

We also factored in time to visit Barbara Hepworth Garden and Museum. We were lucky enough to have a guided tour with a local historian, Alice. Pupils learnt all about the artist, her life and the many techniques and processes that she used. As we uncovered Hepworth’s art, life, and legacy, we explored key inspiration behind her work, from her move towards abstraction and her initial journey from Leeds College of Art during the 1920’s, to St Ives during the Second World War.  

Each group rotated between activities as the pupil’s visited artist, Rachael Kantaris, at Porthmeor Print Studios in St Ives, and learnt all about mono-printing. They took inspiration from the exhibitions and their personal themes to prepare their printing plates. Rachel gave an inspired introduction into renowned artists from the St Ives School such as Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham, Peter Lanyon, and Patrick Heron.   

On Tuesday, we took a moment to celebrate Emma’s Birthday, with all the stops pulled out and a Colin the Caterpillar cake to round off a bright and active start to the day. We made our way back up the A30 to The Eden Project. Our aim was to explore the interconnections between all living things, with an initial workshop ran by Jo, to engage our pupils with climate issues affecting us today. Followed by an activity designed for our pupils to connect with environmental initiatives implemented at Eden.  

To conclude, Hannah Hooks gave a warm and insightful talk on the power of art to connect us and work alongside nature. This year’s theme at Eden centres around ‘food security’ in relation to sparking more of a connection between growing and eating. The show ‘Acts of Gathering’, considers the nature in which community shapes the ways we grow, gather, share, and eat.  

Serge Attukwei Clottey’s, ‘Something in the world’, installation using recycled plastic fuel cans transformed into a free-flowing nomadic style tent was a great place to discuss more behind the works and share thoughts and views in relation to works on display. We were also drawn to  Infinity Blue 'breathing' sculpture, an interactive vortex cannon with smoke rings puffing out of the monumental ceramic form, a smash hit! 

A trip marked by glorious weather, and something for all our artists to help inspire their next stages as they move towards developing their own personal project themes. A huge congratulations goes to Archie for claiming the ‘Best on tour prize’. This was no easy decision as there were multiple pupils in contention. However, Archie was a delight from start to finish as his passion and supportive nature shone through. It was a joy taking Archie and Oscar through the St Michael's Mount hilltop castle through the armoury collections as they were very knowledgeable on all things concerning weapons and past battles. Whist Archie was able to take a step away from the group to focus on recording skills at Tremenheere sculpture gardens as he recorded Olivia Bax’s industrial abstract sculptire called, ‘Scoop’. We are very fortunate to have a group of talent and engaged artists as we look forward to working towards developing pupils' projects with an eye on next year’s summer exhibition!   

A huge thank you to all involved for making this wonderful experience full of memorable moments and inspiration. Enjoy browsing through our photographs and short film from the trip.  

George Cole - Art Teacher