Innovative art education programmes
19 May 2008 Spark Studio provides a learning environment in creative expression and visual arts for people with a wide range of disabilities. Operating from a quiet, peaceful centre in Fowlds Park, St Lukes, Auckland, it draws students from as far away as Waiheke Island and the North Shore.
Established as a charitable trust in 2000, Spark Studio is going from strength to strength as new, innovative art education programmes are developed, resourced and instigated.
The year 2007 began a very successful relationship with the Tertiary Education Commission as it funded a major project involving the creation of a Video Diary evaluation model and an in-depth art education class called Visual Art Focus Group.
The Video Diary
The Video Diary project involved recording the process and progress of individual students on video DVD to provide transparent documentation of their experiences as they learnt and developed their visual art-making capabilities.
Evaluating the learning and self-developmental progress of someone with a disability is complex and requires a non-conventional approach. The Video Diary also documented the collective learning processes of the group of students, and recorded the teaching methodologies, flow of content, styles of presentation and techniques employed – all valuable feedback for the teaching team.
Two modules made up the content of the Visual Arts Focus Group (VAFG): “I tell my Story” and “Self in Symbolic Environment”. The first module introduced the students to a wide range of drawing techniques and drawing media, art vocabulary, elements in art making and the use of the imagination, and the relation of emotion to expressive and evocative works.
Module two concentrated on painting, composition, colour and personal narration through imagery, symbols and layered construction – all related to painting. It was wonderful to see the difference in the student’s artwork, communication skills and their confidence as they enjoyed both group time in learning and sharing experiences followed by concentrated art-making.
Two new classes in 2008
The Tertiary Education Commission is again funding two exciting new programmes in 2008. While Spark Studio is continuing with the VAFG (due to popular demand!), it has also begun two new classes: Language Through Art and The Printed Image.
Language Through Art explores language and imagery within printmaking. Students are encouraged to express and interpret their experience through “written” (mark-making) and oral expression.
For Spark Studio students who cannot speak or write, this can be a revelationary process as they explore notions of language and learn to convey their ideas and emotions through the making of marks. Language through Art teaches many processes and mediums of art-making. The programme introduces students to mediums and modalities of paper-making; printmaking (mono-print, collagraphs, engraving and lithographs); script and typography (script as an art form, mark making as communication); language (self-expression in prose); relationship between script and imagery; and bookmaking (in the widest sense – ways to collate collection of printed works).
The Printed Image course concentrates on learning a variety of processes in printmaking. The technical aspects of printmaking involve considerable handling of materials and tools. For students with physical disabilities, this course is stimulating and challenging as they learn to manipulate the various materials and procedures. Caregivers accompany the high-needs students and become an active part of the session, supporting their clients in their art-making under the direction and assistance of tutors.
Drawing an important skill
The programme also includes elements of drawing in relation to print making: techniques and design components in composition, colour, pattern and texture. As printmaking fundamentally concerns the reproduction of images through mark-making and layered effect, drawing is an important skill.
In printmaking, the artist is able to control what results in the process to a certain degree: beyond that, there is an unpredictable element. The textures and patterns that spontaneously occur in the process of the plate being inked and printed are a delightful aspect. Students become intrigued by the “magical” appearance of marks, toning or layers of images that they did not necessarily plan.
The theme explores nature-based motif and cultural and personal motif. Students will research and learn about different cultural influences – and think about their personal sense of identity and how that translates to motif. This programme introduces students to mono-print, collagraphs, stenciling, marbling, stamping, engraving and lithographs.
Students' learning will culminate in a major work based on personal motif in printmaking. The results by the end of term one have been amazing and demonstrate the value of this more in-depth art education.
Spark Studio looks forward with great enthusiasm to creating exciting art work in the remainder of 2008.