Our second year illustration students have recently lead workshop’s with Barnard Grove Primary School at Hartlepool Art Gallery. A group of students Lauren Hubbert, Bennett Wilson-Wardle, Alex Emma Kelly and Josie Gillett created the sessions together, speaking of it Bennet said “The workshop started when most of the group had a pottery session, the owner of the space works at the primary school and asked if we would be interested in working with the school. Another member of the group, Lauren, suggested a collage workshop, in which the children would create animals and characters. We all attempted our own and ran a test session during an applicant’s day.”Josie said, “When we were coming up with ideas for the workshop we wanted to make it something that was a simple concept but that would really let the students get creative. We also wanted them to be able to get a taster into the sort of technology we have access to at the school.”

Speaking of the experience Bennet commented; “I enjoyed working with the school, I was originally worried about holding the children’s attention for two hours and whether they would enjoy the workshop, but in the end they all seemed to enjoy it and even tidied up after themselves.”

Josie continued, “We were all very nervous while we were setting up before the students got to the art gallery but when they arrived it was really lovely to work with them. It was great to get to teach them about how to use the tablets and computers and see the awesome work they made. I also loved seeing the creative ways they used the papers we made and how they interpreted different patterns into their animals. They were all a joy to work with and I hope we can do more workshops in the future!”

The feedback from the school has been extremely positive, primary school student Isabella said “It was really fun working with the laptops with the two screens. I really liked using the pens straight on the screen. “The man (Bennet) was really helpful on the computers.”

Students really enjoyed the digital aspects of the work shop, fellow primary student Emily commented “It was really cool how we got to go on the tablets and got shown how to use the drawing program.” The experience allowed young students to learn new skills student Hope said “I’ve never made art that way before. I’m really proud my art work. It was really interesting seeing everyone’s art.”

School staff member Mrs Naomi Tones commented that the workshop was “A worthwhile, real-life, contextual art experience, in a lovely setting with teachers who were obviously passionate about sharing their skills. Our children had opportunities school couldn’t provide with tangible results. Wow!”

Art Lead Dawn Rigg fed-back that it was a “wonderful experience” and that learners “were fully engaged from start to finish. The whole session was well organised, well presented and well run. A really professional job from illustration students. They were all fab and engaged really well with our budding artists. Truly inspiring! A wonderful learning experience.”

The experience also informed our students studies, allowed them to get a taste for teaching and helped build relationships with Hartlepool Gallery. Student Josie reflected; “I think this was really beneficial for our studies as we got to have more experience working with children but also it was very nice to get to do a workshop we set up ourselves. It was also just genuinely lovely to get to share some of my love for art with art loving children. They are our future artists and I’m excited to see what they do in the future.

It was great getting to work with the art gallery again after the Christmas light switch on where our work was projected onto it. The children had time before the workshop to explore and have a look round the current exhibition, and some were very excited to hear that the work exhibited included some NSOA students work. The gallery staff were a joy to work with and so helpful when we were setting up on the day.”

Our BA (Hons) Illustration for Commercial Application degree at our Hartlepool Campus is centred towards students gaining real experiences to inform their career progression, make sure you check out our course details here.