The Gallery: A cross art form partnership project
The Gallery was a collaborative, cross-artform project which aimed to use works of art held by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art as a stimulus for creating new artistic collaborations.
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The project encouraged and enabled young learners to research and interpret an art work using different media from the original, and to produce their own creative response. |
The project was supported by Edinburgh’s Cultural Coordinators and provided a model of good practice for schools to use Galleries in a specific way. In the piece below, Cultural Co-ordinator Lynda Graham describes the project in detail.
The Stimulus
The Process
Pilrig Park School
Gracemount High School
Holy Rood RC High School
The stimulus for the project was 'the Tourists' by Duane Hanson. Regular visitors to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art may be familiar with these intriguing figures. These super-realist sculptures by the American artist Duane Hanson have been part of the National Galleries of Scotland’s art collection since 1979. Duane Hanson has been making startlingly life-like sculptures of middle-American people since the mid 1960’s. They are made through a complicated process of casting from live models, with the casts recreated in bronze or fibreglass resin.
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'The Tourists' has been used as the creative inspiration for this year’s show 'Hanging at the Gallery'. References to galleries, art and artists, and travelling the world, are threaded through the content and production of each dance piece. As part of the presentation at the Gallery, 'Moscow State Circus' will be performed.
Each school has used the sculptures as a stimulus to inspire their own creative projects. |
In parallel with this project, the professional team have been working together developing their own creative response to the Tourists. This work-in-progress was shown as part of Stellar Quines’ Rehearsal Room 11 in the Scottish National Gallery. The artistic products that each school created were shown at the Gallery of Modern Art in December 2006.
All pupils were given the opportunity to enhance and develop their creative skills through discussing, rehearsing and working with creative professionals from the visual and performing arts. The artists involved were:
David Hughes - Dance & Choreography
Lorna Simpson – Video
Rachel Bevan-Baker – Animation
Andi Ross – Director
Karen Tennant - Stage Design
Pete Burnett - Writer
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Each school was introduced to the project, and more specifically to the concept of working collaboratively. This was done by means of workshops, in which a series of visual images was used to stimulate debate and promote a collective decision-making process. |
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At the National Galleries of Scotland, pupils and staff were introduced to the work of Duane Hanson, exploring it within its social, cultural and economic contexts. The schools also visited the National Galleries’ Ron Mueck exhibition and the Douglas Gordon show Superhumanatural at the Royal Scottish Academy Building. Holy Rood pupils saw a performance of 'The Lion of Kabul', designed and directed by Karen Tennant with animation by Rachael Bevan-Baker. As well as enabling access to unfamiliar art-forms, the project enabled the pupils to work with artists who take a collaborative approach to their working practice.
Pupils attending the Theatre Arts Course at Pilrig Park School spend the academic year developing their creative skills as they work towards an end-of-year dance performance. In June 2006, 'Mindgames' became the school‘s debut at Edinburgh Festival Theatre and included work developed through a creative-arts residency with Alan Greig of X- Factor Dance Company. Designer Karen Tennant supported and advised on aspects of set design as pupils develop work for their 2007 performance at Edinburgh Festival Theatre.
The Art Department worked with a group of six pupils from S4 and S5 who decided to use video and animation to explore their ideas inspired by 'the Tourist's. With artists Lorna Simpson and Rachel Bevan-Baker, they developed a knowledge of film and animation. After interviewing a number of real 'tourists' in Edinburgh, they learned how to make creative decisions as a team, log, storyboard, edit, animate and finally produce their own film.
Holy Rood High School’s drama department worked with seven pupils who were developing performances as part of their Advanced Higher Drama course curriculum. Their work involved script-writing, acting, directing, elements of stage design, projection and production. The work performed at the Gallery was extracts from their individual work. Each pupil chose to interpret 'the Tourists' in a unique manner. They have worked with Lorna Simpson on video images, Andi Ross on directing, David Hughes on choreography, and Peter Burnett on script development.
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Supported by the Scottish Arts Council through the Awards for all National Lottery scheme. | |