8~12 year olds - Contemporary Art Summer School

Learner hours: 25

This multidisciplinary course is wide-ranging, challenging, and dynamic. It gives children the chance to experiment with an array of contemporary art and design techniques, as they create a unique range of high-quality pieces using state-of-the-art equipment and professional studios - avoiding the laborious and dull cutting and sticking of standard arts and crafts classes. Our specially selected teachers, with their industry experience and expertise, ensure the course is enjoyable, creative, and educational.

Day 1: Chewed Paper

Firstly, students will examine how artists use paper to produce art. We will study paper-mâché, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, animation and performance, and more. Students will work collaboratively to produce a collective piece, as well as use paper to make their own work, which they will then be able to take home.

Day 2: - Photography

On Tuesday, students will explore the rich world of photography. We will explore how different artists (contemporary and traditional) have used photography to make art. Students will study digital photography, prints, alternative photography, installation, film, photo books, internet art, performance to camera, photojournalism, architecture, and more.

By the end of the day, students will have produced their own work, which they can either take home or upload to our online art exhibition.

Day 3: Role-playing and Fictioning

We will start the day by learning how Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa has used astral charts (horoscopes) to create fictional characters. Then, we will explore the method of role-playing as an artistic medium as we study puppetry, theatre, dance, sculpture, performance, installation, live-action role-play, and the relationship between art and activism. We will work hands-on as we create a participatory artwork together as we group. Students will then be able to let their imaginations run wild as they use one of the studied methods to create their own fictional characters.

Day 4: Sounding

Sound is a key component of contemporary art. Artists are consistently finding new and innovative ways to incorporate sound into art and enhance our sensory experience. On Thursday, students will have the chance to delve into this rich and rewarding aspect of the modern artist's arsenal as they discover the nuances of DIY sound instruments, electronic music making, and experiment with sound composition. We will also be experimenting as a group with new technologies, such as MINIMU Gloves and MAGIC glove, which produce sounds from hand gestures. Students will then have the opportunity to make their own instruments which they can take home.

Day 5 Mapping: An art picnic

To conclude the week students will bring their work together with the concept of ‘MAPPING’. Using cyanotype printing techniques students will create a large fabric canvas with the photographic printings, drawing, found materials, and artworks they have made during the course. We will then have an ‘art picnic’ on the canvas, the leftovers of which will be taken home.

Learning outcomes

The course will leave you with two ‘things’. The first is the creative tool kit that will allow you to practice creative art-making with multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and playful approaches. The second “thing” consists of the artwork you have made throughout the workshop.

You will also be able to upload your artwork (documentation of your artwork or digital artwork) on a website that is dedicated to this workshop and share the website with your friends and family to view after the workshop.

Mode of delivery: Face to face

Our address is The School of Creative Arts, College Lane Campus, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB.

For Maps and Directions please visit our helpful  ‘Where to Find Us’  page. Further details are sent by email when you have booked.

Booking deadlines

Bookings for all Creative Arts Short Courses will be reviewed two weeks before the start date of each course. This will allow the Short Course team to determine whether a course has met the minimum number of students needed for the class to run. If a class has failed to recruit, the class will be re-scheduled and you will be informed. Where relevant you will be offered an alternative class. If the course has met minimum numbers, bookings will stay open to the course start date or until it has met maximum numbers.

We encourage you to book early before the deadline to avoid disappointment.

Bookings for all short courses need to be made online through our online booking system, before a course commences. You cannot enroll or attend a class on the day the course starts.

Cancellations

If for any reason you change your mind about joining us after you have accepted the offer, you have a legal right to cancel your contract to study with us within 14 days. This cancellation period therefore ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which you accepted our offer. Find further details of our cancellation terms here.