Is art important in a school? How can students be inspired by the world around them?
Skyline is an exciting project to build a sculpture at Brompton Academy. The sculpture will be made by, and for, the school community, a permanent piece made from strong and long-lasting materials.
How does science relate to art, and can you really explore one without the other?
As starting points, we were interested in the lines of a drawing or sculpture, the pathways and journeys made as people walk to work or school, lines of poetry or music. The Lower Lines, a local park, reflects the military history of the area. But as we started working on the project, talking to people at the school and at the University, we started thinking further. What about rays of light, waves of the electromagnetic spectrum and the horizon-line which can represent both the natural and urban world, and our own personal aims and ambitions?
Do we need art in our local environment? Can an artwork help us to express and understand who we are? Does scientific investigation help us do this too?
We want to find out the answers to all these questions.
Students at the school, along with parents, carers, staff and local residents, will be joining in with all sorts of practical workshops, electives (clubs), evening classes and family days. They’ll be coming up with designs, trying out different materials, and working with local artist, Sam Holland, to make decisions about the final piece. Children at local primary schools Brompton Westbrook and Skinner Street will also be having a go.
The whole project kicked off with a series of interactive sculpture workshops with students and staff from the University of Kent’s School of Arts, where every single student in the school made a small piece from wire, paper, wood or card, to contribute to a large scale installation on the stage in the hall. This took a week to complete and the results were great. Check out the amazing photos.
The project, led by the Partnership Development Office at the University of Kent along with a People’s Panel of students, parents, carers and staff from the school, will take place over the next year, with all sorts of exciting events to look out for!