You Are Here sculptures opening

2010-11-03T18:13:00.000Z

The Schools are holding a launch event for the You Are Here sculptures from 4.30 - 5.30 on the 11th November. All are welcome.

In conjunction, the inaugural exhibition of work selected by Regis School Curators will be on show in the foyer of The Regis School’s Landmark building.
Generously on loan from Pallant House Gallery, the show is entitled ‘Out of the Darkness’. With the support of staff at Pallant, the curators’ have made a selection from lithographs that were produced in post-war austerity for British schools with the aim of brining contemporary art of the time to young audiences. The prints showcase a range spanning from British Surrealists to leading European Modernists.
The year 7 and year 8 curators will be available to discuss their choices and enthuse about their role in promoting the visual arts to their peers and the wider community.

Year ID Graphic murals

2010-08-18T09:38:00.000+01:00

These murals have really brought the communal areas of Southway school to life, the walls were painted first using the year group colours then the Year ID Graphic figures were CNC cut from 3mm White Foamex and applied to the walls. There are a total of 8 murals one for each year group, the animal characters were inspired by consultation workshops with the children and teachers at the school.

Sculptures installed

2010-08-09T13:59:00.000+01:00

The Regis School Signs

2010-07-01T11:37:00.000+01:00

The Regis school signage schedule is almost complete, here are a couple of preview pictures.

Sample Year ID Graphics For Southway

2010-06-13T13:36:00.000+01:00

Latest Developments

2010-04-05T10:32:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since my last post on YOU ARE HERE, things have been happening, but they have all needed approval before unveiling here and there are still some elements of they project in draft phases which means that its best not to reveal them until they are approved. 1st Drafts of signage style have been approved for both schools. The sculptures are approved and their massive foundations are being cast this week, the larger sculpture (shown) will weigh nearly 3 tons. A school visit is being arranged to the steelworks in Littlehampton where the sculptures are being fabricated.

The new logo (shown) for Southway school has been approved, it consists of 8 isocseles triangles arranged in a star or flower type pattern inspired by logos designed by children in the workshops. An isosceles triangle is a triangle with (at least) two equal sides. An isosceles triangle has both two equal sides and two equal angles. The name derives from the Greek iso (same) and skelos (Leg). Each of the triangles is a different colour, each of the colours is identified with one of the 8 year groups, these colours are also used in the signage and as accent walls in the classes.

Workshops in the new Primary School

2010-01-22T17:53:00.000Z

This week the workshops have started in what will be known as Southway school. At the moment Michael Ayres and the Glade schools are both existing together alongside each other in their new building. Southway school will combine the two old schools and begin in September 2010. The purpose of these workshops is to develop Year ID graphics for each Year group in the school including Reception and Nursery, that's 8 different Year ID graphics. We also plan to develop a new school logo for Southway school.

I have been working with two different groups, a KS1 group in the morning and a KS2 group in the afternoon.

In KS1 we started with a brief to create pictures using letters of the alphabet as stencils.

In KS2 we started with an introduction into the world of Symbols and Logos, using a range of resources to create our own logos for specific things - A Fish & Chip shop and a Bouncy Castle.

Workshops continue next week...

YAH update

2009-12-03T12:20:00.000Z

Latest project news is that I have presented my work so far to the project steering group, the response was very constructive and, I am pleased and relieved to be able to say, very positive. The next stage is for me to work up the preferred designs. What I am most excited about is that my idea for an underlying geometric 'code' for all the work, from sculptures to signs in both schools and across the campus, was agreed upon. This 'code' consists of a single arrow shape, repeated and rotated, throughout all the designs, sometimes large sometimes small, but always there at the heart of everything. That this is right motif for the project was revealed to me when I explained the 'code' arrow idea to Jonathan Dall of West Sussex County Council, he responded by telling me that as a result of the extensive archaeological survey undertaken prior to the construction of the schools, the only item of any historical significance or interest found on the site was a single arrowhead.

Latest Project News

2009-10-01T10:10:00.002+01:00

It has been decided that due to problems co-ordinating space and timetables the workshop activities at the Glade and Michael Ayers will be postponed until next term, this will mean that they take place in the new school. This is, I think, the best way forward, it also presents possibilities for workshop activities related directly to the new building to happen in the building.

Workshops are proceeding at BRCC. Sessions 1 & 2 are all about mapping, students are using massive sheets of paper to develop work using anything and everything to create their own extraordinary maps fusing Bognor with the rest of the world. Session 3 has swerved off into a new direction focusing on signs and symbols. See the new slideshow in the column to the right (click on any of the slideshows to see a bigger version). The 'Identity Crests' created in the third session last week were very good, developing interesting ideas using bold colours, symbols, fonts and graphic layout. I plan to further develop these ideas in the next session.

Alongside, and in response to, the workshops I have been developing my proposals for the Arts Steering group. Appropriately enough, there are a number of different directions this could develop into. My intention is to use the presentation on the 14th Oct to examine the alternative destinations and make some decisions about what route to take. Here are a few taster pics of some sculptural ideas in development.

New school names

2009-09-23T15:47:00.001+01:00

Anyone can submit suggestions for the new name for the new Primary school, have a look here and see what you think of the names so far, the more good suggestions they get the better. I have suggested Regis Primary or Linden Primary. Regis would have a simple crown as a logo and Linden would have a Linden tree (Linden is an old word for lime tree), I have also suggested that if Linden were selected that Lime trees would be planted all around the new car park and entrance. For more about Linden trees click here

Coat of Arms workshop

2009-09-18T10:12:00.011+01:00

This morning I have planned a new workshop for next weeks YAH project session, first we will map out the identities of all the students using a mind map diagram then we will use the information gathered from the diagrams to create a family crest for each student, representing their identity. Click here to create your own online crest. I created my own online crest (see below) in about 3-4 minutes, I think it might need a bit more work.

Ideas for 'chevron' sculptures

2009-09-16T17:06:00.001+01:00

Today I have been working on some 'Chevron' ideas, thinking about the most basic of wayfinding tools - the arrow. Then investigating it as form and space, see the short movies to get the idea. I am imagining that these forms would be quite large, some up to 5 meters high, installed at key points to lead people around the campus.

Mapping workshops with BRCC

2009-09-11T12:06:00.000+01:00

The project is now underway, I ran 3 double lessons yesterday, excellent work from all the students, who will now begin developing their own individual mapping projects. I will see them all again on the 24th September (my birthday) to see how the work is progressing and show them my work so far for feedback. The teachers involved also enjoyed the experience and will be taking the mapping project on in their other year 9 lessons.

To any students reading this - well done for getting this far, on the right of this blog column there are a list of weblinks, click on these and explore the sites they link to, you will find lots of interesting maps and ideas. Keep checking this blog every few days for updates.

Homeless but coming up with a new plan

2009-09-09T11:45:00.000+01:00

Looks like our search for a project home is to be fruitless, so a new plan will be devised to concentrate the workshops over 3 days. This we hope will be easier to accommodate.

The first workshop at BRCC is tomorrow, I will be introducing the project with a presentation and a short globe making session using Dymaxion Globes from my Global Footprint Project.
Pauline Ridley from the Centre for Teaching and Learning has contributed 100 large scale map style sketch books for use in the workshops, they will come in very handy. The folded sheet sketch books come from http://foldedsheet.wordpress.com/
Many thanks to Folded Sheet and Pauline for their help with this.

Project home

2009-09-02T09:41:00.000+01:00

Looks like the project will be run from one of the Art rooms at BRCC, the first workshop sessions with Year 9 from BRCC will be on the 10th September.

So I have a lot to do between now and then. Man at work.

Home for the project

2009-08-24T16:04:00.000+01:00

Have now visited the site a few times and so far we still have no home (room to hold all the work- shops in). Hope we can resolve this before the begining of term. I now have an incomplete palette of colours for the primary school and have been working directly with them onto the architectural plans. The plan is to identify each year group with a single colour. Click onto the pictures to enlarge them.

Work so far... Researchers

2009-08-07T10:44:00.000+01:00

I have been developing different workshop strands for working with the 3 schools, each school group will be assigned a related area of research so each school will follow a separate path, these paths will overlap and intertwine as the project develops, the key thing here is that the students are researching for me, their findings will inform the finished wayfinding system. For the first few weeks the workshop sessions will be carefully timetabled, then as the students progress they will get looser. Once the sessions are planned I will post them here.

You Are Here Introduction

2009-08-07T10:09:00.000+01:00

I have been commissioned by Impact Art & West Sussex County Council to develop a welcome and wayfinding project working with students across the schools and the whole site during the build phase.

The project brief

The two sites must work individually reflecting the difference in scale and user, yet share a common thread. The artists will consider the specific needs, context and age ranges within the two new buildings and develop appropriate work in consultation with the schools and their wider communities. The artist will then need to work across the design team to ensure a transitional approach to the wayfinding and sense of progression for student, staff, parents and wider community users.

Explore the identity of the schools, the ideas of transition and moving (both physical movement and movement through time). Map student, staff and parents paths/journeys both into and around the current schools, sports centre and other buildings, Work with the BSF team and the schools project teams, students & staff to map the possible physical and mental journeys in and to the new building, the learning zones and the landscape.

The physical results will consist of - wayfinding functional sculptures outside the schools and/or architectural orientation graphics and signage inside and outside the school (this could range from the sign above the main entrance to pictograms, room numbers, area/year identity graphics, pathways/directions on and across the campus between the schools).