the process: a creative countdown
Each project is unique. However, the process roughly follows this sequence:
10. Theme and site identification:
Our first meeting with you will look at what subject the work will be about and where it will be sited. It may be historical, environmental, tied into the curriculum, any subject can be worked with.
St Lukes School (Tower Hamlets) chose camoflage in nature and mini-beasts as the theme for their painted wooden gates and overhang for the school verandah.
9. Public/pupil consultation:
The next stage is to involve the wider community, whether this be local residents or the pupils - their ideas and input around the chosen theme will be key to the project's development.
8. Fundraising if needed:
If you do not have a budget already set aside for your project, we can bring our extensive experience of fundraising to the task. We have many successful funding applications behind us.
7. Agreement of budget:
We will draw up a detailed financial plan with you so that a budget can be set. Elements which will be taken into account will be workshop facilitation, research, materials and of course the design, creation and installation of the finished work. We pride ourselves on both our reasonable working rates and our ability to stick to budget.
6. Time-scale set:
Taking into account your target dates for the project's completion and your community's available time for workshopping designs for the project - eg art periods for school pupils or weekend workshops in communities - we will reach an agreed schedule with you for the various stages of the work.
5. Drawing workshops:
This is where your community truly gets involved in the work that they will live with and leave for those who come after. Our experienced and friendly staff will facilitate workshops which are creative, inspiring and fun for all participants. Children and community members rise to this challenge with enthusiasm and an extraordinary range of talent and ideas which allow them to really "own" the project. This series of workshops produce the drawings for the final designs.
Pupils in drawing workshop for project at Moorfield School.
4. Creating the work:
We now bring our particular expertise - in ceramics, painting, glazing, firing, mosaic and so on as appropriate - into the studio in order to produce all parts of the final work, whether they be tiles for a mural, panels for a painted stairwell, sections of a memorial or outdoor game... space, time and funds permitting, then this stage of the work also involves community members developing skills and experiences with materials, processes and team work.
Maud with pupil making The Blitz Mural in clay for Prior Weston Primary School, London.
3. Installation:
In agreement with your schedule, and working times of the day/week/year when there is little disturbance and weather, we install the finished work in situ using reliable and weatherproof techniques. For the first time the finished work can be seen in its entirety and its intended context.
2. Publicity generation:
Many projects are intended for public spaces or schools, and it is often vital to publicly acknowledge the accomplishment and involvement of your community as well as the funders. We will work with you in generating contacts with local media and the community itself to prepare for an official launch or opening which provides this acknowledgement and affirmation.
1. Launch:
An opening ceremony which launches the work within its physical and social context, and within the minds of the community. Although there is much direct benefit to the community members who take part in its production as described above, the launch is what sets the work free to be an ongoing part of community life. It becomes a source of pride to those who took part and an inspiration to those who experience it in their shared space and will continue to do so long after the makers have moved on.