On the Shelf: THE LOOM - A JOURNEY

The Loom - a journey.

A photography, art, sculpture and text project looking at the journey of family generations, cultural heritage and personal stories. It will itself be a journey from the past into the future, mapping the present day with an eye on tomorrow. The project explores how the past has influensed us and what the participants imagine may be their future. It will develop understanding and dialogue facilitating each participant with new skills and creative means to express their histories and visions.

Participants possible age range: 9 - 99 years

Background/ Theme: The subject was envisaged out of an interest in understanding that our perspective and position in time is not singular but collective and that the now is perhaps only a step in a long journey and if so our direction is determined by what?

Conceived originally as a schools project, 'the Loom' could work well also with a far wider age group, which infact would in many ways, I think, enrich the project considering the subject. The possiblities of this project still excit me and I very much hope to see it realised some day. Like many of the education/ workshop projects I have developed, although the general form - structure of the resulting installation is envisaged the actual elements, contents and eventual emphsis is only realised in and through the participants own work.

project archive: PEG119

Peg119.

A Photography and Sound Project, conceived and coordinated in collaboration with Lisa Mead. The project was facilitated through the Croydon Clocktower who financially supported the project along with lottery funding. The project explored the theme of school cloakrooms and the stories and nature of such spaces. 
Project duration: 6 Weeks, contact Time: with each School - 1day per week.

where&when: Croydon, London. 2003

medium: Analog Photography / Recorded Sound

When I think back to my own childhood and times at school, the cloakroom was a special place reserved for moments to treasure and also dread. This place allocated the simple function of storing ones coat and gym kit was the stage for many a confrontation, friendship agreement, insiders joke and the lonesome realisation of the homework not completed. Away from my personal perspective it is the crossing point for children who must wear a uniform between their stated individuality and the act of conforming to an institutional regime. It's the border point between their private and family lives and their understood public persona.



The pupils considered not only what was known to happen in such a space but also creatively invented what they imagined could happen in a place which at certain times of the day would be a hive of activity and then stand totally still and silent.
Working with a sound artist, they recorded and built sound-scapes, on the photography side they worked with compact cameras, self built pinhole cameras and a vintage 'half plate' land camera. They learnt first hand how to simply print a black&white picture in a chemical darkroom and how to put recorded sound together.








The final installation was site specific and installed within a small hall within the Clocktower building, resembling a school cloakroom with photographic prints, projected images and sound as sculptural elements.

For most of the participants it was the first time they experienced 'art' outside of a frame mounted on a white wall. Not only was the experience truly exciting and sensual in many ways beyond what they had expected but more importantly it was their work.

On the Shelf: SPEAKING CORNERS

*On the Shelf > are a collection of workshop ideas which have been developed yet have not had the opportunity to be put into action. They are examples of ideas and thinking processes behind creative workshops and the possiblity for future collaborations. If you should wish to know more about this or any other project please do not hesitate to contact me through the contact details listed.


SPEAKING CORNERS

A photography, art, text and sound project conceived around the art of story telling. Principally based in and around a fixed location/building. The project envisages a structure where the led artist remains in residence acting as a base for participants to 'drop by' and develop their projects further aswell as structured contact time.
Particitants possible age range: 6 - 12

Background/ Theme: The art of story telling, of recalling events, relaying information is something we all participate in each and every day. The manner, means and methods we employ to help us communicate these ideas and stories are ones which we will develop and utilise in many ways through out our lives. They are the agents of our communication, our language both visual and verbal and are set fast in our creative abilities. 'Speaking Corners' is a project that deals directly with these issues, developes the imaginative ideas and means of expression in it's participants.

The idea for the project in general came to me from various sources, but all of which centered around the act of people telling stories. One was 'Speakers Corner' on the edge of Hyde Park, London. It was the idea that normal, everyday people are given the chance to express what ever they should choose  before the watching public. The second was the sight of children whispering stories to their best friends shielding their words from others in the corridors, corners and playgrounds of every school and lastly wondering if walls could talk what would they tell us.

The envisaged installation would be located in various places within perhaps a building and employing the simple devise of a wall mounted corner box/fitting. These corner fittings will house, alittle like a chaotic living museum, a story illustrated using a varity of mediums.

project archive: PUBLIC DREAMS

Public Dreams.

A photography project with school children aged 10-14 years old, conceived as part of the London wide 'LWT (London Weekend Television) Talent Challenge'. Supported by a number of bodies including LWT, Coke Cola UK, Riverside Studios. Project duration: 8 weeks, contact time: each working group half day per week.

where&when: Hammersmith, West London. 1997.
medium: Analog Photography


I thought I'd start at the beginning so to speak. The first major project I did with school children from 3 schools, aged between 10-14 years. The project adopted a theme related to Bridges following the general LWT Challenge title - Singing Bridges.

Close to each of the schools was Hammersmith bridge, the site of the first suspension bridge to span the river Thames. Designed by William Tierney Clark and built in 1827 at the cost of 80,000GBP it was replaced by the current bridge in 1887, designed by civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and capable of coping with the ever increasing weight of traffic. The footways either side of the bridge are only about the width of two persons, so the act of crossing this bridge is in many ways an intimate experience.

For the project I asked the pupils to consider what it was to cross a bridge, what happens when we cross a bridge, is it a symbol of connecting or separating, what does this bridge mean to them. Perhaps the hardest part was for these children to think and see beyond a structure so fimiliar having grown up with it always near.

Working generally in small groups they considered emotional and physical responces to actions and aspects of the bridge and through a process of reportage, enactment and construction developed visual and conceptual ideas and methods.

The final work, Black&white photographic prints were exhibited both in the Riverside Studios and at London Weekend Television.

Welcome

This is the first post on this new blog dedicated to the education projects and work of andy rumball and awrprojects. From here you will have the chance to view the pasts, todays and tomorrows creative endevours engaged in projects of many themes but all of which hopefully amplify the visual voices of all involved.