Timaru+Boys'+High+School

=Artists in School Project 2009 = =//Writing, Devising, Sculpting //= =Timaru Boys’ High School = =Owen Marshall & Hamish Palmer =

//Jonathan woke up with sore head. This puzzled him. Several possibilities ran through his empty mind. Alcohol; no, he didn’t think so. Accident - not that he could remember. It took Jonathan several minutes to muster up these simple thoughts. He was so wrapped up in the cause of his sore head, that he did not notice his rather strange surroundings ... (Ryan Ammar, TBHS writing student)//

Timaru Boys’ High School is Decile 7 with a roll of 654 students. Twenty-two students were involved in-depth with the project, with another 80 students attending workshops offered by the artists. Timaru Boys’ High School has a strong academic and sporting tradition. The school also has a fine theatrical and musical tradition with the school’s brass band being recognised as one of the best in the country.

The project began with a writer’s camp for students, facilitated by Owen Marshall, New Zealand’s internationally recognised short story writer and novelist. Students produced stories and original interactive drama performances to be performed by another group of students. A group of art students who worked with sculptural artist, Hamish Palmer, helped to bring the devised work to life as a performance and collaborative arts experience. The two artists ran workshops with students and teachers during the school’s Arts Week to highlight the active participation in arts learning. A school exhibition was attended by over 100 people where the audience saw sculptures and paintings in classrooms, foyers, cupboards, on the squash courts, on the rectory field and even one in the swimming pool! Static works were accompanied by stories that inspired the arts works – read aloud, recorded, displayed as albums or even incorporated into the works of art themselves.

Own Marshall, writer, was impressed by the boys’ commitment to the time and care needed to take a piece of writing from concept to publishable standard. Owen enjoyed reinforcing their liking for reading and interest in taking this to the next step – writing. For Hamish Oliver, sculptural artist, the project was a very steep learning curve. Hamish was particularly pleased to see how the students’ ideas were developed and expanded as a result of his input. He enjoyed sharing and developing ideas with students and staff and valued the exposure to a different creative environment. As a result, some of the students who had been struggling with their curriculum based work, stepped out of the box and produced some fantastic work. The best works on the night of the exhibition in Hamish’s opinion were from students who seemed to be struggling with their course work. Arts teachers at the school also commented that many students were miles ahead for the work they had to do for their curriculum portfolios.

Students were able to share creative ideas over a number of arts disciplines. In workshopping each other’s writing work, the boys were able to practise critical analysis skills. They were exposed to different points of view, the work of other artists and a personal look at how a working artist develops ideas and exhibits work. The students took pride in their work and their self-esteem increased as they received positive feedback from the wider community who attended the school art exhibition. They also received in-depth analysis and feedback on their curriculum based artwork from the visiting artists. Christine Cheeseman, Head of Drama and Assistant Head of English, was satisfied that this project helped to raise the profile eof the Arts in a traditional boys’ school. //“The students involved in the intensive programme in art and writing were given a once in a life time opportunity and we now have a writer group meeting on a regular basis … the Rector has instigated a committee to find funding for smaller programmes in the future … The arts week saw almost all the boys in the school involved with some sort of artistic endeavour, so the event was wide reaching. The senior students were also able to work towards assessment in a positive and tangible manner.”//

This project enhanced arts curriculum teaching and learning in the school, providing authentic contexts in which to explore, refine and communicate artistic ideas and stimulate ‘creative action and response by engaging and connecting thinking, imagination, senses and feelings.’[|The New Zealand Curriculum, The Arts, p20.]

Click on this file to read a selection of writing work from staff and students: