LTL’s aim is to get as many UK schools as possible to pick a project, exhibit their work, and temporarily change their grounds into a public art display by providing step by step instructions and ideas. (For more details on these projects, and how schools can get involved – see the mini-guide below).
Catherine Andrews, Chief Executive at LTL comments, “School grounds provide a space that enables children to express themselves imaginatively and in ways that aren’t possible in the confines of the classroom - from messy art to large scale sculptures- the possibilities are inspiring. We are really looking forward to seeing schools participate in National School Grounds Week, by exhibiting their works and providing the local communities with a display that brightens their street and the whole school environment.”
The national school grounds charity is also encouraging the participating schools to turn the event into a community display for parents and the wider community.
For further information on how your school can participate, go to LTL’s web pages (www.ltl.org.uk/nsgw) and register for the National School Grounds Week resources for the event – Meanwhile here are several ideas to get that Gallery in the Grounds started...
Ideas for your ‘Gallery in the Grounds’...
Jurassic Art. How big were dinosaurs... really? Try creating life-size ones in your school grounds to find out -and learn about scale at the same time. This can be done using outlines on the school field, walls, fence or playground using paint, pebbles, rope, poured sand, natural resources (branches, leaves etc) - or a combination of all of these materials!
Once you have your dinosaurs, you can discuss which were meat or plant eaters. With dinosaurs that have been outlined to scale, pupils could even walk in through the meat eaters mouths and down their neck into their stomach to see how many children it could eat!
With a little imagination - your whole school grounds could be transformed into a pre-historic world. You could create rocks and boulders using ‘Modrock’; sculpt a volcano out of piles of chairs covered with grey or green tarpaulin; make exotic vegetation by cutting down the length of rolled up newspaper to create ‘ferns’.
Me- Myself and I –Try creating life-sized, dynamic self portraits and bring your school grounds to life – even when there is no one there! Older pupils can scale up digital photos of themselves onto a piece of stiff card using a digital projector, using collage and/or paint to add detail and texture. A simpler technique for younger pupils would be to lie on a piece of card and draw around each other, then paint the figures.
Older pupils, perhaps with help from parents, could make their cuts from plywood which is then collaged and finished with several coats of gloss varnish for a semi-permanent outdoor installation.
Turn your grounds into the pages of a book! – Create a trail that represents the physical scenes of a book and make it a theme throughout the school week, that children can read and add different parts to. Decide on a favourite story with your class and read it together outdoors – bringing it to life with natural sound effects, or getting the children to act out part of the story. Alice in Wonderland has various scenes- try playing with scale and creating large and small areas and objects.
Talk about the different characters and scenes, and what makes them visually memorable - think about clothing, locations, props, key words etc.
