Positive - Creative - Change
Some people go through their lives without achieving or creating anything, from a very young age they become disaffected with all that surrounds them. It can cause problems with school, relationships and home-life until they become a self fulfilling prophecy, they may have been told they were ‘good for nothing,’ so that’s how they feel and behave.
What was your favourite lesson at school?
If you ask a group of adults what their favourite lesson was at school, a majority will say the art lessons, being creative, being expressive, and having fun with clay or colour.
If you then ask how many continue that creative process in their lives now, the answer will be, hardly any.
Why is it that so many people who enjoyed a subject at school do very little with it when they leave, some blame the lack of knowledge, difficult materials or the expense.
Some might say they couldn’t find the right information or advice or felt embarrassed because if they went to a college or
night classes they might be asked to produce something way
beyond their perceived ability. Some people are terrified by
that word SCULPTURE! They associate it with great and famous
works, with huge amounts of money and high intellect, when in
reality making Sculpture is just what happened all those years ago in the art class in school, the lesson that everyone loved.
What does the Sculpture Workshop do?
Education
The sessions were then imported into a Plymouth College where the positive philosophy of the Sculpture Workshop was used around disillusioned students with quite amazing results.
Involvement in the New Start and Gateway programs at Plymouth College of Further Education, which looks to re-engage 15 to 17 year-olds back within an educational environment by teaching key skills, such as literacy, innumeracy and information technology, is an example of this. The majority of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and their reasons for being referred varies from homelessness, being in care, exclusion for bullying to having criminal records. Before they started the course many of the students were demoralised, disinterested and difficult to enthuse; all of them needed encouragement, direction and support. Through the language of art the more formal subjects were made more relevant and meaningful to the students. Although the emphasis was on learning basic academic skills, the primary focus was on social techniques and soft learning outcomes, such as participation, acceptance, social understanding, communication, self motivation and an enhance sense of self worth and confidence. Once in the program, the disinterest and demoralisation was replaced by motivation and enthusiasm. Students were continually asking to participate in arts projects, staying in during their lunch breaks to continue their work and had to be reminded of break times; all of which had never happened before. They were not only getting positive feedback from the adults involved, but they were also gaining recognition from their peers; this alone was worth more than several weeks of encouragement on the part of any tutor. Many of the students have gone on to take GCSE’s as well as vocational programs such as engineering, construction and mechanics. Whilst the teaching experience was at times extremely challenging, the overwhelming satisfaction of seeing the success of these young people grow as a result of their participation in the program was immeasurable.
The aims of the sessions were to reintegrate the disaffected pupil back into an educational and social environment and focus predominately of these social and behavioural skills such as responsibility, confidence building, and inclusion. Elements of problem solving, reflection, and critique together enforce self-concept, self-belief and ideas of self-potential.
Creativity can encourage social change
The primary focus within workshop sessions is upon “soft” outcomes, such as participation, acceptance, social understanding, communication, self-motivation, enhanced sense of self, ability and value. These soft outcomes underpin and encourage academic attention and enthusiasm and can be used as a foundation to build community based ideas for inclusive and sustainable regeneration. To help the creative process along the Sculpture Workshop has developed a creative aid called The ‘Skullature’ and all sessions start with each individual using a Skullature and some clay to create a face, this lends itself to a theme of self identity and reflection - it works because there are no wrong answers, no one way of doing things, and all approaches are correct within the usual behavioural boundaries. Often, these workshops create much more than sculptures alone, the atmosphere promotes discussion, which can be of a deep and personal nature, it lends itself to quiet contemplation, problem solving as well as group supportiveness and provides a forum for conciliation and gentle education that intends to bring awareness to many prejudices - both of an individual nature and wider social issues.
Group workshops are person centred and flexible but are grounded within a structure that encompasses ethnicity and cultural diversity, age, similarities, differences, public and private faces, disability and image awareness. Workshops are particularly effective with sufferers of ADHD, Dysphasia and other learning and behavioural difficulties. They encourage individuals to develop their own powers of focus coupled with relaxation and so promote and build further levels of confidence in dealing with their own personal issues, which in turn will enable social inclusion to the point of pursuing a positive life path.
