CRAG Community Arts have undertaken a major engagement and consultation process in support of the Bruce’s Web Interactive Arts Trail including working with 6 Primary Schools and a Youth Group as well as exhibiting the results in 7 locations (Minishant, Maidens, Kirkoswald, Dunure, Straiton, Kirkmichael and Crosshill).

Below are images of the works created by the children and young people, as well CRAG’s report on Engagement and Consultation.

Please find below photographs by school, of the designs created by our primary school pupils.

Engagement

CRAG Community Arts’ web of engagement for the Bruce’s Web Interactive Sculpture Trail threaded its way from Dunure in the North, to Maidens in the South, across to Straiton in the east; creating a web across 8 communities taking in 6 schools and one youth group, with visits to Community Councils and Community Associations along the way. The result was 191 designs and ideas from 175 participants from P1 to secondary age.

‘Why children?’ we have been asked? Reaching out through the school community to the untapped talents of the next generation of artists in our community with their uninhibited ideas, responses and enthusiasm, gives a way to engage with their families, friends and neighbours in the process. The answer was it had to be the children. To ensure that this was the correct approach, we road tested this idea with the communities before we began, and the response was unanimous.

The process began with visits to Community Associations and Community Councils to identify sites in each community for the proposed sculptures, and to gauge support for one of the biggest community arts projects to take place in North Carrick; one that is also breaking new ground for the arts in Ayrshire with augmented reality forming a major part of the new trail; a way to experience the sculptures through the immersive world of technology animation sound and 3D visualisation being planned to heighten the visitors experience of the new works.

First steps for the trail saw CRAG artist David Powell visit each of the schools to introduce this exciting new project. An introduction to David’s work and practice as an artist and sculptor from dragons in ponds, to Shrek on your doorstep. The talk then led into the life and history of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, born 750 years ago in Carrick. Popular and cotemporary images and artefacts associated with the Bruce were used to provide the children with a background insight into the King of the Scots.

After this introductory visit each school received 3 further visits. 1 planning drawing session and 2 practical making sessions. The challenge was to bring Bruce to life for children living in communities some of which didn’t exist in the 13th/14h century, to tie in ‘the Outlaw King’ and to imagine his relationship to our communities, his activities and actions.

Stage 1 Planning

For tools we had paper, pencils, ink, prints and the internet, working individually and in group the children began to make their own response to the challenge of creating a site-specific intervention that would give Bruce a place in their community in the 21st century. “I will be 35!” was one response to the idea that work inspired by their ideas would be around in sculptural form in 25 years’ time.

Images tumbled from heads onto paper and from computer screens, out of printers. Horses and swords, shields, axes and schiltrons, boats and fires, baptisms and castles, cattle and hobby horses and a small parade of spiders that marched across Carrick, chased by a unicorn and Bruce on horseback and Bruce on foot.

Stage 2

In order to provide the children with a material that would encourage their exploration of sculptural forms the art team used air drying clay. To assist in the construction of more complex forms the children were also given an introduction to the use of aluminium wire to form simple armatures that could then be used to position and support their sculptural ambitions. A demonstration of the application of clay to their wire forms was also given showing how to build up shapes and forms.

As soon as the bags of clay were opened eager busy hands took hold of their clay and retreated to their spaces with clay tools and armatures and the fun began. Figures and horses, swords, shields and spiders began to march across desks from Dunure to Maidens. In each class there were intense periods of concentration and silence, periods of excitement laughter and a constant chatter offset with the occasional cry for help or the rare ‘My hands are dirty!’.

The classrooms were a maelstrom of activity of children busy at work, their endeavours spurring on their friends to try, try and try again when an experiment or idea went awry, and a leg or head fell of, or ambition outweighed the practicalities of the materials or the time to make.
Clay techniques included slab work and 3D work, sgraffito, sprig work, stencils and slip painting; slip was used to stick legs to bodies and to cover cracks on fast drying forms in warm rooms.

The project has seen a fantastic response from all the children and students involved in the project. To go from little or no experience with the materials and the techniques at the beginning of the project to the realisation of complex forms in two sessions is testimony to the enthusiasm and abilities of the students. Artists involved in the project and visitors to the consultation process in the communities have all been amazed at the work that has been produced. The Bruce 750 Bruce’s Web Sculpture Trail project engagement has been an inspiration, the ideas produced worthy of students many years older and the results testimony to the need for the arts in our communities.

Consultation

The communities were then invited to come along and view these ideas and pick out the ones that resonated most with them. CRAG will take these views on board when designing the sculptures for each community. On behalf of NCCBC and CRAG Community Arts we just wanted to say how grateful we are for all the time and effort that you and the young people put in to creating ideas and images to help the artists make the final designs for the Bruce’s Web Interactive Art’s Trail pieces which will appear in or near the North Carrick villages.

We hope the young people enjoyed learning new skills and putting forward some amazing designs. We know the team of artists at CRAG certainly enjoyed it too!

Engagement Photographs

Minishant Primary School – Please see slideshow below.

 

Straiton Primary School – Please see slideshow below.

 

Crosshill Primary School – Please see slideshow below.

 

Maidens Primary School – Please see slideshow below. 

 

Fisherton Primary School – Please see slideshow below.

 

 

Kirkmichael Primary School – Please see slideshow below.

 

 

Consultation

The below designs were the most popular at the community consultations. Hover and click to view each one.