A major annual art exhibition was taking place at The Grove School in Market Drayton, celebrating a competition to create art to be used in a calendar.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So we're here at the Grove School in Market Drayton and a bit of a special project Suzy,
00:07what's been happening?
00:08Well this is the 11th year of the Schools Calendar Project and over 2000 children take
00:09part each year.
00:10Wow.
00:11Malcolm and I go out into schools to do workshops and then we put on a wonderful exhibition.
00:22Yeah.
00:23And Malcolm you're kind of the artist in residence for this project aren't you?
00:27I am.
00:28Yeah I am.
00:29It's a great opportunity to go to schools and see children really embracing this creativity.
00:34They don't get a lot of chance to be fair with the programme and the curriculum.
00:39Yes.
00:40But everybody that we teach, every school we go in, all the kids get involved and it
00:46ends up with about two and a half thousand, two thousand odd students every year and hopefully
00:52we inspire them.
00:55And they say don't they as adults we lose the ability to draw like a child so it's
00:59kind of nice to see, you know, that magic on paper.
01:03Well in fact we get a lot of respect for the children where they say I can't draw, I can't
01:09paint.
01:10Yeah.
01:11And they come into our workshop and they're so thrilled with what they've actually achieved.
01:17Yeah.
01:18And we don't do anything except give them some paper and some ideas.
01:23Yeah.
01:24And every one of those is their origin.
01:26The secret, we think, is because we enable them to paint the background first.
01:31Ah okay.
01:32So that they're not faced with this frightening prospect of a blank sheet of paper.
01:37Yeah.
01:38And they only, really, they only get about one hour to paint.
01:42Yeah.
01:43So these pieces of work you see now that is stunning, 45 minutes to one hour 15 minutes
01:48usually.
01:49Amazing.
01:50Yeah.
01:51It's surprising every year how good they are.
01:53And it does actually get turned into a calendar doesn't it?
01:56It does, a calendar, that is an end product.
01:59Yeah.
02:00We really, this project is all about the process.
02:04It's enabling children to paint.
02:06We have to celebrate and encourage and develop them.
02:10But if you do something like this you might as well put up an exhibition and have an end
02:16product of which we sell.
02:18And every penny goes towards our materials and supporting the project itself.
02:25Well done guys to all involved, fantastic project.
02:28Good to be a part of it.
02:29Yeah.
02:30Hello Morgan MP, what do you think of the artwork we've seen today?
02:33I'm just astonished by how good the artwork is actually.
02:37All these children from age four right through to senior school have produced the most beautiful
02:42pieces of art.
02:43And there's a superb atmosphere in here today.
02:46It's definitely, yeah.
02:47And it's a great thing to be a part of.
02:49And what was your art skills like when you were at school Helen?
02:52I'm afraid I wouldn't have won any of the prizes.
02:55I'm definitely more of a numbers person than an arts person.
02:58Yeah, yeah.
02:59We all have our talents don't we?
03:00Mine's not with a brush in hand, I'll give you that.
03:02Right, thanks ever so much Helen.
03:04No problem, thank you.
03:05Elspeth, you've got the main award.
03:07How are you feeling?
03:09Very pleased, very happy.
03:12Didn't really expect it to be honest.
03:14And I honestly completely forgot about it for a while.
03:18Have you always been artistic and drawing and painting and stuff?
03:21I have been for a couple of years, yeah.
03:24I sort of dimmed down on it for a bit.
03:28Yeah.
03:30Came back into it once I started doing GCSE art.
03:33And it just really helped me get my emotions out and show my love for my sheep and everything.
03:38What I love is, they're your sheep.
03:41I love that.
03:42You know, I love that.
03:43So what are their names?
03:44Yeah, what are their names again?
03:46Mater, Dizzy and Daffodil.
03:49And are they well behaved?
03:51They were, yeah.
03:52They were pretty well behaved.
03:54We don't have them ones anymore but they were very well behaved.
03:57Yeah.
03:58So you come from a farming background?
04:00Yeah.
04:02Dad's always been in farming.
04:04Mum's always done horses and everything.
04:06Yeah.
04:07And two of my three brothers have gone into it now as well.
04:11Okay, yeah.
04:12Anybody else showing artistic flair with a brush?
04:15Only my oldest brother really.
04:17Yeah.
04:19And he did a lot of comic art and he was really good with that.
04:26Yeah.
04:27But he hasn't done it for a good while now.
04:29But he loves art.
04:31Well, it's who's in character.
04:34So well deserved, Ellsworth.
04:36Well done.