Wellington Today Wellington Today 2018 en | Page 19

WELLINGTON SCHOOL LIFE
ARTS
WELLINGTON
COLLEGE
CELEBRATES THIRD
ANNUAL ARTS
FESTIVAL
SEASONS MURAL
ART WEEK 2017
Wellington College Bilingual Shanghai
To mark Art Week 2017, we decided to commission a whole school project that
would become a permanent installation within the setting. The all pupil project
was brainstormed, prepped and led by our interns Yasmin Ahmed and Dalia Lister,
from the UK, and our in-house art consultant, Lorna Collins.
Each pupil was invited to paint a canvas that, when hung together, would create
one very large group artwork. The theme for the piece was ‘Seasons’. An artists’
studio was set-up especially for the event where the children could immerse
themselves in the project with the help of music and mood boards with seasonal
photos to give inspiration for their paintings.
Wellington College International Shanghai
Pupils had a variety of tools to choose from when creating their work, including
paint brushes, stamps, rollers and stencils with a palette of colours appropriate
for the season they were painting. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed experimenting
with the different methods of applying paint and creating patterns, showing
concentration and determination to work on their art piece until they were
completely satisfied with it. Each pupil was very proud of their unique creation but
they were also interested in the paintings displayed together as a whole when they
were laid out to dry.
Every individual canvas is undoubtedly a masterpiece in its own right, that when
hung together have created a wonderful piece of collaborative art.
Next time you are at the setting, please visit building A (near the EY3 classrooms)
to appreciate their hard work and creativity. The installation is at the stairs
between floors 1 and 2.
From 13-17 March, Wellington College International Shanghai
celebrated all the art forms through a dedicated week of workshops,
talks, performances and productions. Wellington’s guest artists, who
brought the festival to life with their unique knowledge and experience,
ranged from professional actors and storytellers, to stand-up
comedians, photographers and even film directors.
The festival’s coordinator, Dr Steve Jacobi, explained that this year’s
theme of film was chosen because of the rising influence that images
have on today’s highly digitised society and the importance of pupils
being able to understand and interpret images in film and other art
forms. He highlighted the need for pupils to meet artists from all
manner of professional backgrounds in order to learn from their
unique perspectives:
‘The Arts Festival represents a vital opportunity to allow our pupils to explore
a wide range of art forms in ways they may have never even considered before.
As with previous years, we hope that the activities put on by our guest artists
will encourage pupils to consider the arts with new interest: this week could be
the start of a lifelong passion or even an artistic career.’
In every workshop and interactive talk session, pupils were
encouraged to overcome any nerves or reservations and learn
how to present their creative side with confidence and self-
belief. For example, professional comedy author and stand-up
comedian Logan Murray had pupils mimicking and mirroring one
another’s behaviour in comedic situations, in order to explore
the importance of not holding back or second-guessing yourself:
‘I loved the exercise where I had to try to convince my partner to not
fire me by saying her own words back to her but in a ridiculously
positive way. It showed us how to improvise quickly and work with our
partners own ideas without over-thinking it.’ – Hamin, Year 9
Film director Kirk Jones set pupils a fun yet difficult task of
preparing a ‘movie pitch’. Pupils were challenged to come up with
their own original concept for a film and then pitch it to Kirk and
the assembled audience. Dozens of fantastic ideas were pitched,
as pupils delivered their film’s plot and key ‘hook’ – the exciting
twist or element that leaves audiences wanting to know more –
in roughly under a minute.
‘It’s really vital that pupils understand the importance of
expressing an idea with enthusiasm and clarity. It doesn’t
matter what they go on to do, eventually they will have an
idea that they will need to present in a short, focused and
engaging way. Equally important is the concept that in the
film industry – or any other art form – it’s not a simple
equation of being right or wrong, your ideas are open to
criticism and praise, so pupils should have confidence and
belief in their own creativity.’ – Kirk Jones
Wellington is dedicated to encouraging pupils to get
outside their comfort zone in order to discover new
activities which may inspire them. By introducing them
to lots of different artistic ideas and disciplines from
professionals flown in from all over the world, the hope
is that the Arts Festival Week will spark off plenty of
creative inspiration and possibly even lead pupils to take
that first step on a path towards a lifelong artistic passion.
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