Art Calendar Competition in Market Drayton brings schools together.

Shropshire Star

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.

Transcript

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.

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