FUNDING PARTNER | USTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS | ARTS SA

PROJECT PARTNERS | GILLES ST PRIMARY SCHOOL | JAMFACTORY CONTEMPORARY CRAFT AND DESIGN

LOCATION | ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

DATE COMPLETED | 2010

RESIDENT ARTISTS | HANNAH CARLYLE, PETA KRUGER, CHRISTIAN HALL

CREATIVE DIRECTOR | CHRISTIAN HALL

PROJECT TITLE | OBJECTS ACROSS SCALE - FROM BODY TO BENCH TO BUILDING

STATEMENT | The Creative Education Partnership - Artist in Resident Initiative was a program that linked proffessional arts organisations with schools to build relationships between artists, students and teachers.

2010 was the first year of what became a two year partnership between JamFactory Metal Design Studio and Gilles Street Primary School. I worked as lead artist and directed the program with two of my associates from the studio; Peta Kruger and Hannah Carlyle. We worked with Christine Lawrence, a very talented teacher who ran a dedicated visual arts program in the school, and together introduced the students to the long term process of concept design and development, all the way through to manufacturing and fabrication with a real world exhibition outcome and product range. A core group of very dedicated year 5 and 6 students worked with us for a day a fourtnight for the entire year. The alternate Fridays we would work with groups of other students, eventually meeting the entire school, and research our own project of artist made toys with them.

With our core group we ran workshops that introduced sculpture into the curriculum of the school via the sites of The Body, The Bench and The Building, spanning in scale from the intimate to the architectural. The expertise of the Metal Design Studio allowed young students to see their own concepts developed to the highest degree of professional finish. Our aim was to help students realise their own potential for excellence and plant the seed for future growth beyond limits previously imagined.