Hutchie Art Exhibition June ‘09
Hutchie Art Exhibition June ‘09
Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll
Attended our school’s excellent art show this evening. The range and quality of art, fashioned in many media, was fantastic. There was great use of colour and quirky ideas, showing everyday items like railway tickets and plastic bottles in a new context. I loved pouring over the Sixth Year portfolios and seeing how ideas germanate from simple sketches to fully fledged concepts. Deft pencil lines became costumes or sculptures. Annotations revealed astonishing insight and knowledge.The corridors and stairways are overflowing with work, all carefuly framed and positioned, juxtaposing the abstract with the everyday. Bobbins of thread cluster arrestingly against a pink panel while butterflies made of tissue paper dance against the window, seemingly superimposed against the trees beyond. Giant, many coloured geckoes crawl across a wall and everywgere there are sculptures made of pieces of card or paper or plastic. The Colours of the Clyde theme was there, too, with images of brooding cranes, black against pastel sunsets or river scenes, or unfamiliar views taken at river level, looking up to the compelxity of arches under a gloomy bridge. Art departments are essential in every school. They allow pupils to let off steam, to be themselves, and to discover and play with ideas; art develops thought; the ability to see objects afresh, to deconstruct and then to build anew. Like almost no other subject pupils can express themselves, be emotional and respond to images in powerful ways. Art is fun, it’s bright and colourful, laden with imagery and imagination. Yet it is also a discipline; the work shown tonight was not good because it was done by pupils; it was good because there was a rigour and structure to the teaching and hours of hard work and thought by the pupils that led to the kind of exciting, challenging and vibrant displays we saw tonight.
