On Monday 26th March 2018 we began the second phase of our work on the project, Rivers of the World. Artist Shona Watt is running a two day workshop on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th March, working with a group of year 9 students; the same students who took part in the project last year when we made the work based on the painting Ophelia. This year our attention turns to the rivers in Lagos, Nigeria and our theme is looking at, 'Resourceful Rivers'. Considering the theme we decided to explore the fishing industry in Lagos and how it supports the economy in Lagos and how over many years it has been a rich resource of food for a growing population. However, in recent years the rivers have become heavily polluted with man-made waste, especially plastics.
Using photographic resources that Mr Fox Joyce took while on his visit to Lagos in February, the students started making A3 pencil drawings of fish and other river creatures. They then used these simple line drawings as a template to start cutting up waste material, especially plastics, which were then formed together by hand stitching to great a basic structure. This structure was then filled with found plastics to bulk out the body and give life to the objects. Decorations were then added to the main form to give refined detailed and clarity to the final pieces.
In day two, Tuesday, the students will aim to complete one or two river creatures and then they will be working on looking at ways to present their final pieces to be photographed ready for the final display.
Day 2 and it is an early start. More fish and river creature making on the menu. Students busy hand stitching, painting, cutting and pasting, sewing machines whirring away in the background; a very busy and productive working environment!!
The next phase of the project is for the students to start painting their own hands to look like fish scales, shimmering in the water. The students then hold their own model fish or river creature to be photographed on different backgrounds.
Artist Shona Watts will now take the final images and rework these in a final collaborative design which is due to go on display in August as part of the Thames Festival event; more details to follow.
Well done to all the year 9 girls who took part in the Rivers of the World project 2018. Next we aim to make postcards from the final images to send to our partner school in Lagos Nigeria in order to keep up the collaborative project work that we have been developing over the last year.
