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Andy Dalton and Jane Redfern show how rural teenagers can embrace challenging contemporary art in a project linking the A-level curriculum to an art gallery.

‘Willy 2000’ – Sarah Lucas. Sculpture made of cigarettes
Young curators in Ryedale

A folk museum located in a rural North Yorkshire beauty spot seems an unlikely place to address teen issues through contemporary art. However, the Ryedale Folk Museum has done just that through ‘Unit 5’, a collaborative project between the museum, Malton School in North Yorkshire and the Arts Council Collection. The name comes from Unit 5 of the A-level Art curriculum: personal study of a contemporary artist requiring students to undertake research into contemporary practice, develop a knowledge of art historical context and initiate direct contact with the artist.

Through the project, students from rural Malton School have curated an exhibition featuring contemporary sculpture from the Arts Council Collection, the largest loan collection of British post-war art in the world. The direction and decisions about the content of the exhibition are initiated by the students. They manage a real budget, and have to negotiate the curatorial process with the help of the project partners. Students are supported by mentor professionals, who advise them on the research, selection, installation and marketing of a public exhibition of contemporary sculpture. The intention is to offer these young curators an opportunity to experience the process of mounting a professional quality exhibition of contemporary sculpture.

Planning began in February, and a programme of workshop sessions were organised to introduce students to contemporary sculpture and issues such as installation, design, marketing and interpretation. These formed the framework for weekly workshop activities in which students could develop their ideas with the guidance of museum, teaching staff and relevant professionals.

A key element of their learning curve has been both the acquisition of project management skills and the conceptual leap necessary for the students to deal in a balanced and critical way with the multiple forms that contemporary sculpture can take. Seeing this group of students open their minds to the challenging nature of the art, and grow in the confidence that they could present their ideas to others has been the most rewarding aspect of the whole exercise.

As is often the case when working with young people in an environment where their creativity and skills are encouraged, they surpass their own expectations and those of the institutions that work with them. ‘Access for all’ is a central theme of much recent theory, practice and policy, so it is crucial that we are prepared to have many of our cherished, longstanding and unquestioned practices disputed, revised or over-turned as we open our organisations to an ever more diverse range of audiences.

Ellie Brown, one of the young curators, says, “The fact that we are housing a pig skin, letters spelling out ‘Heroin Kills’ and a huge pizza delivery moped in the North Yorkshire Moors is rebelling against the art work that a lot of Yorkshire people are used to, such as watercolour paintings of Whitby!” Student Chloe Hill adds, “Teenagers are seen in society to be rebellious, and to break the boundaries of trust, and I feel this range of sculptures show that. All the sculptures relate with everyday objects that maybe seen as rebelling, and forbidden. No teenager can be seen as a goody two-shoes, right?”

Andy Dalton is the Curator of The Gallery at Ryedale Folk Museum.
w: http://www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk

Jane Redfern is a marketing and PR consultant. t: 01845 526720; e: pr@janeredfern.co.uk
Unit 5, Sculpture from the Arts Council Collection opens at the Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton le Hole on 5 July and runs until 17 August.