Making Spaces was a Creative Partnerships project initiated by COBALT in collaboration with Staindrop School and Seaham Deneside Infant School in County Durham. Kathryn Hodgkinson from the COBALT collective captures the experience of Making Spaces.
COBALT consists of four separate creative businesses. Although as individuals our practices vary considerably, the one area that we all have in common is that we create or transform spaces using a variety of materials. Using our collective experience we wanted to establish a platform to inspire others to create remarkable spaces.
We also wanted to extend our partnership work as much as possible. In 2003 Creative Partnerships Durham Sunderland set up ?Connecting Minds? ? an open scheme designed to fund ideas. We applied with the idea for ?Making Spaces? and that was the start of a partnership which has extended our contacts and enhanced our work.
Working with year ten students at Staindrop School, our initial theme was ?spaces of the imagination?. We looked at what architecture could be ? from pigeon coops to temples. We encouraged the students to consider the spaces they inhabit and spaces that they would like to inhabit. Favourite buildings, rooms and textures were recorded using disposable cameras. From these initial discussions the students explored their ideas for creative spaces through model making. We wanted them to create their own ?personal architecture?. One student constructed an igloo from plastic coffee cups. He was quite happy to play around with these cups and work out how many cups he needed to build the base circle. Something he would find difficult to approach in maths became easier through art.
In order to experience how different spaces make us feel, we took the Staindrop group on a daytrip to Kielder Forest in Northumberland. We tested the acoustics of James Turrell?s Skyspace and managed to get lost in ?The Minotaur?s Maze?. This exploration of both ideas and materials resulted in a series of full-scale three-dimensional realisations ? which were then exhibited in Newcastle as part of Architecture Week 2004.
In contrast to these physical spaces, we worked with infants at Seaham Deneside Infants School to make a short film. A soundtrack was created from music and noises made by the children in the school. The main focus of the film was the children?s experience of the school and the effect that the architecture has on them. Through discussion and writing stories we learned about how the different spaces made them feel.
These two projects have had a profound impact on the way we work and think at COBALT. They helped us to understand the creative potential of two different age groups and their capacity to respond to the built environment. We were also inspired by the process, as we tapped into the young peoples? ability to create inspiring ?personal architecture? of their own.
What is Creative Partnerships?
Creative Partnerships is a government-funded programme delivered through Arts Council England, that aims to give schoolchildren in deprived areas throughout England the opportunity to develop creativity in learning, and participate in cultural activities.
Its vision is based on developing long-term partnerships between schools and cultural and creative organisations. These include writers and literacy organisations ? as well as architects, theatre and dance companies, historic buildings, musicians and online designers.
Sixteen Phase One partnerships were established in July 2002 as an initial pilot for the programme. The programme was then extended to cover 36 areas, which are currently being rolled out.
The programme is funded through the DCMS (with some additional funds from the DfES) and delivered by Arts Council England. Funding for the programme is currently confirmed until 2008.
COMING UP..
Issue 98 will focus on how arts professionals have worked with science teachers to enliven the science curriculum and put creativity at the heart of school life