Working in partnership with Argyle School, artists George Mellor, Lizzie Lewendon, Philip Nangle and Jenny Moore, October Gallery has offered an exciting out of school experience. So far these have included soundscape storytelling, argyle animations, a 6ft neon installation with triptych and most recently a film & photography exhibition inspired by Romuald Hazoumè's Cargoland. 

At the end of each project the children have the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Gallery. Some exhibitions featuring in the Camden New Journal, Islington Tribune and West End Extra.The final project took place in July 2012.

We hope to continue with our after-school club project in 2013.

Find out  about our four projects so far:

Project 1

Inspired by Nnenna Okore's exhibition Metamorphoses
15 Children from Year 3
April 2011

Children work with Storyteller Lizzie Lewendon to produce an exhibition and soundscape performance. Inspired by the work of artist Nnenna Okore, who uses recycled materials to make her fantastic sculptures, they used different techniques to transform the space in to something magical.

Over the four weeks they produced sculptures of their own, created character profiles and devised a series of stories and songs that were performed to an audience of friends and family at the October gallery at the end of the project

 

Project 2

Inspired by Current: New Zealand exhibition
15 Children from Year 4
July 2011

Working with animator Sister Arrow (George Mellor), the Creative Kids 2nd project focused around the exhibition of Current with works from a group of New Zealand artists. Starting in the gallery the children brainstormed the different themes and ideas that featured in the artworks including oceanic worlds, nature's patterns, textures and New Zealand animals.

Back at school they developed storyboards; creating models of shells, plants, fish, mountains, and volcanoes. The children then learnt about the animation process and worked closely with George Mellor to animate their stories. They also made credit pages, clapper boards and sounds to accompany the final production.

The animation was previewed at the school in a screening event attended by the Head teacher of Argyle School and all of the pupils from Key Stage 3.

Project 3

Inspired by Gandalf Gavan's Knots exhibition
15 Children from Year 6
November 2011

Working with Philip Nangle, the 3rd project explored ideas around identity, abstraction and materiality.

The children started by visiting the gallery and exploring some of the production techniques used by exhibiting artist Gandalf Gavan. They discussed the conceptual ideas around the artworks, social and historical context.

At the school they wrote about their favourite exhibits and started to construct a luminous neon sculpture that could be suspended from the ceiling.
Philip Mangle taught the children how to stretch canvases, creating a 6ft x 4ft abstract triptych using paints and rope.

The Year 6 class returned to the gallery to plan their private view. They curated their exhibition, planned guided tours and decided on refreshments.

Over 50 people attended their final exhibition at the gallery and an article about it featured in the Camden New Journal, Islington Tribune and West End Extra.
They also had a school assembly where they displayed their work and spoke about it.

Project 4

Inspired by Romuald Hazoumè's Cargoland exhibition
15 Children from Year 5
July 2012 

Artist Jenny Mooreworked with students from Argyle School to create work in response to Romuald Hazoumè'sexhibition.

Participants began by thinking about the social and geographical context of Romuald's work. They explored the exhibition, discussed their favourite artworks and took part in a series of curatorial exercises. 

Thinking about photographic techniques and image making, they created a series of masks and cyanotypes. Their masks were used in their stop-animation film, where they appeared as though they had been photocopied. They also created a soundtrack, that mimicked sounds from their local area and image capturing machinery. 

Inspired by Romuald's panoramic vistas, children journeyed around Kings Cross collecting rubbish to create and abstract portrait of their local area. This was then used in photographs and sculptures.

Their exhibition was on 17th July 2012, where they gave guided tours, speeches and interviews with a journalist. Everyone one very impressed with the sophistication of the show they curated!