Germinate Randy Klein + The Children and Staff of Boutcher C of E Primary School
Boutcher C of E Primary School 1st September 2001 - 10th January 2002
Published by Taking Shape Books 30 Homeleigh Road London SE15 3EE 020 7635 8627 randy@klein.f9.co.uk ISBN 0-9542951-0-2 Copyright Š Randy Klein and Boutcher C of E Primary School 2002
Introduction A garden is a magical place. And in a school in an inner city location, it is especially precious. Boutcher C of E Primary, located in Bermondsey in South London, is fortunate in having a generous amount of green space in its grounds. The garden is hidden from the busy road the school sits on by a large billboard. Its advertising messages shout at the passing motorists to ”Buy this!”, “Drive that!”, “Invest in this!” It is in this environment that a garden can make a big difference - as a haven from all of the noise and acquisitiveness of city life. I have left the solitary confines of my studio many times to get involved in residencies. There is a great freedom in following my own thoughts through to the creation of a body of work and eventually to an exhibition. But there is something which working with a community gives me to which I am drawn periodically. The fact that I can help others to touch their own creativity and leave a lasting mark of that process gives me a special kind of satisfaction. And never more than when working with children. I was first introduced to Rose Marie Lowe, deputy headteacher of Boutcher School, by Philippa Beagley of Southwark Arts Forum. I had already worked with children on many artists’ residencies, and had developed a personal working method in the projects I had been involved with. I felt that it was very important to develop a lasting and visible product as a result of these projects. Sometimes they have been permanent sculptures, sometimes a published book or a video, and sometimes they have been an environmental change to the community. Rose Marie and I found a harmony of intention, and we formed a strong partnership. Her aims - to unleash the children’s creativity through workshops with an artist, and to use the ideas generated to develop the school garden - were in perfect sympathy with my own working method. Together, we set to work - clarifying our ideas, writing proposals, searching out funding and partners. And so Germinate was born. In the end, we accomplished all of our original aims. However, it occurred to us that one of the reasons we were able to succeed was that we have both had a great deal of experience - in education, in artists’ residencies, in environmental projects. And it also seemed to us that there might be other organisations out there - schools, community groups, charities which might find our own experience on Germinate useful and instructive. This book grew out of the desire to share our experience. It is a document of our environmental project at Boutcher C of E Primary School. It is also
a “how to” manual. Perhaps some of the techniques we have used to incorporate the children‘s ideas into permanent form will inspire your own creativity. Perhaps the step by step guide will be helpful for those who have loads of creative ideas, but need to see how those ideas can be developed into a finished project. The information in this booklet will have special significance for educational institutions, but will also be relevant for any group or organisation looking to involve users in a creative consultation to change their environment.
Randy Klein Artist
Working with partners There is a lot of potential help out there, both for funds and sponsorship in kind - does a local printer want to help with printing costs? Is there a local environmental organisation which could help you find trees and other plants? There might also be other organisations in your area, statutory or voluntary, which could help you develop your project further, help put you in touch with artists, sponsors, funders, etc. The more information you can get the stronger your chances of succeeding with your project. In Germinate, the first partner we decided to work with was someone who could help us with the layout and execution of our landscape ideas. We discovered that Southwark Park Rangers undertook outreach projects, and we contacted them. They not only helped by creating designs for the overall landscaping of the garden, they researched suppliers for plants, trees, and accessories like ponds and bird feeders. They also worked on the actual planting and landscaping of the garden. In short, they were an indispensable partner on the project.
The Gate After the installation of the new fencing, it became apparent that the old gate simply would not do! A small team of children worked hard to come to decisions for a new gate that would fit aesthetically into the newly created area, but which would serve the practical purpose it was intended for. Within these guidelines designs were drawn and a combination of these used for the finished product.
Sculpture Many of the children created ideas for colourful sculptures for the garden. Some were statues of the headteacher, others were frog statues, fountains, etc. There were a huge number of ideas from the children for a free standing sculpture. Several of these ideas used a rainbow, a bridge, or an arch shape. By appropriating this form into a sculptural feature, we were able to include many different designs by the children into an archway that forms a feature in the final garden. The details in the arch were created by artist Randy Klein and his assistant Pablo Monsalve. The tubes were rolled by a specialist tube bender. London Engineering, a local steel fabricator
who Randy had worked with on several other projects, generously agreed to donate their time and expertise to put the arch together. Des, the master welder at London Engineering, welded the details to the curved tubes. Then the arch was painted in the rainbow colours that featured in the children’s model.
Minibeast area Initial workshops which brainstormed ideas for the garden resulted in a lot of the children’s artwork being related to insects, worms and other little beasties. This was the beginning of the idea for having a minibeast area in the garden. Once again, Southwark Park Rangers were great at guiding us - a log with holes in it is an ideal home for minibeasts. A trap door on the garden floor, when opened, will reveal all sorts of creepy crawlies. These and other ideas came directly from the Rangers. Bird and butterfly area The younger children were particularly fascinated by butterflies and through workshops produced colourful images in paint, plasticine
and other media. Following their ideas we developed a butterfly area in the garden specifically planted to encourage the inhabitance of different species. A bird area evolved in a similar way and nesting boxes and feeders now sit side by side with the berried trees and bushes birds love.
Paving stones Following a design from an individual child, we developed an idea to create our own paving stones, complete with clay inserts made by children in workshops. These inserts were sunk into wet cement on site to make the final paving slabs. Artist Eunice de Pascali, who is also a parent of a child at Boutcher Primary, generously donated her time and expertise, working with children to create the clay inserts, and then firing them. The paving stones were cast by Southwark Direct, and laid by the Green Team, Southwark. The Climbers and the Fence The old garden fence was starting to fall apart, so we proposed replacing it. As part of the new fence, we decided to incorporate sculptural plant climbers at the top. Workshops were held with
Randy Klein, in which children worked with wire to develop their ideas for the climbers. Then Klein, together with his assistant Pablo de Monsalve, built the finished climbers in forged steel, and welded them to the upright supports of the new fence. Brightly coloured geometric shapes, made from perforated steel, were used to decorate the main body of the fence.
The Billboard At the bottom of the garden there was a billboard facing out to the road. This billboard belongs to Maiden Outdoor Advertising, and provides a small rental income to the school. The worn out, boring back of the billboard was all you could see from inside the garden. Discussions with John Ball and Roy Oliver of Maiden Outdoor Advertising led to an agreement: The school would keep the rent for the the billboard reasonable, and Maiden would provide a new billboard on the inside. Children’s’ drawings were blown up to full poster size. They were then printed by Russell Signs and mounted. This poster will be changed several times a year, with a competition held to choose the new artwork.
The Pond In many of the models produced by the children, a water feature or pond was included. This was incorporated into the final design. At the consultation, some parents were concerned about child safety, so we made sure the pond was very shallow, set the pond up high on a little mound (so it could not be stumbled into), and surrounded it with a rockery protecting it further.
Step 1. Clarifying your aims When you think of your aims, what springs to mind? A new pond? A refurbished play area? A community led environmental art project on an estate? These might be your practical goals, but what are your real aims? Dig deeper and try to explore the concerns of your community more fully. For example, it might be important to engage local people in their immediate environment, to invite them to creatively imagine what they would really like, and to empower them to actually make those changes. If people have a sense of ownership of their environment, they will be more likely to value and nurture it, and to take a positive constructive role in the community. Young people can benefit greatly from gaining insight at first hand into the world of work and the skills of people involved in creative improvements. The creative arts are a great forum for all of these benefits, and bring untold benefits of their own. These kinds of aims are more inspiring to you than merely thinking about the pond you want to create. They will also be more inspiring to your potential funders, sponsors and partners. But they can only be discovered by thinking long and hard about your particular community, and the people your project will involve.
Step 2. Writing a proposal Once you have identified your aims, you already have the core of your proposal. Now you have to make sure these aims are explained in a clear and simple way. Remember, those reading your proposal will not have as clear an idea of the background and function of your organisation, nor will they have a sense of the history of your involvement. All of this must be communicated in the introduction to your proposal. It is always a good idea to give your project a name. Think seriously about this, because it must be a tag which will express the central themes of your ideas both to participants and to potential funders and partners.
The proposal should answer four important questions: Who? Who will benefit, who will help you, who are your likely partners? What? What is it you hope to accomplish? This is the practical structure of the project, and the specific outcomes - the things which were too specific for your aims. For example if your project includes artist workshops with children, then how many work-
shops, how long will they be, what will actually happen in these workshops, what materials will you need, where will they take place. These are the nuts and bolts of your project. How? How will this be achieved? Exactly where are the workshops to be held? How will you find the participants? How will you get the support of partners? Will you research other projects to see how they succeeded? When? A precise timetable should be written (which may need to be updated). Perhaps the project will naturally fall into sections, i.e. Phase 1: Meetings to organise project, identify possible sources of funding, etc. Phase 2: Workshops. Phase 3: Consultation with the community and final plans. Phase 4: Environmental improvements. Many funding organisations will have their own application form or suggested structure to your proposal. Don’t be afraid that you are wasting your time. All of the work you do perfecting your proposal will be useful - most of the applications and guidelines will have a similar structure. Additionally, most of the work you do on your application will be useful to you on your next application. You will find that they get easier to complete as your ideas get clearer. Step 3. Fund-raising Is your project actually fundable?
Your ideas must be interesting and unique to potential funding bodies. If it is a plan to put a sand pit in a play area, this will not fire the imagination of a funder. Perhaps you should spend more time on steps one and two until the project really begins to develop and become more interesting.
How will you research your potential funders? Do you have any ideas about where to start looking, perhaps charities local to your area or relevant to your particular type of organisation. There may also be local arts organisations who can help you with searching for funding, and will even help you find artists to work with. Germinate was based in Southwark and we were fortunate to have Southwark Arts Forum. Don’t be shy. Phone up any funding leads and talk to the administrator. Are they likely to be interested in your project? If not, can they direct you to another funder who might be interested? Much of the funding for Germinate came from sources identified by other previous funders. Some funding bodies are specific to a local area. Perhaps your local council keeps information on these funders.
Some funding bodies are national but have locally based offices. If you are a school, you will no doubt have heard of sources of funding. Some funders publicise themselves by sending out information. If you hear of any projects which interest you, or seem similar to your own, try to find out how it was funded. There are also large directories of information, listing hundreds of funders:
organisations manage lottery awards as well. Arts Council of England 14 Great Peter St. London SW1P 3NQ 020 7333 0100 London Arts 2 Pear Tree Court London EC1R 0DS 020 7608 6100 www.charitiesdirect.com
The Directory for Social Change is a very expensive book, but it should be available at your local library. Funderfinder 0113 2433008 www.funderfinder.org.uk You will be expected to purchase their software to be able to use this resource, however if you phone them you can find out which library local to you has their software. The Arts Council of England has funding programmes for arts in education. Also, the regional arts boards will have programmes dedicated to your area. Both
Step 4. The Consultation From the very beginning we knew we would need a chance to share our ideas with all of the interested parties. Parents, teachers, all of the children, local people along with funding bodies and local council representatives. For this reason we planned to have an exhibition of the children‘s work, and we also produced a questionnaire for visitors to the exhibition. This asked for comments and reactions to the ideas on display, and invited any further ideas. Step 5. Managing a Budget In order to establish a baseline for the amount of funding required for the project, we outlined approximate costings for the main elements contained in it, i.e. workshops, landscaping, planting, construction costs and sculptural features. Once initial funding was found, match funding became easier to elicit. As the project evolved, developments meant
that further funding was needed. We ensured that a contingency budget was always kept and prioritised spending, branching out as more money became available. Many expenses were cut as word of mouth from one partner to others resulted in us gaining products and labour we needed at near to cost prices - this being one of the major advantages in establishing the form of network that this project allowed. Step 6. The Evaluation The educational benefits of the project were enormous. The children learned to view their environment from a new perspective, and to realise how they themselves are able to have control over improving it. They learned to work cooperatively, making joint decisions as to designs best suited to a specific purpose. In addition the project afforded them the opportunity of working with people from many different walks of life. As the children became increasingly involved in working with Germinate, so the opportunities for extension of the curriculum became more obvious and, in fact, inherent in the project. The final result has been the creation of a beautiful and tranquil area in the midst of the inner city. For all those involved it has been a real and lasting experience. Step 7. The Report Taking the evaluation further, a report about the project is important to sum up all of the aspects of the project, and to
share the experience with others. Your partners and funders, as well as participants and stakeholders would like to know how the project went. In our discussions of how to put the report together, we realised that our experience might have more general interest to the arts education community, and the idea for this book came about. The printing of Germinate was funded by a generous grant from London Arts as part of their fund for building arts education networks. We hope it gives you some idea of how we went about achieving our dreams, and maybe is in some way helpful to you in achieving yours.
Art Drawing skills - line drawing and proportion • Painting colour mixing, brush control, shade and tone • Drawing within specific requirements
Design Technology Designing and making structures from different materials • Food technology using garden produce • Planning and designing layouts
Science Habitats of animals, birds and minibeasts • Food chains • Life cycles • Pollination • Fruiting • Evaporation • Growth of green plants • Conditions for life Germinate Garden Project
Religious Education Creation of life • Spiritual Reflection • Appreciation of the world around us
English Poetry • Fictional and non-fictional writing • Reading of related texts
Geography Weather and climatic influences • Local area study • Wind direction and effects • Rainfall • Seasonal changes • Comparative environments
Information Communication Technology Researching related information using the internet • Planning and designing layouts Music Composing and performing using the garden as stimulus
Maths Measurement - area, volume, capacity, length • Scale and mapping skills • Multiplication and addition • Graphs and data handling
Germinate was made possible by grants from: Southwark Children’s’ Foundation Worshipful Company of Dyers Cross River Partnership Corporation of Wardens Southwark Council Groundwork Southwark Learning through Landscapes With special thanks for their support: Southwark Arts Forum London Engineering Southwark Park Rangers London Wildlife Trust John Purcell Paper Maiden Outdoor Advertising Browns Design Davy Jones Eunice de Pascali Pablo Monsalve Southwark Direct Westerham Press
Photography by Davy Jones (except pages 3, 6-7 and 14-15 by Randy Klein) Design by Chris Duggan at Browns/London Printed by Westerham Press This book was published with the help of a grant from London Arts
I Have a Dream I have a dream That a mystical garden Took the place of my own. The sweet scent of Roses and tulips Attracting the beastly insects That collect the sticky pollen The trickling sound of water over stones, Listening to the swaying Of the old willow tree in the breeze The colourful flowers, Surrounding the wildlife pond Home to many creatures The unpredictable shapes of the clouds. A blazing hot sun, Scorching your back, The velvety petals That scatter the ground. This is the garden of my dreams. With not a care in the world, To worry about. Yetunde Yusuf
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