"All the children circling the world shows that we are the future"
I was invited to Bishop King Primary School in Lincoln to talk about my work as an illustrator and author and to create a big collaborative piece of work in October. I talked about what inspired me to be an artist when I was young.
"I didn't think I could draw, I never enjoyed it but Stephen showed me I can draw and create characters from my imagination"
We discussed ‘imagination’ and talked about how that is the most important thing you need to be a creative person. The school wanted to create a collaborative piece of work which combined our environment and the schools diversity as they are a 60% EAL school (English as an Additional Language). So we discussed the idea of us all working together to care for our planet and what we want to help save and sustain.
"The best thing about it was you got to draw what popped into your head. There were no rules."
We talked about our favourite ‘local environments’ and what could happen if everyone worked together to care for our world on a ‘Global’ scale. So we talked about a ‘Global’ approach and everyone doing something to help, which would build into something much bigger. So this resulted in ‘It’s Our Globe’.
"The whole day helped my imagination and inspired me to draw"
The Year 5 & 6 children started by creating their own portraits to go all the way around the world, to symbolize that they are protecting and caring for it. The children developed ideas and created artwork for the land, sea and air. They were allowed to create several versions so they felt they could take risks and create energetic and experimental artwork.
The workshop took place over two hours in an afternoon. It then took me around a full week to cut out the 600 pieces of artwork and to paint the globe. I then composed and glued all the children’s artwork on the boards. The artwork is 2m x 2m and is now on the wall in the school hall. We had an unveiling assembly last week to show the final completed artwork which was a very exciting moment for everyone involved.
"I loved our day with Mr Waterhouse. It was lots of fun"
The artwork is now a great starting point for the children’s story writing and they are over the moon to have this opportunity to show it off to the outside world. The artwork now serves as a constant source of inspiration for the children and they have been enjoying seeing their artwork everyday. The parents can now see their children’s work in the context of a wider collaborative project with an Illustrator.
by Stephen Waterhouse – Illustrator & Author, Lecturer at Loughborough University and Visiting artist to schools.
Quotes from the teachers
‘Quite emotional at how fantastic the art work looks’ ……’ The children were 'buzzing' as they were going home. I am sure we will get lots of follow up activities both written and art based’. Organiser Jeanette Bocking, English Lead & Head of Key Stage 2.
‘WOW!!!! That’s brilliant!!! We LOVE our artwork! Thank you’ Cara Craven Yr 5 Teacher.
You can see my other artwork here www.stephenwaterhouse.com and I am SWillustrator on Twitter.