Tate Summer School 2016 and what happens back at school.

Alex Schady one of the artist /tutors for the week. A very intense and noble person whose clarity sustained us all week. The Summer School is a strange animal for a teacher, we get to be on the receiving end!

I felt that Anna Lucas and Alex were inspirational teachers and that their own work as artists had led to their approach in designing the week for us.

Back in school! I wanted to design my weeks planning more as artist than teacher(!) to see what opportunities this very conscious shift would give to me as an artist/ teacher and my students as artist/ students.

There was a clear aim for every activity but the aim presented often challenged ordinary habits we get into when we are part of groups. I particularly benefitted from this challenge.

I found myself watching others working, it is strange that when scanning my studio, I assume that the students who are ‘watching’ are doing …nothing.

Back in school, I have tried to look at my ‘watchers’ and encourage them to talk about what they are seeing and feeling. During the Summer School, I was watching often because I didn’t feel confident in doing the tasks or because I was more interested in what my peers were doing. I wasn’t being lazy!

My working relationship with some of my students has changed, I wait now and see what they are looking at and try to mirror what they are contributing and give this a context.

Arranging the studio e.g. Set areas of the ‘exchange’ were designated for formal and informal activity. instructions were on cards, or on slips of paper, we could work alone, there was a sense of sophistication about some of the starting points or ….we could play with PINK TAPE, cut holes in things..all very simple tasks but transformative ones!

Back in school, the students all have Visual Diaries; they come into each lesson with things to share and with images or ideas that they have chosen to keep.

Everything offered for us to do during the week was thoughtful and resulted in us all feeling that we were individuals within group tasks. This is quite a skill! Choice was a big component and I found when I got back to school that students have few choices and really value the opportunity to choose.

I know its only a colour of paper…but it seemed important that the paper was presented as though it mattered, I learned a lot about the small gestures that I value in my performances and had confirmed that being offered a piece of paper individually with a smile, is a way of being in the spaces that we want to be creative. There were lots of Tate stuff to support us, Tech were amazing at saying ‘yes’ very calmly…. when I wanted to make a dog fly in a window at Tate Switch House on a public staircase!

Tom and the other members of the Learning team often contextualised our learning; Alice and Leanne and Sarah actively pushing connections with cultural ideas or the things we might see on show in the new rooms at Switch House. It is important to have these reminders of why we do what we do, its a skill to question, connect, share observations …interrupt but not stop people working.

I used to stop everyone and I still do, but I also ‘chip in’ and encourage an open studio policy for other staff and students to ‘chip in’ to the lesson with their expertises.