From January-March 2020 Sighthill Primary School’s P5 class worked with artist Sally Price and Edinburgh Art Festival, using disposable waste materials as inspiration for sculpture, assemblage and drawing. In their weekly workshops at WHALE Arts, the class took inspiration from items we usually consider rubbish to explore small- and large-scale abstract sculpture making, the idea of temporary artwork, and the importance of environmentally-minded art making.
The final stages of their project – sharing with their peers what they had learned, and inviting them to take part in a school-wide sculpture making afternoon, with the outcomes presented alongside the class’s creation at WHALE Arts – unfortunately were unable to go ahead due to Covid-19 lockdown.
Now, out of lockdown, and finding new ways of being safe and together at school and at WHALE Arts, we felt it was the right time to celebrate the fantastic work the class have made, which includes collages, long-scale drawings, miniature sculptures, and a banner they made especially for the exhibition they aptly named ‘Build a Mini-Eco World’. The work, inspired and using recycled materials, shows how we can explore the impact of humans on the environment and find creative solutions to waste, inspiring the community to revalue rubbish and see the artistic potential in what we throw away.
Don’t miss this fantastic exhibition which runs until the 17 December 2020, and can be viewed from outside WHALE Arts!
Facebook Live introduction to the exhibition by artist Sally Price and Holly Yeoman from Edinburgh Art Festival here.
Exhibition runs 26 November – 17 December 2020
Edinburgh Art Festival Community Engagement runs a year-round programme of learning and engagement activities building long-term relationships with partner organisations, community groups and schools. Through our bespoke tours, workshops and projects we introduce and inspire people to get creative, removing barriers and broadening access to visual art and our festival programme.
Between 2019-2022, WHALE Arts an Edinburgh Art Festival are working collaboratively to support community engagement in contemporary visual art in Wester Hailes, with the ambition to commission an artist to develop a new work for Wester Hailes in 2022. The project will have co-creation with the community at its heart, and through activities and dialogue with community organisations, residents of all ages and local schools, will explore fundamental local issues. Activities, including ongoing partnerships with Sighthill Primary and Wester Hailes Education Centre, enable participants to share and expand their knowledge and creativity, experience and skills, using art as a tool for bringing people together and empowering them.
Sally Price is an artist-educator based in Edinburgh. Her practice is centred in material properties and intuitive process, often with an environmental element to it. She is keen to reframe our decisions about what we see as waste by encouraging art making that is satisfying for humans whilst being considerate and caring of the natural world.
Edinburgh Art Festival Community Engagement Blog
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