Adapting AccessArt: Stories and Faces

By Sarah Longley

This resource documents a project facilitated by artist educator Sarah Longley, working in collaboration with a primary school and a daycare centre in Scotland. Sarah talks about how she was inspired by the Exploring Identity pathway to deliver a project that sought to produce vibrant portraits inspired by the stories of participants.

In this project, children interviewed elderly people from a daycare centre and produced portraits inspired by their stories. Sarah explains how she facilitated this project by navigating funding, building community relations and celebrating important social history through portraiture.

This project took place over several weeks, with three sessions to prepare children for the visit to the daycare centre and three sessions to complete the portraits. Sarah also details how she managed to get the whole school involved in the project, which resulted in two wonderful exhibitions, a book and a film.

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AccessArt Olympics: Sportswear Design

<<Explore Other Olympic Themes

Explore the project below to help pupils consider how they might design an Olympic/Paralympic Kit based on either Olympic Athletics or History.

Sportswear Design

Aim: To introduce pupils to sportswear design, what it’s used for and what it can represent. Pupils will get the opportunity to design their own sportswear whilst developing painting and collage skills.

Step 1: Introduce

Begin the session by asking pupils to make an Olympic project sketchbook using one of the “Making Sketchbooks” resources.

Introduce pupils to iconic Olympic Fashion from the past using “Talking Points: Olympic Fashion“. Invite pupils to create “Visual Notes” in their sketchbooks inspired by what they see.

Step 2: Drawing

Give pupils the opportunity to draw figures from life inspired by the “Life Drawing For Children” resource. Borrow some sports equipment from the PE department to inform their poses. Take it in turns to model in an athletic pose related to the sports prop and draw.

Drawing from Life with Children

Step 3: Introduce

Introduce pupils to the idea that sportswear can be designed to reflect a sport, person, a team, a place etc. Watch the videos on “Talking Points: Designing Sportswear” and use the questions to prompt a discussion about what designers use as inspiration for their designs.

Using paint and collage, invite pupils to create decorated papers which can be transformed into “2d and 3d Fashion Designs“. Adapt the resource slightly to encourage them to think about what motifs/symbols/patterns they might create to reflects their local area, personality, a sport, olympic value, or a focus of your choice.

marking the paper pattern

Step 4: Reflect

Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project.

Invite children to display the work in a clear space on tables or on the wall. Recap with them about the exploration – where they started, what they discovered and what they enjoyed.

If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams.

attaching to the mannequin

ages 9-11
ages 11-14

Materials:

Sketchbooks

A3 and A4 Cartridge Paper

Drawing materials

Sports equipment to use as props

Acrylic Paint

Brushes

Scissors

PVA glue

Mannequins (Wooden or Cardboard)

Clear tape

Adaptations:

Explore other olympic themes

history

Values

ceremony