From the Artists who brought you The Just the Ticket Project…
The BIG Poster Project
For this project we worked with 7 - 11 year olds in sixteen schools and youth groups throughout Birmingham. During one-day workshop looked at aspects of identity and heritage through games, discussions, and art making.
We took Birmingham's coat of arms and its relationship to the origins of the city as our starting point in order to look at young people's own relationships to their communities.
There was a custom made presentation for each group about the landmarks, both historical and contemporary, which define their corner of the city.
As well as creating their own coat of arms, we will then used printing and collage techniques to create an extra large picture that every child in the group contributed to.
The picture was photographed and digitally incorporated into a giant collage of Birmingham's own coat of arms, which was displayed on 70 council poster sites throughout the city.
Seeing their own work exhibited in such an accessible way added to young people’s self esteem and a feeling of pride in their community.
Practical art making exercises are of great benefit to children of this age group as they help to develop fine motor skills and encourage an artistic response to everyday situations which foster creativity and fuel imaginations.
By the end of the project each participating group had:
- Their own original 1185x1750mm (CIP size) artwork and a copy of the glossy poster print of our final image to display in their building.
- Their name and artwork included on the poster image to be displayed at 70 sites around the city.
- A laminated A4 copy of the final image for each child as a certificate and a lasting memento of their participation in the project.
- A resource pack for teachers and group leaders giving step-by-step details of the techniques used in the workshops, useful contacts for further projects and ideas for on-going art making activities that could be developed and enjoyed by their group.
John O'Hanlon and Ben Semp are experienced artists who specialise in arts projects with primary age children.
In 2002 we ran a project to print children's art on the backs of 1.8 million bus tickets.
Here are some comments we received then:
- "The Children were fully on task and totally enthused by what they were doing."
Mr. Derek Higgins - Hawkesley Church Primary School
- "Excellent day, children and teachers thoroughly enjoyed the experience and got a
great deal out of it." Ms. Catherine Lavelle - Year 5 Kingsthorne Primary School