NORTHFLEET GIRLS SCHOOL
International Artist: Richard Deacon
Creative Practitioner: Jules Maxwell
16 Yr 9 students from Northfleet Girls School used Richard Deacon's work as a means to gain an understanding of both the commissioning process and the concept of site-specificity.
Responding to Deacons description of his proposal as a 'nest or cairn', the students investigation started with an in-depth look at these terms.
Nest: A place of home and nurture.
Cairn: Historically created by man to mark routes, high points and burial sites.
By creating maps depicting the journey from home to school and then reversing and applying the information to the school environment, each pupil was able to specify a spot within the building to label as 'home'. This activity challenged the group's relationship to the familiar school environment enabling them to each adopt a Landmark or site unique to them.
Further exploring the concept of site-specificity the students created signposts to mark their places or 'homes' within the school. Both literal and conceptual, these 'arrow's' and 'pointers' marked seemingly mundane places, a corner under a window, the lockers or picnic bench
These works were made and placed with an awareness of the community, in this case the other pupils and teachers in the school. The students were encouraged to realise and play with the implications of marking their landmarks with artworks that could at once delight, disorientate, intrigue and confront the passer by.
The project was particularly pertinent for North Fleet Girls as it transitions towards a new build. The students were asked to view their explorations and outcomes in relation to the changes taking place and consider the potential of a fully developed site-specific work for the new school grounds.
Central to the project at Northfleet Grammar was the nurturing of two fundamental principles. First, encouraging a sense of boldness and individuality, vital for them as young artists and second, enabling an appreciation of art beyond the narrow confines of visual arts.
By exploring conceptual ideas, notions of the absurd, games and the creative use of sound the group realising the potential for transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
