Newspaper Fashion

As part of Enrichment week 75 year students took part in a Newspaper Fashion workshop.  Their brief was to design and make a unique and creative garment using only newspaper and masking tape. They spent the day folding, tearing, cutting, sticking, bending, stacking and any other verb you care to imagine.

The outcomes were phenomenal and despite them being the youngest members for the school we felt it necessary to share some of the outcomes in order to inspire older years.

They worked superbly throughout the whole day and appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves...as did the staff- thank you to all involved, particularly Miss Cove and Mr Matthews for taking the photographs.

I'll leave you to peruse a few of the finished pieces whilst also wishing everyone a happy holiday!

Miss Miller

Year 9 trip to Hasting's

Lady luck was with us on Tuesday 17th July for a jaunt to the sunny Sussex coast of Hasting's, and what a day we had!
Mrs Tomic, Mr Chubb, Mrs Austin and myself took 45 year 9 Art and Graphic Design student's on an inspirational drawing, rubbing and surface collecting excursion along the wind swept beach.
Our first stop was the amazing fishing boats and huts, where we encountered some crazy seagulls, fisherman and fish, rope and nets. Perfect for finding and creating textures. We even had some brave paddlers in the sea!
We then walked down the lanes and took the funicular railway upto the top of the cliff for lunch, relaxing and admiring the spectacular view. 
It was then time for some ice cream and fun on the fairground rides!
A fantastic day all round.  Be sure to use your research to help you with your summer I.S!

Miss Cove :)

POP at the Fashion & Textiles Museum

On Tuesday evening Miss Cove and I took ourselves off to a teachers evening at the FTM. The current Pop exhibition explores the 1950s/60s movement in fashion. Highlights include items from Elton John’s personal wardrobe, purple flares worn by Donovan, the pop-art fashions of Mary Quant as well as Quant’s early modernist pieces from the original Bazaar.

After mooching around the exhibition we were treated to a presentation from Sheila Ayton- an unsung fashion hero and Wallis designer for 40 years. Her interesting talk on her love hate relationship with couture made me wish I grew up 30 years earlier.

Here are some images of some of the work. Get yourself there. £5 for you lot.

Miss Miller

Philip Haas

Went to see these fun sculptures today which are in the garden at Dulwich Picture Gallery. If you get a chance to go, they are on show all over the Summer. They are inspired by the paintings of Acrimboldo. A great, free local exhibition to see.

Mrs Doig

SUPER CHEAP Fashion Courses!!!

Firstly- well done to all of you that either made it along or ran a taster session in either Art or Textiles on Thursday.  I tried to pop my head into each session and I must say the enthusiasm from both those delivering and those taking part was infectious.  I know I don't speak just for myself when I say I am super excited about next year!

Secondly- you would be a fool to miss out on some free opportunities available to you if you are currently in year 11-12.  Both Fashion & Textiles Museum and The V&A are running free sessions in the summer for 16-18 year olds. 

The Fashion & Textiles Museum (FTM)
They have two sessions left:

Fashion Media or Fashion Sketchbook- 24th & 25th July.  They are two day courses that go really quickly (they are the last two left). You will need to fill out an application form asap, but this is such a great opportunity, especially as Textiles will be a new course for you next year so it would be really good to get some skills before starting.  Check it out now FTM Website

V&A
This page shows loads of really excellent workshops the V&A are running this summer.  Any of these workshops you can get to would be really really useful for you next year.

If you aren't sure what might be best or need help with anything then email me.  I have mentioned this courses lots of times before and as far as I am aware so far no-one has gone yet.  They genuinely are an opportunity not to be missed!

Miss Miller :-)

Texture & Pattern in Nature

So I spent a large proportion galavanting around the British countryside, mainly trying to hunt down DofE groups.

Whilst I was out and about I came across loads of simple examples of pattern and texture in natural forms which fit perfectly in with the year 11 into 12 summer I.S. I have uploaded some photos (all taken really easily on my iPhone) to get you going if you're feeling a little stuck...

There are also some lovely flowers in there which my Mum picked from her garden. They really brightened up my (and my year 9 Textiles) Monday morning!

Hope you're enjoying the weekend. This week seemed to last forever for me!

Miss Miller

Life this Week

So this week has been absolutely crazy. On Monday we had our visitor from the examiner, Wednesday was Creative Explosion- the Art, Textiles, Product Design, Media and Photography work fest, Thursday year 11 Prom and Friday overnight into Saturday I had my Duke of Edinburgh hat on and was supporting 30 year 10s to run around the beautiful English countryside!

Monday and Wednesday combined had to be up there as one of the proudest moments of my teaching career so far. Work that has in some cases taken months to complete was exhibited for everyone to see. It was so nice to see people's genuinely impressed reactions- we have been looking at and working with the outcomes for months now but for some people it was the first time of seeing them and from the comments on the night and since-they loved it! At times, year 12, it's been hard but whatever your plan for next year you must all be super proud of what you have achieved since walking through the door and not having a clue what Textiles even was!!

Here are some photos I took when the work was prepared for the examiner...