The Source Park, Hastings, 16 July – 16 September 2016
Schools across Hastings and Rother have been working with local artists to respond to one of the biggest events in British history, the Battle of Hastings. This year we are celebrating the 950th anniversary of this historic event with ROOT 1066, an international festival which draws on several art forms to explore its impact and examine the ways it shaped the world we live in now.
Local schools have been getting involved with the help of Hastings and Rother Arts and Education Network, who commissioned Lee Shearman and Steve Tasane to produce toolkits which schools can download and use in their classrooms. Working with Lee they have produced pop-up accordion books based on the Bayeux tapestry and with Steve they have written poetry inspired by the battle and the themes which surround it. This exhibition presents the work produced by the first of the schools to use these toolkits and take part in workshops which ran in June and July 2016.
Twitter: HRAENetwork #MTTS
Local schools have been getting involved with the help of Hastings and Rother Arts and Education Network, who commissioned Lee Shearman and Steve Tasane to produce toolkits which schools can download and use in their classrooms. Working with Lee they have produced pop-up accordion books based on the Bayeux tapestry and with Steve they have written poetry inspired by the battle and the themes which surround it. This exhibition presents the work produced by the first of the schools to use these toolkits and take part in workshops which ran in June and July 2016.
Twitter: HRAENetwork #MTTS
Recordings of children performing poetry / audioBoom
Steve’s toolkit used ten poetic forms to provide schools with a springboard for writing poetry, making it easy and fun. The toolkits contained poems which Steve had written using each of these forms. They were all inspired by an image, which were either of the Battle of Hastings or of themes that relate more generally to the impact of 1066 such as crossing borders and the meeting of cultures. Pupils were able to mix’n’match when producing their poems, using any type of poem to write about any image they preferred.
Steve invited students to make a live performance of their poems with the additional choice of a poetry competition known as a Poetry Slam or Rap Battle. You can hear some of these below:
Steve invited students to make a live performance of their poems with the additional choice of a poetry competition known as a Poetry Slam or Rap Battle. You can hear some of these below:
Photographs of pop-up bookmaking in local Primary Schools
Lee’s toolkit was designed to encourage new ways of thinking about the pictures in Bayeux tapestry by inviting classes to create pages for accordion folded collaged bookworks. Using the tapestry as source material, children were invited to interpret the artwork in their own way using collage and abstract art techniques. Each class then joined their pages together to create whole class books of extraordinary length.