Journal

See and hear how we worked together each week

When: 25/01/23       Where: Sallis Benny Theatre & Brighton CCA, University of Brighton

What we did

Pebbles and postcards linking to the themes of the exhibitions in the gallery were provided on postcards as discussion prompts.

Key Moments

An unexpected outcome of using postcards was that people drew on them.

One participant was interested in university staffs’ lanyards and keys that gave them access to different parts of the building.

What we did

We drew portraits of each other on acetate. We exhibited the portraits for everyone to see.

Have a go at acetate portraits yourself in Actions

Key Moments

The acetate portraits helped us meet each other and start to make art together.

See what was learned from this key moment in Learnings

What we did

We visited the Amalia Pica exhibition in the gallery. It had lots of pebbles and gold sea shells.

We made drawings, wrote notes and took pictures of the exhibition.

The exhibition was interactive and we could sort and hold the pebbles.

Key Moments

When we visited the gallery as a whole group we noticed the sounds of the pebbles, traffic and each other and found it could be a bit busy and noisy.

See what was learned from this key moment in Learnings

When: 01/02/23       Where: Grace Eyre

What we did

We worked at Grace Eyre this week and remembered the Amalia Pica exhibition using photocopies of drawings, text and photographs made in week one.

Key Moments

Participants from Grace Eyre taught new participants, including staff from Grace Eyre, how to make acetate portraits.

Working in a different space to the exhibition meant we had to rely on our memories and documentation of it. Not being able to see the exhibition itself helped us to think about and discuss what we had seen.

Tracing drawings and photographs of the exhibition helped us notice things about it that we did not think about during our visit, for example, the lighting.

Drawings from week one became motifs or repeat patterns and inspired new drawings and ideas.

Collaborative artwork by participants reflecting on their visit to the Amalia Pica exhibition

What we did

We made pebbles and other objects out of clay and told stories about them.

Key Moment

A coil pot grew a snakes head in response to a comment that it looked like a snake.

What we did

Different ideas came together, some were directly in response to the exhibition and others came from participants wider interests and ideas.

Key Moment

A description of the pebbles in the gallery being ‘roller stones’ in week one was developed into a collaborative drawing with movement and marks.

When: 08/02/23       Where: Sallis Benny Theatre & Grand Parade Campus, University of Brighton

What we did

We returned to the Sallis Benny Theatre at University of Brighton, and warmed up by each attaching a gesture to our names.

Key Moment

One participant chose to work on drawings of people throughout most of the sessions. This started with an acetate portrait the first week which he coloured in and drew on top of the second week before making several new drawings during this session.

What we did

Work from last week combined with new materials including gold leaf and grew into new creations.

Key Moment

Many of the pebbles took on characters or grew into something new.

What we did

We rolled stones and drew around where they landed.

Key Moment

‘Roller Stones’ was developed by the people who came up with it into a bigger collaborative drawing and movement activity.

What we did

We explored nearby spaces in the university including an outdoor space called the quad and collected and drew fragments we came across.

Key Moment

When: 15/02/23       Where: Sallis Benny Theatre & Brighton CCA, University of Brighton

What we did

Brighton CCA gallery assistants set up a dinner table with places for everyone, in response to Billie Zangewa's exhibition.

We drew a line or trim round the edge of the tablecloth – drawing a section each and passing the pen to the next person.

Key Moment

What we did

Lots of different food and non-food items were drawn and drawings and motifs from previous sessions featured on plates and the table cloth. 

Key Moment

Collaborative tablecloth and centre pieces created by participants

When: 22/02/23       Where: Sallis Benny Theatre, University of Brighton

What we did

The invitation was to grow things in our ‘potting shed’ and think about how we worked together.

We connected with materials and artworks from previous sessions. We made prints and drew our ideas.

What we did

We planted our work and made sculptures.

What we did

Some people chose to use the materials to make other things including bracelets.

What we did

Some people chose to use the materials to make other things including bracelets.

When: 08/03/23       Where: Sallis Benny Theatre, University of Brighton

What we did

We planted the garden from Week 5 and invited people to add reflections about the project on postcards.

We looked at pictures of the sessions and wrote comments about them.

What we did

We invited people to test out the toolkit.

We reset the dinner table and made party hats with something we want to celebrate on them.

Some people made drawings and portraits of each other.