School Prints - Year 4
For the fourth edition of School Prints, there is a new focus on supporting the teaching of black histories across the curriculum in local schools. The artists who have generously created a new print for the project are: Hurvin Anderson (b. 1965, Birmingham); Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983 Caracas, Venezuela); Sir Frank Bowling OBE, RA (b. 1934, Bartica, Essequibo, British Guiana); Lubaina Himid CBE (b. 1954, Zanzibar, Tanzania); Claudette Johnson (b. 1959, Manchester); Yinka Shonibare CBE (b. 1962, London)
Hurvin Anderson said of the project: “Art is a vital part of children’s education, not just in inspiring the next generation of artists but creativity in general. It is also an area of education which has been continually overlooked and devalued by successive governments. It was therefore important to me to support The Hepworth Wakefield School Prints project in which there is an attempt to redress the balance. In particular, in this tumultuous year, drawing attention to the Black Lives Matter movement through creating a visual representation of everyday black experiences has never felt more relevant. I was honoured to be invited.”
Alvaro Barrington said: “Education is going through a lot of important questioning about what it needs to proceed and I believe the more voices in the conversation the better everyone will be served.”
Sir Frank Bowling OBE, RA, said: “I have always tried to support young artists and opportunities to nurture their development. This project offered a way to do so with young children, which I feel is important.”
Lubaina Himid CBE, said: “It is vital that our young people can feel that they are important to us and begin to understand that we are all committed to investing in every way we can to help them expand and extend their potential.”
Claudette Johnson said: “I thought it important to support the project because I remember, as a school child, gazing at the Bruegel, Picasso and Canaletto prints that hung along the corridors of my secondary school. I took it for granted that art would be available to look at and think about as I moved around the school. I believe this should be every child’s birthright.”
Yinka Shonibare CBE, said: “I’m proud to be a part of this year’s project, which supports the teaching of black histories in the local curriculum. School is where I was first introduced to art, and education is key to developing a wider understanding around issues of representation.”
Engagement project
Engagement work with local schools took place over the Summer Term 2023 at Outwood Primary Academy Park Hill, Pinders Primary School, St Mary’s CE Primary School and St Austin’s Catholic Primary School in Wakefield.
Nearly 200 pupils worked with artists during special workshops in school and during visits to The Hepworth Wakefield to discover more about the School Prints and engage with themes within the artworks. Taking inspiration from the School Prints pupils created individual and large-scale collaborative prints, experimenting with different types of printmaking including linocut, collagraph, monoprint and block print.
For a lot of pupils it was their first visit to the gallery and it was particularly special for some pupils were able to meet Hurvin Anderson and ask him some questions about being an artist and the inspirations behind his School Print:
“It gave me goosebumps to be able to meet him. I was so happy I got to ask him my question, and he answered me!”
“I was so shocked. I’m very excited I got to meet a real life famous artist.”
Year 5 pupils, Outwood Primary Academy Park Hill
To celebrate the schools involvement in the project The Hepworth held celebration events for the each school community, with an exhibition of all the pupils artwork created during the engagement project, and a presentation of their School Prints to be installed in-school permanently. There were also special family days at The Hepworth for each school, inviting pupils to bring their families back to the gallery to take part in our family activities and workshops.
“The celebration event at the school was so memorable. The sheer generosity of the gallery was overwhelming. This really helped to generate excitement in the community and left a lasting impression on parents and pupils. The fact we have been gifted 6 incredible prints linking to the project is such a fabulous gesture.” Art Curriculum Lead, Outwood Primary Academy Trust
Here’s what some of the pupils at St Mary’s CE Primary School said about the project:
“I learnt that even if you have a different religion, race, country, or are disabled you can still do art.”
“I learnt to never give up and to believe in yourself!”
“I enjoyed learning about how artists got inspired into art because that inspires me as I want to be an artist when I grow up.”
“What surprised me was the results of our art because it was a different type of art to what we usually do.”
“I like printing because Yinka, the artist, inspired me.”
Press
The Guardian
'SCHOOL PRINTS CAMPAIGN 'WILL TELL BLACK CHILDREN THEY SHOULD EXPECT TO SEE THEMSELVES IN GALLERIES''
Commissioned Artists
Hurvin Anderson, Mum's
SOLD OUT
‘I made this print based on wallpapers at home when I was growing up with my mum and dad. The patterns are interesting to me because they are a mix of two very different styles. One is a flamboyant flock design, which I mixed it with a traditional design by William Morris. I remember moving house as a child and wallpapering over the existing paper, and the previous embossed design appeared through the new paper. The two designs become an intriguing mixture of traditional, romantic style with another bolder, more dramatic pattern. I enjoy the way the old mixes with the new and the suggestion of texture too. When my mum came to Britain from Jamaica it was very important for her to make a comfortable home. This blended pattern makes me think of her, the aesthetics that can define a community and what happens when two ideas or cultures collide.’
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Alvaro Barrington, Grandma's Hands
£600, edition of 40
‘I grew up with my grandmother. My mother had me as a teenager, and it was very common that a grandmother would raise their grandchildren. My grandma was very beautiful and someone I think about all the time. I made this drawing of my hands drawn as if they were her hands. When I was a kid, I wasn’t very well-behaved, and she used to pray for me. I remember thinking about her praying, and I think her prayers today make me want to be better, do better, make her proud. It’s a drawing to remind me of her prayers and of wanting to make her proud.’
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Sir Frank Bowling OBE, RA, Benjamin Run
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‘If you look carefully, in the middle of the work there are six circles of paint. On Sir Frank’s instruction, his son Benjamin tipped over a children’s strip of small paint pots, and the circles of paint on the work represent the primary colours – which can be mixed to create many other colours – plus green, white and black. For Sir Frank, the possibilities of paint are endless, and the unpredictable behaviour of paint is exciting. Even with six small pots of paint, many interesting shapes and colours have emerged.’
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Lubaina Himid CBE, BIRDSONG HELD US TOGETHER
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‘Spring 2020 arrived, and all of us were locked in for most of the time. Luckily the weather was good, the sun shone almost every day. We went out, on our own, and walked near sparkling rivers and in among elegant trees, along empty streets and in nearby parks. We encountered people on these outings who we didn’t know but we smiled and greeted them politely. We missed meeting our friends and going out in groups to buy things in familiar shops. Some people felt quite lonely, others didn’t mind too much, but luckily the birdsong held us together.’
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Claudette Johnson, Child Painting
£600, edition of 40
‘The print features an ink study of my three-year-old granddaughter on the day that she “assisted” me in the studio. She was helping me to paint primer onto a large sheet of paper that we had taped to the studio floor. She was dressed in a pair of my studio overalls and she sang a paint song as she worked. Her pleasure and concentration as she worked illustrated for me, the special alchemy of painting. It makes time stop and gives us permission to play.’
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Yinka Shonibare CBE, Aristocrat in Blue
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‘This image of the female ‘Aristocrat’ is based on a series which playfully tries to deconstruct icons of ‘Western Power’ by de-westernising them through masking their faces with African masks. I like to play with the idea of parodying excessive lifestyles, such as those who lived privileged lives in the 18th century – in particular the opulence of the Ancient Regime in France. These lifestyles were enabled by colonisation and the slave trade, and by making visual connections between the origins of their wealth, I like to explore the power relations between both worlds. I have drawn Dogon-style animal masks from Mali, West Africa, to cover the faces of the aristocrats and incorporated actual ‘Dutch wax’ batik pattern to create a 21st-century cultural hybrid.’
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