Art in Newham: Will Redgrove workshops

Sessions with Will

Pupils spent time in class with Will, learning about the papercraft business as this had been where Will first began his art career. They loved hearing about the life-size replicas that Will made with paper such as a car. Learning more about how art can be represented in different ways has opened the pupils’ eyes to understand the process of our mural and the journey needed before we have the final piece on our wall. Will also taught the pupils about contrasting colours, which is something they learn in art lessons but gave a context to the mural.

Will set the pupils a range of art challenges such as having timed moments to draw Newham buildings as quickly as possible and drawing buildings they know without taking their pencils off the paper.

 Inspiration for our mural

After the challenges, pupils were then set on making their own streets. They used their knowledge of East Ham, their visit to Old Manor Park Library and their visit to Stratford Library to think about what buildings looked like and what stood out to them. Many recognised that there were lots of shops and retail businesses whilst others thought about their places of religion that are special to them. It also gave them the opportunity to look at Hartley Primary School and the type of building it is. Each class made their own memory poster of what East Ham, Newham or London meant to them.

Including families

After spending the day with pupils, Will worked with pupils, families and staff to bring together the work and decide where buildings would go to create our mural of Newham.

To view more of the pupil’s work, register here for free tickets for the exhibition at East Ham Library that is taking place in June.

To learn more about Will Redgrove, please visit his website: https://www.williamredgrove.com/