Its hard to believe that the Unitas Summer Arts College at The Hepworth Wakefield is almost over. The third week has passed in a flash with the young people welding steel structures in Sculptor Gillian Brent's Sheffield studio and forming interpretation and poetic responses with the positive energy and nurture of Andrew McMillan.
This week has been challenging in terms of behaviour and testing boundaries. The SAC is an intensive process requiring high levels of attendance, commitment and participation for young people who may not have engaged in education for some time and have added challenges around literacy and numeracy. It was hard to judge what the group were thinking as frequent comments of 'this is shit' were accompanied by daily attendance. I've since learnt that their attendance is a great achievement and at a basic level 'this is shit' is a response, which is no bad thing...
The group have all passed their Bronze Arts Awards this week, a fantastic achievement and for some their first qualification. We are also striving for improvements in literacy, numeracy and social skills and will find out the results of their tests next week.
So now to hang and stage the work for the groups celebration event on Wednesday 4th September. The groups exhibition, High Light is showing at The Hepworth Wakefield from Tuesday 3rd to Friday 6th September in the learning studios.
Camera skills
Projected poems
Body outline/post-it note - sharing positive attributes
Structures made by the young people
Steel and light
