Art excursion to St Ives
A group of U4 girls enjoyed a residential trip to St Ives to enhance their Art and Textiles studies. Read a report by Evelyn and Rosie, U4, below.
During the May half-term, some of us visited St Ives on an art and textiles trip. It consisted of four days of varied art workshops and gallery visits while bathed in sunshine, which disappeared as soon as we got back to Oxford.
We studied the evolution of artists in St Ives and drew inspiration from revolutionaries such as Barbara Hepworth, Kurt Jackson and Ad Minoliti. We learnt techniques like collage, bold lines, mixed media and using bright colours through trips to the Tate St Ives as well as the Barbara Hepworth sculpture garden and other galleries. We took part in a full day painting workshop at the Porthmeor School of Painting where we learnt how to use acrylic paints effectively with mixed media and learnt how to make sculptures out of sand down on the beach, to name a few of our many activities.
The focus on using natural things that you find around you was always at the heart of this trip and showed us how to be resourceful and admire nature more than we had before. My favourite activity was when we went to the Leach Pottery museum to find out the history of pottery and make our own tiles. This was topped only by Shanty Baba and his ghost stories in the evening. We loved getting to know the town as well as the culture that surrounds it and has made St Ives the place it is today; hippies, smugglers and the very quaint architecture.
Over the course of the trip we learnt how to be more bold and confident in our mark making which is definitely a skill we have taken away and will continue to use. As well as that, the trip was a brilliant opportunity to find out about different types of media and the range of styles that art can take.
