Me, Myself and Manet

Lin, Oxfordshire Hospital School Teacher has written this touching post for the blog – thank you Lin.

I have been most fortunate to have been at the Highfield Unit for part of the Ashmolean  project involving the Manet painting.
Art has not featured much in my education and I do not regard myself as artistic in any way; however, from week one of the project I have been totally absorbed. The project has so many aspects in addition to Art: history, science, music, drama, technology, photography and crafts. It links all these different areas in interesting and unexpected ways.
Each session is meticulously planned and richly resourced. The presenters, Nicola and Catriona, are enthusiastic and make every effort to engage the attention of the young people present. I have observed the attitudes of young people changing from non-involvement to participation, thanks largely to the gentle and sensitive coaxing and encouragement of the two presenters. The variety of activities provides opportunities for young people to feel comfortable and increasingly confident about their skills and abilities in an extremely supportive environment.
Another benefit of this project is the opportunity it provides for teaching staff at the unit to interact with the young people in an alternative and more informal way. Although teachers are not delivering these sessions themselves, they are very much involved, not only in helping to set up each session and ensuring that they run smoothly, but in using their knowledge about individual learners to integrate them into each session. It is wonderful to see staff sitting side by side with the young people, immersing themselves in the session, working on their own ‘masterpieces’. This staff involvement encourages the more reluctant youngsters in the group to start their own pieces of art.
Not all outcomes from this project will be measurable; however, I am convinced that all who participate will be enriched in some way. I know that I, someone who had little art background, have benefited enormously – educationally and at a deeper level in appreciating something which makes us human.

What do these have in common? – portraits and pieces created by the inspired young people at The Highfield.
Over the last 2 weeks the young people have been studying portraits and using Manet’s Portrait of Fanny Claus to think about famous people and how people use portraits to tell us about who people are / what they do / what they are like.
We have had Catriona, a local artist, working with us at Highfield to walk us through contemporary portraiture. We looked at various artists, firstly, some hung in the Ashmolean galleries to give us a feel of the history of portraiture and then Catriona used Emma Peyton’s work to think about contemporary styles and sitters – guiding us to think about famous people we admire, like and want to see with Mlle Claus.
The young people had free rein – choosing who they wanted to place into a double portrait with Mlle Claus. The young people started cutting, tracing, drawing painting straight away – choosing a range of famous people from David Bowie to Jennifer Lawrence, Adam Gilchrist to Jack White. As always the young people’s work was insightful and thoughtful, using a range of composition, mediums, styles, ideas and themes (nationality, style, fashion, being famous, juxtapositions of ‘contemporary’).

‘I’m surprised at how much art I have done. I’ve done more art in 2 weeks than I’ve done in all the years I’ve been at school. My portrait was what I had in mind from the beginning.’
For many of the young people, the process of thinking, cutting, sticking and painting is as important as the final product. While everyone is busy, we chat away and everyone’s work slowly emerges. Some of the young people knew from the start what they would do, some gathered ideas during the class to process and to work on during the week and others like to research more to let the piece slowly evolve. Catriona planned the activities so people could do as much of as little as they were comfortable with and according to how confident they felt with drawing and painting. This ensured everyone achieved by making a portrait, recognising that achievement is relative but essential in creating a positive learning environment for the young people.

‘The more I cut out the pictures, the more I enjoyed doing it.’

‘It’s great to have someone come in with fresh ideas and different thoughts on a painting. It is helping us see the painting from all different angles and helping us understand it.’

‘Week 3 has been the most interesting …., as we learnt how such simple 3 key ingredients can make a paint that sticks for thousands of years and is still clearly visible in caves today.’
To understand Manet’s work within a history of paints and pigments, art history in its widest sense, and the context of how he would have worked, we focussed on pigments and paints with a practical focus on making egg tempera paint to use on canvas.
We walked through pigments from Neolithic to Egyptian, Renaissance and finally, modern day contemporary art. We held pigments in their natural forms, studying and grinding them to look at the processes involved from Neolithic times through the Manet’s 19th Century paints. Some came from afar (Afghanistan), others from much closer lands (Banbury!) but all inspired the young people to think about art from a completely different perspective.

Our practical work started with grinding down some malachite, trying to get at as smooth as possible, mixing with egg yoke and water to make egg tempera. To make our final paints, we did cheat slightly (sorry Manet!) and used ready-ground pigments for the other colours. With these colours, a huge variety of styles, patterns, images were created by the young people on canvases – cave paintings, geometric shapes, patters, flowers and abstract canvases.
The young people found discovering the origins of our paints an engaging area – here’s some of their comments:
‘I really enjoyed looking at all the rocks and that they are where paint comes from.’
‘Really liked this painting – so simple, yet so effective.’
‘I learnt how people made paints years ago.’
‘I’ve never really thought about where paint came from ….’

.….What’s that thing on your head?
…..Where are you sitting?
…..Are you happy?
…..Why are you dressed in those clothes? Is that your wedding dress?

If you had the chance to speak to Mlle Fanny Claus, what would you ask?
The young people at The Highfields Unit had that exact chance! During our Thursday visit, an actress, violinist and hospital school teacher (so many talents) gave the young people the unique opportunity to ask Fanny Claus questions to understand who she was /her relationship with Manet and his wife, 19th Century Paris, fashion, sitting for such a long time, and so much more! She was fantastic and the young people were so interested in her: studying her, asking her questions and even having a go on her violin.

Below is a video one of the young people took during the session: Fanny Claus has the use of modern technology to talk about her friends Monsieur and Madame Edouard Manet (Madame Suzanne Leenhoff).

We used a variety of skills to gain more insight into the sitter, artist, fashion, style and music. We sketched using graphite and lead pencils, photographed the sitter using macro settings and getting interesting perspectives on her clothes and position. We printed our photos straight away to sketch from our images.

We also had the pleasure of hearing Fanny Claus played some violin music, prompting 2 of the young people in the session having a go with the violin: a difficult skill which they approached with fun and laughter – maybe just a little more practice needed ;-). What a fun way to learn!

A new year starts… and so does our new group!

Manet is back! Over the next 12 weeks, Manet’s Portrait of Fanny Mlle Claus, will be inspiring young people to be creative in a wide variety of ways: music, sketching, collage, digital animation, video, jewellery, painting, creative writing… we are all anticipating a fun 3 months!

This project will be based at The Highfield Unit, at the Warneford Hospital in Oxford. Highfield is an acute Mental Health ward for young people (up to 18 years) and we are working with the school (part of Oxfordshire Hospitals School, Oxfordshire County Council). Highfield is a very special place with extremely dedicated staff and inspiring young people. The school recognises the importance of learning in a caring, achieving environment as fundamental to recovery and we are delighted to be able to be part of the process.

Here’s some of the amazing team (caught during our session) that are supporting the young people over the next 12 weeks.

So, the project has started via a ‘pop up museum’: a fun, hands-on introduction to the Ashmolean and Manet’s portrait – a virtual tour of this vast museum punctuated with handling objects thousands of years old. The young people’s knowledge of the artefacts and human history was impressive to say the least! They created these collages from images of the museum.

Our next session is ‘Meet the Sitter’ – an actress is taking on Fanny Claus’ persona to give the young people the opportunity to ask her questions about who she is, what Manet is like, when the 19th Century is like. But I do wonder, what will they ask her?

…..were the words of a Meadowbrook student when I told her (in early Nov) we would exhibit her work.

On Saturday 13 December, we opened the first Me, Myself and Manet exhibition- an exhibition celebrating the art work created by the three groups we have worked with so far.

What a fantastic turn out: young parents, students, teachers, children centre staff, hospital patients, artists and their families came from, not only Oxfordshire, but London. Also joining us was the HLF (without which there would be no projects) as well as Ashmolean staff, including the Director, Xa Sturgis who kindly opened the exhibition. The Shadow Arts Minister even popped his head in to see the reinterpretation of Manet’s portrait through 21st Century eyes.

Everyone involved made it a real success and it was great to capture their different perspectives: the young people, whose work now hangs on the Ashmolean walls, feel a real sense of achievement and ownership of the space in the museum (and part of the museum in general); the partners are really happy to see the young people be involved with such positive learning and projects that focus on confidence building; the funders were highly supportive of the focus on the projects –highlighting and celebrating the participants’ artwork; and the Ashmolean is delighted to have the opportunity to see great works of art through the eyes of a generation that otherwise may not have encountered Manet, art and the Ashmolean before.

Do come and see the exhibition for yourself.

Me, Myself and Manet exhibition, outside the Education Studio, The Ashmolean, Beaumont Street from 13 Dec to mid January 2015

The Oxfordshire Hospital School is such a special place, with such special young people attending its classes. Caron Houchen, a teacher at the Oxfordshire Hospital School has kindly written our post for this week letting us know about the project from their perspective.

“At the Hospital School we feel that the pupils have hugely benefitted from their involvement in the Manet project. It has been wonderful to be part of a multi-agency project: interacting with Nicola from the Ashmolean, musicians, actors and Dionne our artist in residence.

The social and emotional development of our pupils is high priority in the Hospital School and this project inspired many children, enabling them to explore creative ideas and work collaboratively with others. Even those who lacked confidence were able to experience success and enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate their work with fellow pupils and with the wider community. Having their work displayed in public arenas has reinforced this sense of achievement. The project has far-reaching benefits, for example some pupils have had their contributions acknowledged in their home schools through assemblies and newsletters.

The Manet project has embodied the Hospital School ethos of education being accessible for all: catering for all ages, abilities and medical conditions. Both Nicola and Dionne are adept at engaging pupils – adapting their teaching styles to accommodate the young people either in the classroom or by the bedside.

We would like to thank Dionne and Nicola for this great opportunity and look forward to working collaboratively on future projects.”

The third group the Ashmolean has worked with is the Oxfordshire Hospital School, based at the JR hospital. The amazing staff at the Hospital School ensure the children have the opportunity to continue with their education, join in with activities, have fun and learn new skills.

Every Tuesday, since September, the school has used Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus to inspire their art sessions. Dionne Freeman, a local artist, runs the art sessions.

The children well enough to join the art sessions have embraced a myriad of techniques, approaches, themes and mediums: they have imagined the sitters’ view (one included a yummy ice cream shop), deconstructed and reconstructed the portrait, embraced the theme of celebrity culture (with none other than David Beckham!), created gorgeous fashions for Mlle Claus, used shapes and fashion to inspire prints and created 3D rooms or scenes in which she is sitting. They have had guests: an actress, also a teacher from Oxfordshire County Council used her skills to give the children the opportunity to get to know the Mlle Claus in a ‘Meet the sitter’ session and recently, we have been delighted to welcome the Oxford Concert Party to inspire artistic responses with music that Mlle Claus (who was a professional violinist) may have played (we used a piece from 1868!). The children got to play with a vast range of instruments from around the world and compose a piece which illustrated holidays.

Even children who weren’t well enough to leave their beds received bedside visits from myself, Dionne and the musicians to meet Mlle Claus and Manet to spark their own creative responses.

A selection of art work from Oxfordshire Hospital School will be on exhibition at from Ashmolean Museum in the Manet Community Exhibition, the Education Studio Gallery from 13 December to early January.

Words by Dionne Freeman, Director of Meadowbrook College, The Harlow Centre.

Meadowbrook students have had the unique opportunity to work with the Ashmolean this term. The project has involved visiting the painting in the museum, going behind the scenes at the Ashmolean and regular visits from the Museum to the school. These visits have enabled the students to build a really good relationship with Nicola where students have gained real insight into the museum and the painting. The art workshops at school have involved 3D canvases, large scale repainting and students modernizing the scene.

I am really proud of the students work and I know they are both surprised and inspired by their own interpretations of the painting. The time Nicola and the museum have invested has resulted in the students feeling a real sense of ownership and understanding of the work. Providing them with the confidence to access the museum and produce such unique responses, which has allowed us to see the painting through their eyes.

Here are just a few of the pieces the students have been working on …..

Creating a large scale painting, using a projected image of the portrait.

I thought the sitter was wealthy and I wanted to show she was a strong woman through my interest in boxing.

I extended my own version of the portrait ….. I drew also drew vines and hanging vines because it reminds me of my favourite animals, monkeys!

I slowly layered up paint, ink and graphite to create different textures and feelings. I wanted to take her out of her world and into a completely different one. I think I have changed the atmosphere and context.

Want to see more? Come and visit our exhibition at The Ashmolean (Education Studio Gallery) from 13 December to early January 2015.

…. words by a student from Meadowbrook College, The Harlow Centre.

My first impressions of the museum were that the building looks amazing and lush with all the decorations. Many people went to the Ashmolean, also different schools, I thought it was amazing.

We first looked outside the building and it looked amazing. I had to draw a sketch of the museum and drop down notes to remember things and what I thought of the museum. We met the education officer who was called Nicola Bird. She was friendly and chatty. She showed us the inside of the Ashmolean Museum. Inside of the Ashmolean looked beautiful. She took us to see the painting and the other paintings around it. They are all just amazing and it shows us how different the painting was back then. Then we looked at the block where the students work will go up so everyone can see everyone’s work. Nothing will look more good that seeing young people’s work up in the Ashmolean Museum.

What I thought of the painting was how different it was to the copy we have. I thought the original looked brighter and there was bits that look completely different to the copy. For example, the balcony was much clearer and very green, also the texture of the painting was so amazing as it is many years old and you could see how he used his paint brush. The colours were so much in depth than the copy because in the copy it was all dark and bold but the original was more colourful.

Here is a photo of me and Nicola in front of the painting.