Alan Birch

Pupils at Crowcroft Park Primary School worked with artist Alan Birch over a two week period in the Summer Term , producing prints, collages, drawings, collages made from recycled objects and iPad drawings. Pupils were shown a range of artists work and then worked on drawings, prints , collages from which to develop their work into engravings, relief printing, collographs, art panels and iPad imagery. Year 3 pupils looked at the work of William Morris, Howard Hodgkin,Georgia O’Keefe and the print work of Gillian Ayres. Particular attention was drawn to the artists depiction of colour, shape anpattern. Pupils then created drawings from a series of images of natural forms, brought into class. These images ranged from leaves, and flowers, to cacti and ferns. Pupils were then given a selection of textured wallpapers and embossed papers. Drawn images were then transferred to the papers, cut out and fixed to a cardboard plate, which was coated with quick drying varnish. One dry these printing plates were painted with water-based printing ink, and later ink was applied with rollers to emphasise the top surface. Pupils then used the portable printing press brought in by Alan Birch, to create collograph prints. and relief prints These were also printed using the printing press. Year 4 pupils were introduced to the surrealist work of Max Ernst, Hannah Hoch, Paolozzi and the work of the Surrealists. Particular attention was drawn to the fantastical nature of the artists work. Pupils were then given a host of images, featuring, natural forms and later buildings and machines. Pupils then constructed their own fantastic creatures by cutting up heads, arms and other parts of the copies. Once the collages were complete, drawings were made and then the drawings were engraved by the pupils into soft metallic card. Pupils then used the portable printing press brought in byAlan Birch, to create drypoint prints. Water based etching ink was applied to the plates and damp paper was placed over the printing plate, which was then put through the press. The printing rollers created a pressure which transferred the ink from the plate to the paper. As the pupils had recently been to Derbyshire, Alan took pictures of Winnats Pass in Castleton, and also pictures of Manchester Central Convention Complex. Alan scanned the collages and prints and added the natural monsters into the Derbyshire landscape and the mechanical monsters into the cityscape, creating an urban and rural composition. The large digital panel illustrates the pupils creative powers and imagination. Year 5 pupils were introduced to the surrealist work of Tony Cragg, an artist who uses plastics to make surface sculptures. Particular attention was drawn to how discarded objects can be used to create pictures. Year 5 pupils had recently studied the country of Norway , and images of Fjords, Long ships, Whales, The Scream by Norwegian artist Edward Munch and Trolls. Artist Alan Birch brought a wide range of rubbish and recycled materials into the class, ranging from old toys, milk bottle tops, letters and discarded plastics. Pupils also brought in some of their unwanted toys. Pupils then created a large version of the Norwegian flag, with little inlaid pieces based on Norwegian imagery. Pupils refined the recycled plastics into colour palettes, before they started constructing the flag, using PVA glue. Later pupils, created their own trolls, using copies of natural forms to collage their own monsters. before printing drypoint prints. Year 6 pupils were introduced to the landscapes of Vincent Van Gogh and David Hockney.Both artists used vivid colours , to create their landscape images, Van Gogh using paint and David Hockney recently using the drawing application on the iPad . Small groups of Year 6 pupils then worked for short periods of time with artist Alan Birch, using iPads to capture small snapshots of the garden area at school. Pupils focussed on small details in the garden to create a visual diary of the garden area. These details using the drawing application, were then scanned by Alan to create a large digital montage using an iMac. This panel was then enlarged by the printing company to produce a panel 2 metre x 1 metre in size. The large digital panel illustrates the pupils powers of observation and their ingenuity in digitally recording information. Later Alan scanned all the prints from Year 3 and 4 pupils to create 2 metre x 1metre panels which were installed on the newly decorated corridor.