Year 10 Artists Visit Yorkshire

On a wet Wednesday in February, Year 10 artists headed to Wakefield, armed with waterproofs and handmade sketchbooks to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The aim of the trip was to view a range of artworks and explore the different ways in which to make sculpture, and the themes that this could cover.  The 500-acre, outdoor and indoor sculpture park was the ideal destination for such discovery.

We tramped through mud, took part in a range of drawing activities, asked big questions – such as, does the simple act of looking make it art? a question prompted by James Turrell’s Deer Shelter Skyspace – and had the opportunity to see a brilliant exhibition by world-renown artist, William Kentridge.

The following day, after a relaxing stay at YHA Haworth, we continued our exploration of sculpture by visiting the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, this time seeing works by Barbara Hepworth and ceramists Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto that linked to the work our students had been making in the classroom for their GCSE coursework portfolios.

Year 10 artist Eve reflected,
“For me, some of the highlights were being able to see the artworks we had studied in person. I felt this allowed me to gain a better appreciation and understanding of the works. I loved the William Kentridge exhibit and having free time to explore the galleries as well as fun activities back at the hostel. I feel I definitely developed my observational drawing skills and got a lot of inspiration for my own work and how I want to experiment with different materials and perspectives I saw on the trip.”

Pate’s Head of Art, Hannah Gardner said,
“It was a super inspiring couple of days and I hope students came away with a greater understanding of sculpture as well as some lovely memories of a fun trip.”