BLANCHE STARLING

Tues 23rd - (Field Trip)

Today was the big day on which the success of the curriculum project was resting and of course the wettest day for 6 weeks, typical. I had guessed rain could be quite likely so all the students were well prepared, with raincoats and umbrellas, but the weather still had a detrimental effect on my grand plans of sketching outside. Despite this and the initial apprehensions of the girls, we managed to take a lot of photographs and collect various interesting samples of flowers, leaves, bark and lichen amongst other things.

The day started well, i had organised the bus for 10 am so the students could attend thier first two classes which happened to be maths and Irish so that kept the teachers happy. All but one of the students were present, so we headed for the bus on time. My mum came with me as the second adult, so i didnt have to leave the school short of a member of staff. I thought she would be also quite useful because she is enthusiastic and artistically trained and keen to go. The journey to Lismore took approx forty mins as we took the shorter route throught the very picturesque Knockmealdown mountains. I also distributed some reading for the students during the journey that included intersting facts and information about Lismore Heratige including the catherdal and church as well as the Castle. I thought if the weather turned very bad we could re locate to the Cathedral and Heritage Centre as they both have architectual features with historical significance including impressive stained glass windows.

When we arrived we were given a discounted entry, which was a good start and then preceded to the gallery space. Here our guide Catherine discussed who they might apply the tour of the exhibition Leaving Cert questions that could come up that focus on a visit to a gallery or museum and exhibition curating. The students then had a look around the exhibiton of Local Transition year work, based on minimilism and she elaborated and answered any questions. We also discussed various features that you might find in an exhibition space such as natural and artificial lighting, power points and space that are all intended to show the work to its best.

Although the exhibition wasnt by any prolific artist, i think the students actually really enjoyed looking at the work and it also gave them a bench mark of the quality they could and should be able to create, especially as the brief was similar except these students had more time and were working individually. I stilll think that the fact that students of a similar age had made the exhibition more relevent to them.

Next we took some time to have lunch and take a look at past exhibition catalouges and books of the past artists that had exhibited there that were provided. These included well regarded artists like Henry Long.

This then left use with a couple of hours to wonder around the gardens between the down pours. Initially i had let students wander around in small sub groups around the top garden, but i found this unproductive with students trickling back in for shelter. When we re grouped we went down to the bottom garden together which gave me the opportunity to point out things they might otherwise have missed and demonstrate how closely they should look at things. For many of them this seemed to be a strange consept as they are more used to just scanning and picking up on the obvious. I also found that enthusiasm seems to be contageous, aand by the time we were ready to leave the students were showing each other things they had noticed and discussing plants, flowers and sculptures as they explored. They also started collecting samples of flora and bark ect to bring back with them.

Here are some photographs i took as we havent had a chance to re group as a class yet.