The Coasters Project:

As part of a joint venture funded by The Independent/State School Partnerships Grant Scheme Kirkham Grammar School  and Fulwood High School and Arts College undertook a unique opportunity to work with practising artists both in and out of school. The project was named "Coasters" as the main field-work was to take place in Blackpool.

January 2006

50+ pupils and staff visited the Manchester City Art Gallery where various artists took small groups of pupils around a selection of artworks with a view to discussing and promoting the use of sketchbooks. Amongst the artist responding to art works from the gallery collection was Johnny Woodhams. To start with, our pupils were not sure what to make of Johnny. With his shaved head and goatee beard, Johnny would make a convincing villain in "The Da Vinci Code". But the only thing remotely nasty about him is - he writes a mean poem, as clearly demonstrated in his poetry performance in front of the painting "At the edge of the city", painted by Scottish Artist, Ken Currie. Johnny has performed under his alias, Max Seymour, in pubs and clubs around the North West, appeared on BBC Three and picked up a national poetry award along the way. Johnny writes poems that are funny and quirky, and sometimes extremely poignant that veer from everyday reality to the utterly surreal.  A podcast of the day can be found on this website.

March 2006

Pupils and artists visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach and spent the day sketching, photographing and of course going on the rides. From the work gathered they then set about further developing their images using various media back at school with the school's art teachers.

April 2006

A day spent in the Blackpool Tower that included the Tower Circus sketching and drawing.

May 2006

Over a number of weeks both schools had the added bonus of an an Artist in Residence working on this "Coasters" project. The artists worked alongside not only the year 9 pupils but all age groups unravelling the working methods of their individual artist. KGS residencies initially included Johnny Woodhams, poet / performance / photographer for one week and Pat Mountford, painter who has been heavily involved with The Booth Centre, a drop-in and activity centre for homeless people in Manchester and the Christies Hospice.

June 2006

The artists Liz Noble and Harriet Clarke spent two weeks making photographs both digitally and by pin hole cameras which our pupils found most inspiring. The project continues this term so watch this space for finished work and sketchbooks.

May 2007

After many months of planning, sketching and painting it all came into focus when the projects paintings were hung on a gallery wall. The Coasters artists had their work on display at the University of Central Lancashire's Gallery PR1. The work on display marked the end of a journey for many pupils, but for some the catalyst for even bigger and better things.

There is a blog section that some of the pupils comments about the project have been posted.  More to come.