Who are our Students?
The people who attend sessions at Spark Studio are all adults with some form of disability. They all have an interest in art making – usually drawing and painting. This interest regularly develops into a real passion for image making! They most often have complex and diverse needs. Some are illiterate and non-verbal. Some have intellectual disability – some have brain injuries, have down-syndrome or are autistic; others have severe physical disability such as cerebral palsy. Commonly their capabilities or potential as creative people have not been fully tested and the opportunities to express themselves have been limited.
‘Any adult with a disability of any kind is welcome’
Tutors’ Role
The Spark tutors’ role is to assess artists according to the nature of their disability in regard to art making and creative expression; they are particularly skilled at enabling a student to learn and develop ways of making art, to open up to new ideas and possibilities and to extend themselves creatively.
Art Sessions:
At the present time our programme consists of:
- Studio Sessions
- Visual Arts Focus Group
- Language through Art
- The Printed Image
Three by two hour sessions:
Studio sessions are ‘open sessions’ where an open, organic approach to learning is held. Unlike our structured sessions, there is neither a particular focus on a point of learning nor are there group-centered teaching interventions. Tutors move amongst artists, coming alongside and assisting them by suggesting ideas, demonstrating techniques - encouraging them to try out new and different ideas and mediums, sometimes exposing them where appropriate to artist models or other references. The tutors regularly take the lead from the artist, encouraging them to be self directed where possible.
Note: It seems that some of our students are more suited to this kind of environment as opposed to a more structured teaching approach.
Visual Arts Focus Group
Visual Arts Focus Group 2007
Pilot programme funded by: Tertiary Education Commission ACE Innovation and Development Fund
In 2007 TEC funding enabled us to develop the following teaching modules.
Module One: ‘I tell my Story’- exploring personal symbol and imagery to express my experience of life in drawing.
Module Two: ’Self in Symbolic Environment’ - exploring personal identity in painting.
Both of these groups followed themes of a personal nature encouraging students to be more aware of their experience in life - to value their thoughts, feelings, imaginings and ideas - and to develop ways in which they could express this ‘personal narration and world view’ within various art forms. This approach assisted them to identify and express ideas that held greater meaning, producing more depth to their work - and it enabled them to develop a ‘finer articulation’; they became more capable and proficient as visual artists.
Visual Arts Focus Group 2008
One by two and half hour session:
Seeking further funding
Because of lack of funding we were not able to continue the same quality of programme for the Visual Arts Focus Group in 2008; we do not have the resources to provide the number of tutors and have the additional time required for sufficient planning and preparation that the teaching modules require.
We have however, retained the majority of the group of students who completed VAFG 2007, within a two and half hour session and we continue to implement some of the group building elements. We will continue to seek funding for the Visual Arts Focus Group to resume its teaching programme in 2009.
Language through Art
Pilot programme funded by: TEC ACE Innovation and Development Fund 2008
Three Terms of three hour sessions
Language through Art explores language and imagery within printmaking. Students are encouraged to express and interpret their experience through ‘written’ (mark-making) and oral expression. For our students who cannot speak or write this can be a revelationary process as they explore notions of language and learn to convey their ideas and emotions through the making of marks.
Language Through Art teaches many processes and mediums of art-making. The programme introduces students to:
- mediums and modalities of paper-making
- printmaking (mono-print, collagraphs, engraving and lithographs)
- script and typography (script as an art form, mark making as communication)
- language (self-expression in prose)
- relationship between script and imagery
- bookmaking (in the widest sense – ways to collate collection of printed works)
Term Four will involve staff producing:
- an exhibition of the students hand crafted books
- a journal publication for educational distribution, documenting the collective works and the processes and methodologies involved within this teaching module
- a comparative study and evaluation of all our teaching modules
The Printed Image
Three Terms of two hour sessions
The Printed Image
This course concentrates on learning a variety of processes in printmaking. The technical aspects of printmaking involve considerable handling of materials and tools. For students with physical disabilities, this course is stimulating and challenging as they learn to manipulate the various materials and procedures. Caregivers accompany our high needs students and become an active part of the session, supporting their clients in their art making under the direction and assistance of tutors.
This programme introduces students to:
- mono-print
- collagraphs
- stenciling
- marbling
- stamping
- engraving
- lithographs
Students will culminate their learning in a major work based on personal motif in printmaking.
Note: All our teaching modules require a high tutor student ratio. In our pilot programmes funded by TEC we have four tutors to ten students – plus the senior tutor / studio manager who oversees the programmes and research documentation. This ratio is highly necessary to ensure the quality of the programmes undertaken and the outcomes achieved.
Video Diary Project 2007
Pilot programme funded by: TEC ACE Innovation and Development Fund 2007
This involved recording the process and progress of individual students on video DVD; we also documented the collective learning processes and teaching methodologies undertaken in the Visual Arts Focus Group in 2007
Video Diaries as Evaluation and Research
The purpose of the Video Diaries is to provide a transparent documentation of the individual artists experience as they learn and develop their visual art making capabilities - and as they develop and grow their personal, social and foundation learning abilities.
We found that it has particular value as a teaching evaluation tool - and we will continue to document through video in a limited, more focused way.