A collaborative sculpture project for Gyllyngdune Gardens

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

The Sculpture Project A serpent bench, a teacup and a ghost are just some of the intriguing sculptures now on show at Gyllyngdune Gardens in Falmouth. Nine works of art have been created by Year 10 Falmouth School Art students and are the result of a partnership between Gyllyngdune Gardens, University College Falmouth (UCF), Falmouth Marine School and Falmouth School.

The ‘Sculpture Project ‘ is part of the Heritage Lottery bid to restore and redevelop Gyllyngdune Gardens and the initial brief was to create sculptures that reflected the Gardens, the site and its history in a fresh and exciting way, while drawing new audiences to the site. The idea for the project was conceived by John Frankland who commented, "The opportunity to create a site-specific sculpture project which offers students not a creative ‘exercise' but a creative ‘reality' that means they have to design, make and then display their sculptures in a public setting is rare."

The Falmouth School students were supported through mentoring from Art and Design students at UCF, teachers and tutors at both institutions and the expertise of Simon Coombe at the Marine School's workshops, where the sculptures were constructed. Simon introduced the possibilities of using resin to create the sculptures, making an immediate connection to ship building, the sea and Falmouth's history.

The project was commissioned by Sarah Speigler-Williams, Education Officer at Gyllyngdune Gardens, and welcomed by Rowena Tarplee, Art Teacher at Falmouth School, who said, "This project has provided our students with a valuable and exciting opportunity to experience working as professional artists in the real world. They have embraced the challenge of creating ambitious work in specialist materials which are not possible in a classroom environment."

Sue Loydell, Arts Participation Worker at UCF added, "This Project has been beneficial to both the UCF students and the Falmouth School pupils as all have experienced the creative learning process at quite different stages in their art and design education. Raising aspirations and awareness with young people of studying the arts in Higher Education is a strong part of UCF's commitments to improving access and widening participation, and undergraduate students are encouraged to work on outreach projects with local schools and communities to enrich their own learning."

The Falmouth School students are: Piran Angrove; Lark Bridges; Molly Hewitt; Jake Kennedy; Jessica Langford; Jess Mills, Dora Newstead; Rebecca Pallagrass; Oscar Rushbury; Lotte Speakman; Sandip Sedhain; and Rosie Veneer. While working on the project, Falmouth School student Jess Mills said, "I feel really proud to be making real art which will be exhibited in the local community."

The Sculpture Project is open to the public, free of charge, until the end of October.

Pictured from left to right are: Lotte Speakman, Molly Hewitt, Jake Kennedy, Dora Newstead, Rosie Veneer, Jessica Langford and Rebecca Pallagrass.

Photography by UCF MA student, Dan Holmes

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A collaborative sculpture project for Gyllyngdune Gardens

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