Sculpture and Skyscape at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has recently won the 2014 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year.

The School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies has strong links with the YSP, with a number of Art Gallery and Museums Studies alumni and current students working there and long-standing partnerships on initiatives such as the ARTiculation Prize, where the first competition final was held four years ago.

Staff, students and alumni from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies have also facilitated events for schools at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. One recent example is a project led by Dr Abigail Harrison Moore (Senior Lecturer and Head of School) for a group of Year 4 primary school students to introduce them to questions of figurative and abstract sculpture in the work of artists Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

Working with Addingham Primary School, this three week project began with a teaching session in the classroom where children thought about the terms abstract and figurative. They looked at the context and history of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, both while they were in Yorkshire and afterwards following attending the Royal College of Art. Specifically, the Year 4 group thought about the influence of the collections of modern sculpture at the University of Leeds on Hepworth and Moore (when they both studied at the nearby Leeds College of Art), and then the influence of the collections in the British Museum of African and Mexican sculpture on their practice.

The children were encouraged to think around key quotes from both artists regarding how their sculptures responded to the landscape and nature. They explored the media and methods used by Hepworth and Moore and thought about direct carving as opposed to casting.

In the second week, the Year 4 group visited the Hepworth and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, working with two of our students, Louise Atkinson (PhD candidate) and Katie Martin (third year BA History of Art). At the YSP they were particularly impressed by James Turrell's Deer Shelter Skyspace, as this comment from one of the Year 4 pupils indicates:

‘My favourite thing we did in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was when we went into the Deer Shelter Sky-Space. When I’d finally realised what it was I figured James Turrell was trying to explain that nature is art!’

In the final week, Leeds alumna Nicola Bayntun led a session with the students where they made their own sculptures, using direct carving.

Abigail Harrison Moore said of the project:

'I have had limited experience of working with primary school students but I certainly want to do it again as I was so impressed by their ideas, excitement and enthusiasm.'

The last words come from the pupils who took part in the project:

‘I enjoyed learning about different techniques and materials that artists use.’

‘I really enjoyed the deer shelter (sky scape).’

‘I loved seeing new and exciting sculptors.’

‘I thought it was a very fun trip. I hope I come again.’

 

Image: children from Addingham Primary School consider a Henry Moore at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park