Visiting St Ives for artistic inspiration

St Ives has always been recognised throughout modern art history for its artistic inspiration, so it seemed the perfect location for our first UBATO residential trip this February.

Attended by UBATO Members as well as a small group of (Secondary) Art and Design PGCE student teachers, the three-day trip was jam-packed with a busy itinerary, including:

• attending the Melodies of Cornwall musical session
• taking part in a workshop run by Greg Humphries on ‘Sketching St Ives, and Sculptures
• visiting Leach pottery
• introductory talks at the Tate Gallery and at The Barbara Hepworth Gallery.

Everyone was encouraged to use the experience to broaden their art skills and to help gain an understanding of how to use galleries for teaching art and design, as well as how to run a residential trip with their own students.

UBATO member, Miranda tells us more about her time on the trip:

“There were so many wonderful elements from these immersive few days that I will take back to school that will directly enhance teaching and learning in my classroom.

“To share the experience with so many wonderful artist educators and build such useful networks was invaluable. The sketchbook tasks were fun and challenging and I loved looking at the other teachers’ ways of working and left with so many ideas to improve my own practice. I enjoyed the workshops, drawing challenges, gallery visits and how passionate every participant was about Art & Design being such a critical part of a child’s education. The PGCE students were enthusiastic and excited about teaching art and full of wonderful ideas. This sharing of good practice by so many fantastic art educators was just a wonderful experience.

“As an art teacher, I believe subject-specific CPD, particularly practical workshops (rather than Zoom or online courses) are incredibly important. Learning new skills, techniques and ideas from artists and teachers is inspiring and useful!

“I have learnt so much from both the UBATO workshops and this fantastic trip. I look forward to putting some of the ideas into practice in the classroom.”

Senior lecturer Julie Howard said: this trip highlights the unique opportunities the University of Brighton offers both its student teachers as well as artist-teachers from our partnership and local schools in the region.