A local successful ceramics artist visited Castle Newnham recently as part of the Harpur Trust project entitled ‘Bedford Futures’, an art competition with work produced by pupils from local schools.
Amanda Silk was one of a selection of artists who took workshops in schools across the borough. She held a three-hour workshop for secondary pupils and two shorter primary workshops.
The brief was to create a piece of artwork based on the set theme of Bedford Futures.
Amanda taught pupils ceramic techniques and how to create relief work in clay, making stencils from ideas sketched out then cut out and layered on clay as stencil.
The pupils also used different techniques to create mark making, impressing leaves and branches.
They were also shown how to to apply glazes for a fine art outcome.
For inspiration pupils used a selection of images of Bedford – older photographs and recent ones, plus they considered their life and interests/memories in the town.
Emily Robertson, Head of Art said: “What a fantastic way to spend a morning, learning new ceramic skills alongside our pupils. Castle Newnham has previously submitted entries to this competition and even had some winners in past years.”
