A great event organised by Jilly Stubbs and her Staffordshire team took place at Newcastle Under Lyme school in March. ‘Speight of the Art’ was an integral part of the schools Art Week and guest artists worked with children in many disciplines from caricatures to painting with remote-control cars. Portrait artist Oliver Jones, award-winning Living Statue Performer Chris Clarkson, Remote control car artist Ian Cook and caricaturist Chris Ryder contributed their artistic talent into making a great event that the children thoroughly enjoyed. Over 100 children contributed to the week’s centrepiece, a huge portrait of the artist Paul Gauguin which was created in collaboration with Oliver Jones. It is now proudly displayed in the assembly hall and a photo of the finished portrait can be seen below. To end the week certificates and trophies for artistic enthusiasm were even presented to the children by a stormtrooper from Star Wars!

The schools Art Co-ordinator, Jan Ward said
‘We were quite overwhelmed by your generosity and enthusiasm. Not only did it help to create a ‘real buzz’ in school and to raise the profile of art for the children, but delivered other great benefits too.
We were all able to learn from and be inspired by the expertise of the visiting artists. The children had the opportunity to work collaboratively on a grand scale and were encouraged to think ‘outside the box’.’

It looks like ‘Speight of the Art’ is making a big impact on schools around the country!