Aimhigher - A Garden of Hearts and Minds

Cansfield Community High School, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan

Year 10 art and technology students worked with the textile artist, Ruth Isherwood to create a richly coloured sculptural textile which explores ideas about personal growth. Working with a range of media, pupils were encouraged to experiment with colour and texture, creating forms and surfaces to symbolize their sense of themselves. Two-dimensional layered ‘self-portraits’ developed into fantastical three-dimensional shapes that suggest ideas about growth and personal development. As a former Wigan student, Ruth is an ideal role model in terms of further education. Part of the residency enabled Ruth to present her personal journey through education in the visual arts, to her current artist in residence role at the Drumcroon Gallery.

Students began by working collaboratively on a wooden grid structure, developing the understanding that this was symbolic of structures in their life that could support them. Working individually, they created works that reflect their background, personal interests and ideas about future careers. These were then tied into the grid to reflect ideas about interaction, connection and support.

Large organic structures seem to burst with colour and texture, evolving out of the grid, enabling linear forms to spiral outwards and upwards, reinforcing the sense of aspiration. Many of the forms contain the students’ hopes and aims for their future.