North Walsham High

The main focus for the first day was features in the landscape, with stimulus from objects from the Paget Collection of Papua New Guinean objects supported by slides of the various environments to be found in a country very different to our own. There were also discussions of what words such as 'tribal' might refer to, and this led to the 2nd day having much greater focus on people and different cultural traditions and values, referring closely to masks and patterned 'shields' known as panghals. Ideas of pattern, body adornment, and art-making were further explored through the construction of 'spirit boards', which, from a flat rectangular sheet of 5' x 2' mdf, were transformed to become group expressions of both artistic ideas and ideas related to  cultural and personal identity.    

The overall theme for the Griffon cluster was Routes and Pathways, although this was interpreted freely in all three schools. At the High School, the theme was 'mapping self-identity', which was to do with having a sense of how town and country people relate, seen within a multicultural framework. This developed between the first and second visits to have greater focus on people themselves and the idea of celebrating diversity.