Young Arts
Young Arts provides children and young people with exciting opportunities to become involved in creative arts activities. We encourage and support Young Arts projects undertaken by local schools, colleges and youth groups. In our work with young people we aim to build a lasting enthusiasm for the arts and an awareness of arts heritage and its conservation.
If appropriate there is a gallery of images below each project and the images can be opened full size by clicking any one.
St Peter’s and The Greville ‘Health and Well-being Through Art’ Project 2023
The objective was to demonstrate to children how they can express themselves using different drawing and painting methods. The local Year 6 children learned how expressing themselves creatively is good for their well-being.
During the session, the children were encouraged to listen to soothing music to encourage them to relax and clear their minds to allow them to focus on art in nature. A selection of the results is reproduced below.
St Peter’s, The Greville and West Ashtead ‘Art in Nature’ Project 2022
The last two years of Covid have impacted on us all in lots of ways, but for Ashtead children it must have been very difficult indeed. Suddenly their safe, routine world was turned upside down with the official locking down of the country. For children, home schooling would have presented them with various challenges and potentially the physical isolation from their friends may have also had a negative impact.
We wanted to give our local children a project that would encourage awareness of the beauty of the world around us and inspire them to creativity in a positive way. Jo Sharpe is a young professional artist who works from her studio in Oaks Park, Carshalton, Surrey. She has, on behalf of The Arts Society Ashtead, undertaken a project with all the Year 6 classes at St Peter’s, Leatherhead, as well as The Greville and West Ashtead primary schools, a total of eight classes. A selection of the children’s work can be viewed on the Young Arts page under the Gallery tab, but there will also be an exhibition of all their work. Further details about the exhibition will be added to this page in due course.
The project was entitled ‘Art in Nature’. Jo took the children into the playing fields to really look at nature and choose something they would like to either paint, draw or print. She encouraged the children to work individually and in groups. After the project was completed, committee members were able to visit the schools to meet pupils and teachers to gain an insight into their thoughts on the project. All the teachers and children we spoke to were very positive in their feedback.
The Greville Primary School ‘Mayan Masks’ Project 2020
This time, 120 children, aged 10-12, made Mayan Masks. These objects were part of a whole-school art project on the Central American Mayan civilisation. The children made their clay masks, which were fortunately fired, glazed and returned to the school before the coronavirus lockdown.
Comments from Claire Gardiner Arts co-ordinator below.‘Angie taught them new techniques to mould the clay into the features that they needed and attach them into their masks. There were examples of both finished pottery work so the children could see the colours, and a mask that Angie made as she demonstrated the clay techniques. She spoke to them about the patterns and symbols that were important in Mayan culture so that they could think about adding them into their own designs. It was fantastic!
Angie dropped the masks back at school just a few days before lockdown in March so luckily the majority of the students were able to take their masks home and see how well they had all turned out. Thank you for giving them this opportunity to grow their skills and be immersed in a fantastic art filled few days’.
The Arts Society Ashtead was pleased to fund the materials and firing for all these projects.
1st Ashtead Brownies ‘Mothers’ Day Flowers’ Project 2020
On February 3rd it was the girls’ turn.
1st Ashtead Brownies met at the Guide Hut to create clay flowers for Mothers’ Day. Each Brownie, aged 7-10, made a coloured rose-type flower. These were then fired and before being returned to Brown Owl, Sarita Amin.
1st Ashtead Beavers ‘Healthy Food -v- Fast Food’ Project 2020
Late January saw Angie working with 1st Ashtead Beavers over three days on an exciting new ceramics project.
Three Beaver lodges, consisting of 25 boys aged 6-9 years old were involved. Their subject was Healthy Food -v- Fast Food. Each Lodge made a single plate of clay food divided in half. One half contained healthy food such as fruit, vegetables or a vegan wrap. The other half included burgers, hot dogs, cakes, pizza, chips, ketchup, sweets and chocolates.
The resulting plates were painted with coloured slips before being fired, then glazed and fired again in Angie’s kiln. The finished plates were delivered to Paresh, leader of the three Lodges, on 6 February.
West Ashtead Primary School ‘A School of Fish’ Project 2019
In March, Angie co-ordinated and was present over three days at West Ashtead Primary School on another whole-school project involving 350 children. With assistance from Angie, a teacher and a helper, each child made and painted a fish in one hour. All the fish were bisque- and glaze-fired at the school by its caretaker. The project, entitled “A School of Fish”, enabled each child to experience the handling and making of a clay object, as well as painting with differing under-glaze colours.
Barnett Wood Infants School ‘Bees’ Project 2019
In 2019 The Arts Society Ashtead was pleased to support Young Arts projects at two Ashtead schools.
In early February, Young Arts Representative Angie Child co-ordinated and was present at Barnett Wood Infants School for the design and making of a whole-school ceramics project based on bees. Apparently, Barnett Wood has a long bee-related history and Norma Penny, the Head Teacher, was keen to pursue it further into this ceramics project. Therefore, many bees were designed and made during February. Each child made, painted, and in due course took home to keep, a ceramic bee. These had been fired in Angie’s kiln and returned to the school, glazed and ready for display.
St Peter’s Catholic Primary School ‘Commemorative Plaques’ Project 2018
St. Peter’s Catholic Primary School Ashtead Young Arts project 2018 – Angie spent a day and a half with pupils at St Peter’s school designing and making commemorative plaques, the patron saints and their mission statement in clay. These clay objects were then painted with coloured slips before being glazed and fired in her kiln.
This 70th Anniversary project was a great success and consequently residual monies from the Young Arts fund were given to the school to buy air-dried clay for all pupils to make a design on the same theme with their class teachers.
St Giles’ CofE Infants School ‘Noah’s Ark’ Project 2018
In February 2018 a whole-school ceramics project based on Noah and his wife with the animals from the Ark was completed at St Giles’ Church of England Infants School, Ashtead.
The Society’s Young Arts Representative, Angie Child, went into the school for a day and a half and each of the 100 pupils made Noah and his wife and many animals which were glazed and fired in Angie’s own kiln. The Noah’s Ark project was put on display in the main entrance to the school for visitors and parents to view.
The Greville Primary School ‘Woodland Area’ Project 2017
In 2017 ADFAS – as it then was – donated funds to The Greville Primary School, enabling them to improve and add to their woodland area.
The art club designed and made signs, each with storybook language and colourful pictures to help spark imagination and storytelling while the children are in the woodland walk.